New foreign secy Vijay Gokhale likely to play no politics, work to a script

Gokhale's two-year tenure will ensure lines of succession in the Ministry of External Affairs are not disturbed

In the intricate dance that is “postings” in the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Vijay Gokhale’s appointment as foreign secretary signals a new approach on the part of the government — be safe, don’t be sorry.

Gokhale, a competent and conscientious foreign service officer of the 1981 batch, whose last posting was as India’s ambassador in Beijing, is credited with a lot of behind-the-scenes moves to defuse the crisis in Sino-Indian relations caused by the Chinese intrusion into Doklam. This is in line with the kind of work his predecessor, S Jaishankar, did in handling the intrusion into Depsang in 2013, when