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THE NATION: PMO
Foreign Policy Privatised
Leaked letters in London imply Mishra trusted the Hindujas
more than the Indian High Commission
By Ashok Malik
There was a time
when a minor political event in faraway London had its impact in Delhi.
It isn't the usual practice today but Andrew Tyrie's press conference
on May 9 certainly added to the discomfort level of Brajesh Mishra, principal
secretary to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Mishra is already under
attack from the Opposition and even the Sangh Parivar for issues ranging
from Jammu and Kashmir to telecom policy. Now comes the Tyrie twist. Inaugurating
the vicious campaign season that precedes every British general election,
the Conservative MP from Chichester, West Sussex, released correspondence
between the Hinduja business family and Prime Minister Tony Blair.
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TRYST WITH A TWIST: The revelation that the Hindujas' proximity
to the Blairs (right) became India's calling card in London has
embarrassed Mishra and Vajpayee
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The letters-apparently leaked by security service
sources whose warning that the "Hindujas were to be avoided"
had been ignored by Blair's Labour Government-were primarily for domestic
consumption. Yet they inflicted collateral damage too-on the Indian Government,
specifically Mishra. The Tyrie papers implied that Mishra had collaborated
with the Hindujas in the virtual privatisation of Indian foreign policy.
The period just after the Indian nuclear tests in 1998 came in for particular
scrutiny.
On June 4, 1998, Tyrie established, S.P. Hinduja
wrote to Jonathan Powell, chief of staff to the British prime minister,
confirming a meeting with Blair at which "G.P. (Hinduja) and I"
would bring along "our Indian friend". The reference was to
Mishra, on his post-Pokhran II mission to western capitals.
The aide-memoire appended to this letter is
rather revealing. Beginning with an almost obsequious "Britain's
own traditional support for a country's right to self-defence is widely
admired in India", the document talks of India's "participation
in the fissile materials cut-off treaty". Next it commits to "acceding
to the CTBT (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty) on certain conditions".
Then comes the reference that is
potentially the most far-reaching: "At critical points during the
Cold War, Britain helped
the United States and the former Soviet Union to negotiate arms control
agreements, leading to the present international regime.
A comparable opportunity exists again today ... The British Government
can play a key role in exploring with India-and Pakistan-how their national
interests can be harmonised with those of the international community."
The important question is: who drafted this aide-memoire? Was it an independent
initiative
by the well-heeled and better connected NRI family-or were the Hindujas
speaking for Mishra and, by extension, the Indian prime minister?
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The
Hindujas offered to carry messages from Blair to Indian Government
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Five days later, on June 9, 1998, it is G.P.
Hinduja who writes to Powell ("Dear Jonathan"). Thanking him
for enabling "Brajesh Mishra to meet Mr Blair last week", it
laments that "common ground still seems to elude us".
"We see the G-8 meeting in London this
Friday as a useful opportunity" to redress the situation. "I
wondered," G.P. Hinduja writes, "whether Brajesh Mishra might
be invited to meet the G-8 foreign ministers and discuss with them how
India can respond to their concerns". Vajpayee, the letter goes on
to say, "has agreed" to Mishra meeting foreign ministers of
the Group of 8-the US, its six post-war allies and Russia-if "China
is not present-given her nuclear links with Pakistan".
The letter concludes with the Hinduja baron
stressing, "We want to see the confrontational approach against India
replaced by dialogue and negotiation. SP and I look forward to continuing
to work with you and your colleagues to assist this process. Please let
me know if you have ideas you would like putting informally to Delhi".
Coupled with media reports that the Hindujas
also arranged Mishra's meeting with President Jacques Chirac of France,
Tyrie's "expose" is bound to have Race Course Road squirming.
In June 1998, Vajpayee was his own foreign minister
and Mishra virtually ran foreign policy. He masterminded the prime minister's
famous letter to Bill Clinton blaming India's nuclear tests on the Chinese
threat. When that letter was leaked in Washington it caused a furore,
had Beijing flying off the handle and is now remembered as one of Indian
diplomacy's historic blunders.
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