Vikram Misri is a 1989 batch – Indian Foreign Service officer who serves as an Indian envoy to various countries of Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America. He served as the private secretary during the tenure of the Indian Prime Ministers including Inder Kumar Gujral, Manmohan Singh, and Narendra Modi. On 28 December 2021, he was appointed as the deputy national security advisor of India by the National Security Council Secretariat.
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Wiki/Biography
Vikram Misri was born on Saturday, 7 November 1964 (age 57 years; as of 2021) in Srinagar, India. His zodiac sign is Scorpio. Vikram attended Burn Hall School, DAV School, and Carmel Convent School in Jammu and Kashmir to attain his secondary school education. He then went to Scindia School, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh to receive senior secondary school education. After completing his school studies, Vikram Misri did graduation in History at Hindu College, Delhi. Later, he went to XLRI, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand to pursue an MBA degree.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 8″
Hair Colour: Salt and Pepper
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
His parents’ names are not known.
Wife & Children
Vikram Misri is married to Dolly Misri. The couple has two children.
Vikram Misri with his wife and one of his children (a daughter)(middle)
Career
Vikram Misri started working in the ad filmmaking industry soon after finishing his college education. After working for three years in the advertising industry, Vikram joined Indian Foreign Services in 1989. He served as the Indian ambassador to Brussels and Tunis on various Indian missions from 1991 to 1996. Vikram Misri was appointed as the under-secretary in the Office of the External Affairs Minister of India to the Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral in November 1996 and worked there till April 1997. He was promoted to the position of the private secretary to the Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral in April 1997 and served for a year. Vikram Misri was posted in Islamabad from August 2000 to September 2003 as the First Secretary in the High Commission of India during various sensitive issues such as the Indian Parliament attack, Op Parakram, Agra summit. Vikram Misri was involved in initiating amendments in the relationships of India and the US during the Manmohan Singh government and George W Bush administration. Vikram Misri was appointed as the Political Counsellor in the Embassy of India in Washington D.C. from September 2003 to October 2006. Vikram Misri worked under Pranab Mukherjee from November 2006 to September 2008 as the Director of the Office of the External Affairs Minister. Vikram Misri was appointed as the Deputy High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka from September 2008 to September 2011. Vikram Misri was assigned the position of Consul General of India in Munich from September 2011 to February 2012. In 2012, he started serving as the private secretary to the then Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh. In 2016, he worked with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as his Private secretary.
Vikram Misri with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
During the same year, he served as an Indian ambassador to Myanmar, and in 2019, he was appointed as the Indian envoy to China on various Indian missions. The tensions arose between India- China during the Galwan Valley clashes in 2020 in which Vikram Misri played a significant role by arranging the official meetings between the senior officials of India -China including Liu Jianchaou. During the same year, Vikram Misri advocated cooperation between the two countries while developing the COVID-19 vaccination. He was appointed as the Deputy National Security Advisor of India on 28 December 2021 by the National Security Council Secretariat. The other two Deputy National Security Advisors who worked along with Vikram Misri were named Rajender Khanna and Datta Pandsalgikar. These trio report to Ajit Kumar Doval, Chief National Security Advisor of India. Pankaj Saran was replaced by Vikram Misri for the post of Deputy NSA.
Controversy
In 2020, he attracted controversy when he stated in a conversation with The Press Trust of India that the Chinese troops on the Actual Line of Control were required to recede on the India – China border. This statement was assumed as a contradictory statement to the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s statement, which Modi gave during the same time on the Prasar Bharti radio channel. Modi stated on Prasar Bharti that no one had intruded on the borders of India. This concluded in a long debate on their Twitter posts by Twitter users.
Facts/Trivia
- In 2020, during the Galwan Vally tensions and clashes between India and China, Vikram Misri arranged various official meetings between the two countries and stated in a press conference that the border issues must be on priority to both the countries. He stated,
For long, the Indian and Chinese sides have adhered to a well-understood distinction between resolving the boundary question and managing border affairs. This is the root cause of the tense situation along the borders. We advocate that we should address the boundary issue through peaceful negotiations and we don’t think that the border issue should be linked up to our bilateral tie.”
Vikram Misri while posing with China President Xi Jinping during an official meeting in 2020 - Vikram Misri learnt different languages as an Indian envoy to represent India in other countries. He knows Hindi, English, Kashmiri, Spanish, Urdu, Punjabi and French. In an interview with a media house, he talked about the reading and writing of various languages. He said,
My mother tongue is Kashmiri. I speak, read and write English and Hindi and have a nodding acquaintance with Punjabi and Urdu. Among foreign languages, I can speak, read and write French. I can also speak just about enough Spanish to survive on the streets and in the supermarkets!” - According to Vikram Misri, when he was attending middle school, he dreamt of representing India on the international level. Vikram talked about his childhood dream in an interview with a media house. He said,
Actually, I consider myself fortunate in having been able to realize a childhood ambition. Joining the Indian Foreign Service and representing India abroad was indeed something that had been in my mind since I was in middle school.”