Natwar146;s lost it

In his final three days as foreign minister, K. Natwar Singh has become India8217;s number one embarrassment. Deciding he would leave the f...

In his final three days as foreign minister, K. Natwar Singh has become India8217;s number one embarrassment. Deciding he would leave the foreign minister8217;s office kicking and screaming, he swung to reckless and extreme positions on foreign policy. If he genuinely believed, as he said he did and does, that the collapse of the Soviet Union was 8220;one of the tragedies of the 20th century8221; or that Paul Volcker singled him out because Saddam Hussein supported Indira Gandhi8217;s Emergency, or that NAM8217;s revival is essential to take on those 8220;who have discovered Islam after 9/118221;, it was his problem. There was no reason to make Natwar8217;s nostalgia India8217;s nightmare. It took one hard knock for this Cold War warrior to rediscover 8220;ideology8221;8212;whatever that convenient term meant in this context8212;in the desperate hope that communist support would keep him in South Block.

There are practical problems flowing from Natwar Singh8217;s recent relapse into third worldism. First, he can8217;t possibly represent India before those nations that see themselves as having gained independence from Soviet imperialism and communism 8212; Georgia or Lithuania, for instance, or even the Czech Republic, the president of which is currently in India. In effect, Natwar Singh has just said he considers their sovereignty a tragedy. Neither can he now possibly go to the US or the United Nations without inviting ridicule.

More immediately, Natwar Singh8217;s new-found status as a diplomatic suicide bomber threatened to derail India8217;s Middle East policy. For his political survival, he linked this to an alleged articulation of Muslim aspirations. Natwar Singh argued that India should consider reversing its September stance, and vote in favour of Iran when that country8217;s nuclear programme comes up at the International Atomic Energy Agency on November 24. He cited India8217;s large Shia population as a reason. Paradoxically, he attacked the new government in Iraq 8212; which the ministry he8217;s just been turfed out of formally recognised only weeks ago 8212; as having 8220;no credibility8221;, even if it has empowered Iraq8217;s Shia majority after centuries. There are many things wrong with this country but, thankfully, foreign policy has never been a Muslim/non-Muslim issue.

K. Natwar Singh cannot be allowed to inject this virus into the system. His world view is past its sell-by date. So is his time at the Foreign Office.