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UPA Government : Foreign policy initiatives

	December 27, 2004

The Prime Minister and the External Affairs Minister, in their speeches in Parliament last week, spelt out the contours of the United Progressive Alliance Government’s foreign policy, setting at rest misgivings in different quarters about its conduct of foreign policy. Dr. Manmohan Singh has firmly told Pakistan that while India is prepared to look at various options for a negotiated settlement of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, it will not agree to any redrawing of boundaries or another partition of the country. He said : “Our objective is to focus on the centrality of national interests in the conduct of our external relations and the pursuit of our economic interests. We have taken important initiatives, keeping in mind the imperative of retaining our freedom of options, remaining alive to our concerns.”



Later, replying to clarifications in the Rajya Sabha, the Prime Minister said, there was no ambiguity or confusion over India’s candidature for permanent membership of the UN Security Council. He said : “Our fundamental position is clear. There should be no distinction in the Security Council between the existing members and new members.” Dr. Manmohan Singh clarified that there was no ambiguity about India’s nuclear policy either. “India is a nuclear-weapon state and is a responsible nuclear power. That sums up our view. At the same time, we are a country with a civilisational heritage for complete disarmament. We will join hands with other countries to promote complete disarmament on a non-discriminatory basis globally.”



Referring to the proposed sale of American arms to Pakistan, the Prime Minister said, India’s concerns were conveyed to US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld when he visited the country earlier this month.



External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, December 22, that there was no drift in India’s Pakistan policy. Replying to a short-duration discussion, he said the dialogue process with Pakistan is on track and the two countries continue to make progress. “Even modest progress is worthy of respect.” There was no third-party presence at the talks, nor was there any likelihood in future.



“With regard to the Hurriyat, the people of J&K are represented by the Government which has been duly elected. The restoration of peace in the State is something that we are in constant communication with the elected government. However, we are also prepared to talk to those unelected individuals or groups, who shun violence and who are ready to contribute to the restoration of peace in the State. As to permitting the Hurriyat leaders to meet Pakistan officials, I do not think that we have inaugurated a new policy in this regard. President Musharraf himself met Hurriyat leaders during his visit for the Agra summit in July 2001.”



Referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India, he said it demonstrated the time-tested and strategic relationship between the two countries. He claimed that the UPA had given new dimension to India’s “Look East Policy” through promotion of relations with ASEAN countries. The linkages and interests with West Asia and Gulf had provided for intensification of India’s relations with all key countries in the region as well as the Gulf Cooperation Council.



Singh reiterated India’s support to the Palestine people while maintaining friendly relations and cooperation with Israel.



He said that while a national consensus and continuity were valuable attributes of India’s foreign policy, there were elements in the NDA’s foreign policy and the manner in which it was implemented, with which we in the UPA did not agree. “For example, the former Government, in our judgement, neglected India’s relations with other neighbours in its pre-occupation with Pakistan. We have corrected that.”



Uproar over alleged interference by PMO

Parliament witnessed fireworks last week over alleged interference by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in the investigation of the Babri Masjid demolition case. BJP members raised the matter in both Houses leading to brief adjournment of the Lok Sabha (Lower House) on December 23 while the Rajya Sabha (Upper House) witnessed heated arguments on the same day.



The storm was over a letter from the Prime Minister’s Office to the CBI to formulate grounds to file a revision petition against the discharge of former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani in the Ayodhya case and also to examine “if there was any negligence on the part of any investigation and prosecution agency in not filing a revision petition on time.”



The CBI which is under the Department of Personnel and Training is directly controlled by the Prime Minister’s Office.



Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee lamented in the Lok Sabha that PMO had stooped low to write a “bizarre letter” exploring the prospects of revival of the Babri Masjid demolition case against L.K. Advani. He said the letter should never have been written. “The Government says the intention was not to pressurise the investigative agency. Then what else could be the motive. It is not to seek information, but to put pressure on the CBI.” Quoting a paragraph from the letter, he said : “Why does the Government want to expedite the revision petition case. As the Joint Secretary in the PMO says, he had been directed to write the letter. Who directed him to write it?”



