Commentary/T V R Shenoy

Gujral is not a prime minister -- he is an external affairs minister promoted well beyond his competence

'Who was the rottenest prime minister of them all?' is an eternally-debated question. There is no shortage of candidates.

Narasimha Rao for patronising corruption? V P Singh for almost destroying the fabric of society? Indira Gandhi for doing her damnedest to pulverise democracy? Nehru for taking us down the blind alley of socialism? (It is a little sad to note that only Lal Bahadur Shastri is universally acknowledged as a good prime minister.)

However, Inder Kumar Gujral's name never makes the grade. There is a simple reason -- nobody thinks of him as a prime minister. He is, to be brutally honest, an external affairs minister promoted well beyond his competence, while his colleagues get on with the serious job of looting India.

If we are to judge Gujral, it must be on his record as an external affairs minister. What shall history make of his handling India's relations with the world? Has India's image risen or fallen in his tenure? More specifically, how good are his crisis-management skills?

Let me answer that by relating a recent encounter between a senior diplomat and a veteran bureaucrat.

"Why," the diplomat asked, "did your prime minister cancel his visits to Germany and France?"

"Oh, your Excellency, there was a crisis at home as you know, a political crisis."

"What crisis?" smiled the diplomat, "How is it a crisis if a government shows a majority and survives? In my country, a crisis is when a government falls!"

The civil servant didn't know where to look, and nor did I. It was one of those ghastly situations where silence is the only refuge. Well, at least we had the melancholy honour of being in distinguished company...

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was leading a delegation of MPs to Kuwait when the 'crisis' was manufactured in Lucknow and Delhi. When he cut his visit short, the media attributed it to the domestic troubles. This was only half-true.

On October 21, the entire world saw the Congress, the BSP, and the Samajwadi Party climb the Everest of rowdyism. There was a reception for the Indian visitors in Kuwait the same day. The speaker of the Kuwaiti legislature had a question for the Indian leader. "Is this how your legislators normally behave?"

It was at this point that Vajpayee decided to return. The rest of the trip, he foresaw, would be spent squirming at questions that couldn't be answered.

The hooligans in Lucknow probably couldn't care less that the world is laughing at us. Gujral couldn't have stopped them anyway. But he could have averted the second phase of the 'crisis'.

Gujral was supposed to visit France and Germany on his way to the Commonwealth summit. Had the so-called 'crisis' not been created, we would have been told how important these meetings were.

In the event, two 747 planes were detained interminably. Embarrassed Indian officers were left apologising to their French and German counterparts. And ultimately the proposed visits were cancelled altogether.

The authorities in Paris and Bonn were so annoyed they didn't even bother to issue the customary notices of regret. And Gujral alone is responsible for such needless pinpricks.

In the first instance, there was no need to schedule such meetings. I realise that Gujral is trying to spend as much time as possible away from India. But that is no reason to force others to issue invitations. (If it was France and Germany yesterday, it was Egypt the day before.)

If, on the other hand, our national interests were genuinely served by talking to the French and the Germans, why were the visits cancelled? There is no answer from the great master of diplomacy!

It was open to Gujral to call Kesri's bluff -- as President K R Narayanan did. It was open to him to spurn the talk of imposing Article 356 -- as the Telugu Desam, the DMK, and the CPI did.

It was Gujral's decision to annoy two major European powers. In the ultimate analysis, it was also his decision to throw principle to the winds, and recommend President's rule.

Several commentators noted the crisis has exposed Sitaram Kesri's limitations. It has also exposed Gujral, the supposed foreign-policy expert and man of principle.

The 'crisis' has revealed the man behind the mask -- a man hungering for the perks of power, willing to jeopardise India's relations, utterly unable to withstand the buffeting of the arrogant and ambitious men who surround him!

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