The East India Company exploded the myth that trade follows the flag. It’s the other way round. Political relations develop in the wake of economic ties. So, if “Act East” was not just another slogan to upstage P V Narasimha Rao’s epochal “Look East”, Narendra Modi should study the 10 pioneering years that Syamal Gupta, a senior Tata executive, spent in Singapore.
Not only Singapore. The events that led to Mr Gupta’s appointment to the Presidents Investors’ Advisory Councils of Tanzania, Ghana and Uganda, as well as Namibia’s honorary consul in Mumbai, should similarly enable the prime minister to appreciate that
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