PMO denial

Faced with the Opposition offensive on the issue, the Prime Minister’s Office denied that it had asked the CBI to reopen the Babri Masjid demolition case against L.K. Advani. Officials in the PMO said the letter addressed to Secretary Personnel had only sought information and did not give any direction to the CBI relating to the case.



The BJP also brought Congress President and National Advisory Council Chairperson Sonia Gandhi into the firing line, accusing her of influencing the Centre into interfering in the functioning of the investigating agencies. BJP leader Arun Jaitley alleged in the Rajya Sabha that “an extra-constitutional authority” had written a letter to Union Finance Minister P. Chidamabaram urging him to help out stock broker Shankar Sharma. The Finance Minister, Jaitley further alleged, subsequently held a meeting with officials of the Enforcement Directorate and CBDT after which their lawyers were instructed to go slow in the Shankar Sharma case.



Patents issue : Government likely to issue an ordinance

Reports say the Manmohan Singh Government is likely to issue an ordinance providing for products’ patents to fulfil its obligations under the World Trade Organisation from January 1, 2005. But this will be subject to the European Union and the United States keeping their commitment to remove quota curbs on textiles without non-tariff barriers. This was decided at a meeting of the Union Cabinet on Friday, December 14. A final decision will be taken at the next meeting of the Cabinet on December 29.



Official sources say that the Centre would make all efforts to accommodate concerns of Left parties which are worried about the impact of the proposed law on the prices of life-saving drugs. Though the Left continues to oppose the proposed ordinance, there are reports that an agreement may be reached with them. CPI Secretary D. Raja said that the Left parties had given their suggestions to the Government on the patents’ issue. The Government did not introduce the Bill on Patents in Parliament fearing opposition from both the Left parties and the NDA.



Meanwhile, the Government tabled in Parliament last week the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill, 2004 which provides for creation of a Fund by the Centre to finance generation of employment for the rural poor. The State Governments would similarly be required to establish a fund called State Employment Guarantee Fund for the implementation of the scheme. The Bill estimates that the cost of the scheme would be 38,600 crore rupees if the legislation covers the entire country. The Bill proposes to provide 100 days of unskilled manual labour to one member of every poor household.



Some MPs belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Tribes have criticised as “toothless” the Bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha to consolidate the SC/ST and OBC reservation norms. A delegation of these MPs led by Lok Janshakti Party chief and Steel Minister Rambilas Paswan met the Prime Minister to register their protest. They said that the Bill has no penal provision if its norms are violated.



Former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao’s death mourned

The winter session of Parliament ended on December 23 after paying tributes to former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao who died of cardiac arrest at the age of 83.



Narasimha Rao secured his place in history by unshackling the economy and introducing reforms in the country when he became the Prime Minister in 1991. India was facing an economic crunch when he assumed office on June 21, 1991. Breakneck growth funded by overseas money with an unrealistically high rupee peg put enormous strain on the foreign exchange reserves when the Gulf War broke out in 1990. It shattered India’s fragile external economic balance. On July 1, days after taking over, Narasimha Rao devalued the rupee dramatically. The same month he announced a policy that unshackled business from the fetters of about 30 years. Dr. Manmohan Singh, picked up by Narasimha Rao as his Finance Minister, announced his path-breaking reformist budget.



Narasimha Rao, born into a land-owning Brahmin family, was a pragmatic politician who realised that India needed new policies to grow. The momentum of reforms initiated by him enabled India to come out of economic crisis.

But Narasimha Rao’s tenure was also marked by political failures, especially that which saw the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. Also in the changed scenario, coalitions were necessary to win power, but the Congress under Narasimha Rao could not get used to the idea. As a result, the party lost heavily in the Lok Sabha elections held in 1996. Rao’s strategy of playing senior Congress leader off against each other had made him many enemies and threatened to destroy party unity.



Narasimha Rao was cremated on the banks of Hussain Sagar Lake, in Hyderabad, with full State honours on Saturday.