India's foreign minister shown the
door By Siddharth Srivastava
NEW DELHI - Saddam Hussein is in
jail and facing trial, but the reverberations of
his time at the helm in Iraq continue to ring.
It has cost Indian Foreign Minister Natwar
Singh his job. Natwar is now designated as a
minister without portfolio, with Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh taking direct charge of external
affairs at a time when New Delhi has begun
preparations to host US President George W Bush in
a few months, which should add another episode in
improved Indo-US relations.
Natwar's
removal follows the report by a United
Nations-appointed investigation headed by Paul
Volcker, the former chair of the US Federal
Reserve, which alleges that Natwar Singh was the
beneficiary of illegal money
from the Saddam regime.
According to the
report, following the removal of UN sanctions that
allowed Iraq to sell oil for food meant for
humanitarian purposes, the Saddam dispensation set
up a web of fictitious companies and charged a
commission in exchange for food contracts. The
kickbacks amounted to more than US$2 billion paid
by thousands of firms around the world. More than
a 100 Indian firms, including several prominent
ones, have been named as happily acquiescing to
Iraqi officials to seal the deals.
Oil
contracts were handed at a rebate to people
considered to be important in changing world
opinion in favor of Baghdad, especially at the UN.
Natwar has been named by the Volcker report as a
non-contractual beneficiary and was allegedly
allotted 4 million barrels of oil that could be
sold for a premium. The benefits were supposedly
extended when the Congress Party, to which Natwar
belongs, was not in power. Although Natwar, his
family or the Congress Party stood to benefit less
than $1 million, it is a scandal, if true.
Volcker's report is based on material
procured after the fall of the Saddam regime, and
was released on September 28 and covers a gamut of
countries, but it is only in India that a dance of
political brinkmanship has resulted, with various
vested interests trying to gain mileage.
Paradoxically, there are so many names and firms
in the report that Volcker has said that he did
not know who Natwar was until recently.
Volcker's allegations against the
politician are based on documents seized by
invading US troops that allegedly say he was
personally allotted contracts by the Saddam regime
for 2 million barrels of oil while the Congress
Party was allocated 4 million barrels.
Surcharges (or kickbacks to the Saddam
regime) were allegedly paid by Hamdan Export, a
firm owned by Andaleeb Sehgal, a close family
friend of Natwar Singh. The Volcker report called
both Natwar Singh and the Congress Party as
"non-contractual beneficiaries".
The
Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, facing a
leadership crisis as well as a dearth of issues to
attack the government, has found plenty of fodder
prior to the beginning of the winter session of
parliament later this month.
In a clever
ploy, the left parties, the crucial coalition
partner of the Congress-led government, bid to
back Natwar in exchange for a promise to support
Tehran at the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) meeting later this month. In the September
meet of the IAEA, India supported a US-European
Union resolution to report Iran to the UN for
sanctions due to Tehran's insistence on pursuing
an independent nuclear program. The left has been
raising a shindig about India ditching old friend
Iran due to the "imperialist" dictates of the US.
Sensing trouble, Natwar, who finally made
an undignified exit, sullen and screaming, called
the Volcker report "bullshit" and a "pack of
lies". He responded to the left overture and said
India should support Iran at the IAEA, which went
against his own government's earlier decision to
vote against the country. He even tried to play
the Muslim political card that often works in
India, saying that New Delhi would never ditch the
Shi'ites of Iran. There are more than 25 million
Shi'ites in India, though there is hardly any
indication that foreign policy has influenced
their voting patterns.
However, there were
deeper politics at play that ultimately cost
Natwar his job. His support base within the
Congress quickly subsided, with a list of wannabe
foreign ministers eyeing the post. Congress has
barely gotten over the stain of the Bofors scandal
that broke in the 1980s, in which allegations were
made against former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi of
receiving payoffs for the gun deal. The courts
have finally exonerated Rajiv many years after his
death, but he carried the Bofors cross through his
career that also cost the Congress Party dearly in
elections.
Rajiv's widow, Sonia Gandhi,
who heads the Congress Party and is the real power
behind the throne, knows that the Volcker report
has the potential of another political monster if
not nipped in the bud. In a show of defiance, the
Congress Party initially declared that it would
sue the UN, though it is not clear how this
process could be initiated or implemented, given
the diplomatic immunity enjoyed by UN officials.
Such a suggestion was also considered foolish,
given India's quest for a permanent seat in the UN
Security Council.
Sonia soon ensured
action in the form of an independent judicial
inquiry and has distanced herself and the party
from Natwar, who has been loyal to the Gandhi
family for decades. As they say, in politics there
are no permanent friends or enemies. Sonia,
however, has made certain that the post of foreign
minister remains vacant for a possible comeback by
Natwar after the inquiry report.
This
could take some time, given the tendency of such
commissions to extend their tenures in a bid to
access perks and privileges of the job, including
several international sorties. The Bofors
investigations cost the exchequer more than five
times the actual alleged pay-off, with generations
of bureaucrats and ministers traveling all over
the world sniffing for money that was never found.
Nobody doubts that Natwar has had a fair
run as foreign minister. Despite learning his
diplomatic skills during the Cold War era under
the tutelage of his mentor, former prime minister
Indira Gandhi and Sonia's late mother-in-law, he
tried to shake off the old hang-ups in a new world
order prescribed by the US.
He was
instrumental in pushing the nuclear deal signed
between Manmohan and Bush in July this year, was
involved in scouting for energy resources for
India and played a crucial role in the
India-Pakistan peace process, including the
implementation of a soft border between the two
nations.
He did botch it up in the end,
though, calling the Volcker report a US
intelligence plot to get rid of him, given his
role in fomenting the non-aligned movement, as
well as his proximity to Indira at a time when
India was aligned with the former Soviet Union. He
has attacked the incumbent regime in Iraq as
having "no credibility" and called Saddam a friend
of India.
Indeed, Natwar's time was up
when the government ordered a judicial inquiry
into the allegations, making it untenable for him
to be in a position to influence matters. He has
been left to fight his own battle. One will have
to wait for the investigations to be over to reach
a final conclusion. It could mark the end of a
long and distinguished career, or the beginning of
another chapter.
Siddharth
Srivastava is a New Delhi-based journalist.
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