C. V. Ranganathan

C. V. Ranganathan (born 1935) is an Indian diplomat and statesman, who variously served as Counselor of the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations, Joint Foreign Secretary, First Secretar y to the Embassy of India in Bonn, Indian High Commissioner to Hong Kong, Indian Ambassador to Ethiopia, and the Deputy Chief of Mission at the rank of ambassador to the Soviet Union during Perestroika.

He was then the Indian Ambassador to China, during which he oversaw Rajiv Gandhi's landmark 1988 state visit to Beijing, and Ambassador to France. Following his retirement from the Indian Foreign Service in 1993, he was a Jawaharlal Nehru Fellow and twice Convenor of India's National Security Advisory Board.

Early life and education Chetput Venkatasubban Ranganathan was born in Thoothukudi (formerly Tuticorin) in Tamil Nadu (formerly the Madras presidency) in colonial India. His ancestral place was the town of Chetput in the North Arcot district of the Madras Presidency. His grandfather was Sir C.P. Ramaswami Iyer, an Indian lawyer, administrator, and former Diwan of Travancore, who encouraged Ranganathan to sit the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) exam in 1959. His uncle C.R. Pattabhiraman participated in the Quit India Movement and was active in the Indian National Congress. Pattabhiraman was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kumbakonam in 1957 and 1962. Ranganathan's cousin Aryama Sundaram is a lawyer in the Supreme Court of India. C.R. Venkatasubban, Ranganathan's father, was chairman of the Imperial Tobacco Company (now ITC) in Bangalore. His siblings include the environmentalist Geetha Srinivasan, married to the late nuclear engineer Dr. M.R. Srinivasan; the late chemical engineer Dr. C.V. Seshadri; and the late automotive industrialist C.V. Karthik Narayanan.

Ranganathan completed his schooling in Madras and a B.A. (Hons.) in Economics and Political Science from Madras University. He successfully passed the IFS exam in 1959 and completed his training at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie. Nehru deputed the Assam Rifles and a group of Indian officers, including Ranganathan, to receive the Dala Lama and his entourage at Tawang, from where they eventually settled in Dharamsala, India. India saw an upsurge of Tibetan refugees in the aftermath of the Dalai Lama's asylum.

Ranganathan writes that this episode strained relations between India and China: "...the unease with which the Chinese view the growing stature of the Dalai Lama, and the international sympathy which the situation of the Tibetans has evoked, leads the Chinese to frequently raise the matter in dialogues with Indian government leaders and officials. As for the Dalai Lama, he has abided by the universally acknowledged norms of shelter in India, which has been granted on humanitarian grounds. He has no support from the government of India in any political activity aimed against China. As for his ardent and numerous followers, the overwhelming majority live in India and are engaged in activities which are open to them in their capacity as refugees. Given India’s democratic system, it is unrealistic to expect that curbs can be put on their ability to assemble and give free rein to expression, provided such activities are within the bounds of Indian laws." and publications, including his coauthored book with former ambassador Vinod C. Khanna, India and China: The Way Ahead After 'Mao's India War'''.

In his memoirs, former ambassador of India, Kishan Rana, recalls that along with Ranganathan, nicknamed "Rangi", several IFS "probationers" (the term used for junior officers) chose to specialise in Chinese. They moved to Hong Kong during 1960-1962 for a two-year intensive Chinese language study. Rana mentions that during their two-year study, "Rangi moved out to spend a year as a paying guest with a Chinese professor." Indian newspaper The Hindu reported that Red Guards beat and kicked Indian diplomats at Peking airport on June 14, 1967 before they fled by air for Hong Kong after being expelled because they were accused of spying. According to The Hindu report, "C.V. Ranganathan was made to bow his head by the crowd who tried to force him to kneel on the runway." The report further states that "Red Guards waved red books of Mao Tse-tung’s quotations at the Indian diplomats."

These events of the 1960s had a chilling effect on relations between the two countries, breaking the relative peace established by the 1954 Panchsheel accords, which established "Hindi-Chini bhai bhai" (Hindi: हिंदी चीनी भाई भाई), or brotherly cooperation between the two countries that led to the launch of the Non-Aligned Movement and the 1955 Bandung Conference. Chinese foreign policy towards India, Indian political scientist Surjit Mansingh writes "junior officers in the Ministry of External Affairs produced an accurate analysis of differences between the Soviet and Chinese Communist Parties in 1963. Each of these analysts, A.P. Venkateshwaran, J.N. Dixit, and C.V. Ranganathan, subsequently became very influential in shaping and executing Indian policies abroad."

Indian Ambassador to Ethiopia Between 1983-1985, Ranganathan served as Ambassador of India to Ethiopia. This was a time of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia, which occurred during the reign of Mengestu Haile Mariam, chairman of the Marxist-Leninst military junta that ruled Ethiopia between 1977-1987. As part of his role as Indian ambassador, Ranganathan oversaw food and famine aid delivered by the Government of India to Ethiopia. Ranganathan also met with notable personalities during his time as ambassador in Addis, including Mother Teresa, who ran humanitarian programs in Africa, and the internationally-acclaimed Ethiopian artist Afewerk Tekle.

Deputy Chief of Mission to the U.S.S.R at the rank of Ambassador A 1985 Russian daily carried the article with title: "Reception of the Indian ambassador to the U.S.S.R T.N Kaul by M.S Gorbachev" Between 1985-1987, Ranganathan served as Deputy Chief of Mission to the U.S.S.R at the rank of ambassador. Foreigners living in two large residential complexes a short distance away from the Indian and British embassies, Jianguomenwai and Qijiayuan, began to get increasingly nervous because of the presence of 20 Chinese military tanks positioned on a nearby highway intersection. He later narrates that Ambassador Ranganathan, in consultation with fellow diplomats, took the decision to evacuate the families and children in the embassy due to reports that the PLA had begun shooting at diplomatic compounds. A bullet found in the residence of an Indian diplomat prompted this decision: "In the Indian embassy the ambassador [Ranganathan] convened a meeting to discuss the shooting incident. One of our officers, Political Attaché Sikri’s residence, had also been hit by bullets but the occupants of the apartment escaped unhurt. We took into account the visual scenes that many of us had witnessed in the past week. The ambassador was responsible for the safety of embassy personnel and staff, of course, but there were also other considerations in play. India–China relations had normalized after Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s visit to China in December 1988. We had turned the page on one of the most painful chapters in our history – the military debacle of 1962. We could look ahead to better times. Any action we took which might look like we were joining the West in indicting the regime in China could complicate the restoration of normality. It was a long and hard discussion. Finally, we took the collective view that while it was our duty as officers of the government to remain in our posts, we could not risk the safety of families. It was decided that they would return to India on the next direct British Airways flight from Beijing to New Delhi." at Bishop Cottons Boys School.

Publications Ranganathan, C.V. and Vinod C. Khanna. 2000. India and China: The Way Ahead After Mao's 'India War.' Delhi: Har Anand Publications.

Ranganathan, C.V. and Sanjeev Kumar (eds). 2013. The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China: a major turning point for China.''