7/28/2019 Srinivasan Jain's Father Recalled for Non Performance - Rediff Interview
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I will give you an example of the situation in the MEA today. When I was
sent to South Africa as high commissioner, a person employed by the
government was deputed to join me. This person's wife and six-month-old
infant were to join him a month later. But his wife and infant were asked to
vacate the government quarters even while staying in Delhi, forcing them to
stay with some friends. The person reached Pretoria in January and in
February asked the MEA for permission to bring over his wife and child.
He was told to wait. Reason: elections and a new government, even thoughthis was a routine matter.
After the new government took office, I asked (foreign secretary) K
Raghunath to expedite the matter since the man was extremely worried
about his wife and child. There was no reply. I have asked several times
why a government employee was being treated so badly. I was even willing
to send him back. But there must be a decision either way. Till date, no
decision has been taken. Raghunath is supposed to look after the morale of
his staff, what has he done?
I was told that all my communications were bogged down in the PMO.
These guys can't speak up in such a simple case. No one speaks up.
What grievance do you have against the MEA?
I have no personal grievance. All I have done is give suggestions on how to
restore relations with South Africa. These include giving the MEA freedom
to do its job; to have a policy planning division in the MEA which can give
a wider perspective to the evolving world. I have also said there must be afull-time external affairs minister (there is only a minister of state). I have
asked to be made that minister. I have also said that given our broad
relations with South Africa, it can't be funnelled only through the diplomatic
mission but must also involve the society. We have one and a half million
Indians in South Africa who are keen to learn Tamil, Telugu, Bharat
Natyam, etc, all of which needs more societal involvement.
What is Brajesh Mishra or the BJP's grouse against you?
Until the Pokhran tests, Mishra did not figure on my screen. It is he who issupposed to have said in Delhi that I had failed to defend India's nuclear
tests effectively, thus embarrassing the BJP government. The fact is that an
independent assessment carried out by the MEA stated that the South
African mission did an excellent job in projecting India's case.
The other complaint was that I had not developed sufficient diplomatic
muscle since South Africa had criticised India's nuclear tests, ignoring the
fact that when France conducted nuclear tests in 1996, the criticism was far
more trenchant. Regarding India, South Africa only said on May 12: 'In
policy, South Africa does not support nuclear tests, and we hope that it will
not affect the peace process in South Asia.'.
New Delhi was apprehensive that South Africa might introduce or second
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a resolution against the nuclear tests during the NAM ministerial meet on
May 21 at Cartagena, Colombia. The SA government assured me that this
would not happen. But when the meeting was on, Vajpayee declared that
'India is a nuclear power state', which goes beyond mere testing. So SA
prepared a resolution in Cartagena saying all earlier resolutions passed
against nuclear weapon states would now also apply to India. The Indian
delegate in Colombia asked me in Pretoria to stop this resolution. I pointed
out that since both the Indian minister of state (Vasundhara Raje) and theSA ministers were in Colombia, they should spoke to each other.
Anyway, I then requested Nelson Mandela's office not to move the
resolution. Mandela's office's message to the SA foreign minister in
Colombia upset him terribly who asked why the Indian delegation did not
speak to him directly. Moreover, the Indian delegate did not even assuage
his feelings then, leaving a bitter taste.
What happened during Mishra's visit to SA?
In June, I was informed that special envoy Mishra was visiting and wanted
to meet Mandela and deputy president Thabo Mbeki. I sought the
appointments, as per protocol, via the foreign minister's office. New Delhi
asked me to approach Mandela and Mbeki directly. I refused, pointing out
that we had already hurt the South African foreign minister in Colombia. I
was warned that if the meetings didn't occur, I would be misunderstood in
Delhi. I replied that my job is to ensure that India is not misunderstood.
Mandela's office asked what was the need for the meeting since Mandelaand Vajpayee had already had two long telephonic conversations covering
all topics. Mishra met Mbeki in July, and while he brilliantly presented
India's case, he failed to ask the other side's opinion. Moreover, by then,
Kashmir was an issue and Pakistan was seeking third party mediation,
something which I had already rejected. I thought Mishra would explain
our stand on Kashmir but he did not utter a word.
When Mishra met the foreign minister and foreign secretary, he spoke
lightly about the "slight misunderstanding" in Colombia. This made the
foreign secretary extremely angry and he stated that asking a draft to beheld back was a serious matter. Mishra then tried to cover his tracks and
spoke about Indo-SA friendship. To this, the foreign secretary said as
friends, it should be possible to have differences also.
I found that at this stage, all of Mishra's diplomatic experience crumbled.
This was not the PMO where everyone falls at your feet, it was a
negotiating table where the other side opposes you. I broke the stalemate
by speaking about the wide range of Indo-SA relations. Mishra achieved
nothing in limiting damage but left behind a little damage.
Earlier you asked why the MEA officials don't intervene. In Pretoria no
MEA official thought it fit to correct Mishra. Unfortunately, our system
does not allow juniors to speak up. It is sad that our prime minister has
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given so much power to his special envoy. I was even told that it is Mishra
who is preventing the appointment of a full-time foreign minister.
What happened at the NAM summit in Durban?
When both the foreign office delegates met, the South Africans showed us
a draft to which India replied that this draft "will hurt bilateral relations". I
was shocked. Under whose authority can officials say that bilateralrelations will be hurt? Even the cabinet alone cannot do that, the entire
country has to be involved. The South African delegate officer met me and
asked why the Indian team was so touchy over a simple draft?
I then arranged a meeting where the Indian delegates convinced the South
Africans about our feelings and got the draft changed. But before the
meeting began, the South African foreign secretary called Raghunath's bluff
on breaking relations. Raghunath then sought to play down the threat, but it
had certainly strained relations.
The next day Mandela spoke and said Kashmir was an outstanding issue
where NAM countries can help. Instead of explaining our view to South
Africa against outside mediation, Mishra took the matter in his hands. He
decided that the PM in his speech must declare that the remarks were
"unwarranted and unacceptable", both very strong words. If any
consultations were held, I would have suggested that we tell Mandela
about our feelings on the subject. Being a gentleman and the host, Mandela
would have simply put his arms around Vajpayee and issued a clarification.
The speech was read out but evoked no response.
The next day, Raghunath told me they were worried about Vajpayee
returning without a South African clarification. I suggested we instead get
Mbeki to speak to Vajpayee. I then asked a friend, a senior official in
Mbeki's office, to help out. First, we wanted them to talk over the phone,
but the Indian side stalled that idea. Time was running out as Vajpayee was
scheduled to depart that afternoon. Next, I asked my wife, who knows
Mbeki's wife very well, and got her to request Mbeki to meet Vajpayee
briefly when he enters the session hall. That is finally what happened. The
entire hall saw that instead of going to the front of the hall, Mbeki wentback to meet Vajpayee where he assured him that South Africa had no
intention of mediating.
When the media met Vajpayee and asked him what transpired, Vajpayee
only replied, 'Can't you make out? I am smiling.' But at night, Mishra
declared that SA had apologised whereas Mbeki had only explained his
country's position. I immediately asked the MEA to issue a clarification,
pointing out the consequences of a wrong statement from the PM's special
envoy.
Do you think Indo-SA ties have been badly harmed?
Indo-SA ties are so deep that all these are like scratches on the surface.
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But why I am speaking out is to give a warning to be careful, to use our
experience in our diplomacy. South Africa is a very important country in
the African continent and will play a major role in the coming years. We
must not lose our goodwill with them.
The Rediff Interviews
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