HVK Archives: To Russia with love
To Russia with love - The Telegraph
K.P.Nayar
()
January 14, 1998
Title: To Russia with love
Author: K.P.Nayar
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: January 14, 1998
Prime minister I.K. Gujral had an unexpected visitor in Chennai
last week. For Gujral, the visitor was not o unexpected but also
very important. The prime minister considered his unscheduled
meeting with the Russian ambassador, Albert S. Chernyshev, on the
fringes of the Confederation of Indian Industry's partnership
summit, so important he kept the Italian prime minister, Romano
Prodi, waiting for 20 minutes at another function elsewhere in
the city.
The story of Chernyshev's meeting with Gujral merits discussion.
It is a pointer to the way India's foreign policy is conducted a
decade after the eastern bloc has collapsed. The meeting also
bears some elucidation because an impression has been sought to
be created that all is well in India because a few heads of state
and government have been visiting this country in the last few
days, the elections and a caretaker government notwithstanding.
The state visits to India this month by Prodi, Poland's President
Aleksander Kwasniewski, Greece's President Contentions
Stephanopoulos and France's President Jacques Chirac have been
cited by those who endorse the Gujral government's policies as
evidence of international trust and confidence in this country.
Such an impression is misleading. And it is important to correct
this misrepresentation. At the end of it all, Indians will be
lulled into a false sense of complacency about the state of their
country and its policies If the government persists with the
disinformation that world leaders are queuing up at India's
doorstep to involve this country In the process of global
decision making.
All the ballyhoo about the visits by European leaders to India
this month overlooks the crucial fact that two world leaders have
postponed their visits to New Delhi until a new government
assumes office. President Bill Clinton of the United States and
President Boris Yeltsin of Russia were the most important among
the string of world leaders who had included India in their
travel plans early in the new year. And if the most important
among these visitors have decided that the time is not right to
visit India, it cannot exactly be described as an endorsement of
the legitimacy of the caretaker government in dealing with
foreign countries.
No one knows this better than Gujral. This was clear from his
meeting in Chennai, where he poured his heart out to the Russian
ambassador over the postponement of Yeltsin's mid-January visit.
Gujral was keen that Yeltsin should make the trip before he
demitted office. The Russians tried to make the postponement
more palatable by maintaining it was the president's poor health
which necessitated the change in his schedule.
But Gujral has enough experience of international affairs to know
that his poor health and Russia's internal crises
notwithstanding, Yeltsin has made five visits to China in the
last six years. If the Russian president had felt it was worth
his while to negotiate with the present leaders in New Delhi, he
would have come to India this month even in his present state of
health, not otherwise.
The meeting in Chennai was an attempt on Moscow's part to ensure
no feathers were ruffled, more so since the announcement that
Yeltsin was not coming before the elections was made in Moscow.
Soon afterwards, Chernyshev sought an appointment with Gujral to
explain the decision, but a meeting in New Delhi was impossible
because of the prime minister's crowded travel plans.
The prime minister's aides then weaved an appointment with the
Russian envoy into Gujral's programme in Chennai, leaving the
Italian prime minister waiting. For Gujral, who was once
ambassador to Moscow, the Russian capital Is still at the centre
of his world view. Therefore, it was not surprising that he
considered the meeting with Chernyshev more important than a
previously scheduled engagement at which he was expected to share
the honours with Prod!.
Unfortunately, this is also true of many other Indians in
government at the policymaking level. Italy is a large economy
which is compatible with India's. It is a potentially large
investor. If India is serious about globalization, this is no way
to treat the prime minister of Italy As it happens, the Italians
are used to such treatment from India. When Gujral was external
affairs minister in the H.D. Deve Gowda government, he asked the
Italian foreign minister to postpone his trip to India.
The Italians have not made an issue of these slights. But it is
time India moved away from the Cold War attitude of putting
Russia above everything else, even though dealing with Russia, no
doubt, is a top priority for this country for a variety of
reasons.
When it comes to the Bill Clinton visit, those in South Block who
are adept at hairsplitting have been maintaining it has not been
postponed since it had not been scheduled in the first place.
Such reasoning is plainly dishonest. The visit may not have been
officially announced, but everyone knew preparations were well
under way and that the changes in the president's plans were
necessitated by the US's need to negotiate with a new elected
government.
Similarly, Chirac called a high level meeting in his office last
week and individually asked each one of those present whether he
should visit India now or after the elections. In the end he
decided to go ahead with the visit only because he is chief guest
at the Republic Day parade. That made his trip different from
other state visits to India. Chirac made up his mind to stick to
his schedule.
Again, the Italians went ahead with Prodi's visit primarily
because they wanted to team up with India as quickly and as
firmly as possible in scuttling any attempt to expand the United
Nations security council with new permanent members. In this
effort, time was of essence. Besides, the Italians put across
their point of view on this issue to all political leaders whom
Prodi met. They believe Prodi's visit was well worth the effort
since they hope to follow up on this initiative as and when a new
government assumes office in New Delhi.
Essentially, this leaves the caretaker government with only two
visits - that of the Greek and Polish presidents. Despite the
lack of any problems between New Delhi and Athens at the
political level, it is a bilateral relationship which lacks
content. The visit of Stephanopoulos was more like a
reconnaissance mission, where it did not matter which government
was in office. The substantive issues will only be taken up
between the two countries during the next stage of their ties by
which time elections will be over.
With Poland, it is more or less the same story The well
publicized visit of the former president, Lech Walesa, in 1994
notwithstanding, Indo-Polish ties have not got out of the cul de
sac in which the collapse of the eastern bloc left it many years
ago. Kwasniewski has made a good beginning which, again, will
hopefully be followed up by the next government.
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