HVK Archives: Talking Turkey
Talking Turkey - The Times of India
Editorial
()
September 30, 1998
Title: Talking Turkey
Author: Editorial
Publication: The Times of India
Date: September 30, 1998
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's speech to the Asia Society
in New York on Monday is perhaps the most important speech on
foreign policy he has delivered since assuming office. It
contained the message he would have personally delivered to US
President Bill Clinton had he met him. In the Indian tradition
of projecting policy guidelines in ministerial pronouncements,
this address sets out clearly the Indian worldview and the broad
parameters within which India hopes to develop its bilateral
relations with the US. Some commentators have called the speech
tough. In reality, it is an outspoken and honest expression of
the Indian assessment of US policy towards this country, which
so far had not been communicated to the Clinton administration.
The US has now been told in clear and unambiguous terms that its
policy in Asia has adversely affected Indian security interests
and that it must be mindful of our security concerns. Implied in
that message is the Indian view that the US has no mediatory
role to play in this region, either on the nuclear or the
Kashmir issue. Mr Vajpayee has also made it clear that on the US
should fall the responsibility for rectifying the distortions in
what should have been a natural alliance between two democracies
with shared common values. In the post-Cold War era, India has
not in any way hurt the interests of the US, but that cannot be
said about the US policy towards South Asia.
In a refreshing contrast to the platitudinous verbiage in which
our official pronouncements have so far been enveloped, Mr
Vajpayee has linked India's declared nuclear status to
geopolitics. The nuclear tests were necessary, he said, not only
to safeguard India's security but as a powerful challenge to the
practitioners of nuclear apartheid. With this firm action, he
claimed India has reminded the nuclear club that the voice of
one-sixth of humanity cannot be ignored. Not many would remember
it, but Jawaharlal Nehru used to remind the world of this truth,
even when India, in the aftermath of Independence, was a power
of no consequence. Unfortunately, 1962 proved that an India
which was not realistic and pragmatic enough to safeguard its
security would not be taken seriously by the rest of the world.
Along with his forthright defence of Indian national security
interests, Mr Vajpayee has offered his hand of friendship to the
US, asserting his belief that India and the US are 'natural
allies'. No doubt this formulation is bound to come in for
scathing criticism from sections of the Indian population. Some
will even see it as an example of ganging up against China,
ignoring the fact that the US and China have themselves been
talking of a strategic partnership. The Prime Minister's speech
is bound to lead to a vigorous foreign policy debate of a type
we have not had for quite a long time. The government must also
realise that this speech, important and path breaking as it is,
is no substitute for a comprehensive policy document on the
Indian worldview in the era of nuclear diplomacy.
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