His deft foreign policy helped strengthen ties
When it came to diplomatic matters, Atal Bihari Vapayee was a traditionalist who held that it wasn’t feasible to radically reshape foreign policy in a short span because it stood on the twin foundations of consensus and continuity. Yet, for Vajpayee, external relations were not cast in an unchanging mould. He wasn’t risk-averse, but above all, pragmatic and worldly-wise.
The risk-taking ability came to the fore when India, with Vajpayee as PM, conducted its second set of nuclear tests in May 1998, almost 25 years after the first. All hell broke loose. Led by the United States,global powers slapped economic sanctions on India . “It was the biggest foreign policy crisis in a generation or more. At the end, it was defused. The US and India charted a new course of strategic relationship a few years from then,” said ex- foreign secretary Lalitman Singh.
Many were caught by surprise when Vajpayee first declared India and the US , the world’s largest and oldest democracies, were natural allies. Of course, the Cold War had become history by the time Vajpayee became PM. But trusting the Americans had never come naturally to generations of Indian leaders.
“The Vajpayee government invented the term ‘natural alliance’ which has been adopted by Prime Minister(Manmohan) Singh’s government ,and American officials,” foreign affairs expert Stephen P Cohen wrote.
In his 2000 address to the US Congress, Vajpayee said India and the US had taken a decisive step away from the past. “The dawn of the new century has marked a new beginning in our relations”, Vajpayee said. And he presided over the dawn of the new phase in Indo-US relationship .
Dealing with Pakistan was more challenging although Vajpayee maintained stopping crossborder infiltration and destruction of terrorist infrastructure could open the doors for talks.
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“When he took over as PM, but much to India’s discomfiture, world powers didn’t support New Delhi’s contention that Pakistan was sponsoring terror outfits to carry out attacks on India. Against heavy odds, he sought normalisation of ties with Pakistan, reasoning that one can change friends, but had to live with one’s neighbours.
In 1999, Vajpayee made his historic bus journey to Lahore . “The partition of our country had caused a wound in our heart, that wound had healed and the mark left by it reminds us that we have to live in harmony with one another”, he said in Lahore in February 1999.
Months later, India fought a limited war to stop Pakistan’s aggression in the Kargil sector of J&K. The 2001 Aqra summit between Vajpayee and then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, too, collapsed in mutual acrimony.