The importance of being Jas(t)want(ed)

When Opposition leader Sonia Gandhi wrote to PM on sending troops to Iraq, it is learnt that Vajpayee asked Jaswant to prepare a note on the issue. While the fact is that both External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha or Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal were abroad at that time, the crucial inputs to PM-Sonia meeting were provided by Jaswant.

Jaswant, who apparently drafted a note on June 7 in reply to Sonia’s June 4 missive to Vajpayee, drew from his knowledge of the history of the Ottoman empire and suggested that India should consult Baghdad’s neighbours before sending troops to Iraq. It was Jaswant again who briefed the party at chintan baithak in Mumbai on Iraq with Sinha touring Cambodia at that time. He told the baithak that sending troops to Iraq is not against national interest but we have to make sure that our troops operate under the UN or Indian command.

On June 11, he broke protocal and called on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, ostensibly to talk about ‘‘fiscal issues’’. Jaswant, who was the first interlocutor between the BJP and the AIADMK in 1998, met Jayalalithaa at a time when there is marked chill between his party and the DMK. Even though Jayalalithaa described it as a ‘‘business meeting’’, she overtly retained her anti-Congress and anti-Sonia stand.

However, it is Jaswant’s trip to Kanchipuram with Defence Minister and NDA coordinator George Fernandes that has raised eyebrows. With Kanchi Shankaracharya at the heart of Vajpayee’s plan to sort out the vexed Ayodhya issue, his one-hour meeting with the two Cabinet Ministers could not have been an innocent one. That Jaswant accompanied Fernandes, who has been the PM’s emissary for handling the allies, shows the Finance Minister has been acquiring a larger profile.

Typically, Jaswant crafted his words before the media after the Kanchipeeth meeting. On Ayodhya, he has been quoted as saying: ‘‘Considering what is happening, it is my prayer that if an answer could be found, which is peaceful and meets everybody’s expectation … this is the most constructive thing that can happen.’’