His FOREIGN POLICY is perhaps Vajpayee’s most enduring legacy. A natural strategist, his pragmatic approach and personal initiatives to improve relations with China, Pakistan and other nations compelled neighbours to respond to his sincerity
As the external affairs minister and then prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee always had time for our neighbours. Serving as his ambassador in Sri Lanka, China and Pakistan, I found that his interest in our neighbours was deep, positive, and based on long years of experience and knowledge.
Vajpayee had an unmatched ability to sum up a situation and convey his message in the most pleasant manner. When he asked me in 2003 whether I would go to Pakistan as the high commissioner, I asked, why me, when I had not dealt with Pakistan since 1974? His response was, “Because you are innocent!”, and he roared with laughter at my expense. But he had a serious message in his jest—that I should not repeat the sterile patterns of the past and should look for what we could do to move the relationship forward.
Neighbours were special for him. He would say that while one could choose one’s friends, one couldn’t choose one’s neighbours. His conclusion was that one should make an extra effort to work with them. Even the Chinese were not immune to his charm. When he visited Beijing in 2003, five years after the virulent Chinese reaction to PokharanII in 1998, he sprang the new idea of Special Representatives on the Boundary Questions on a sceptical and cautious Chinese leadership. Over the next two days, as he spoke to each Chinese leader of what the special representatives could accomplish, we moved towards acceptance and agreement on the new political approach that Prime Minister Vajpayee wanted regarding IndiaChina relations and the boundary question. That was also the visit when China recognised Sikkim as a part of India. He had credibility in Beijing as the first Indian foreign minister to visit China in 1979, a brave decision for its time, which started us on the road to normalisation of relations.
When you proposed something, his first question was whether and why you thought it was in India’s interest. When we began negotiating the 1993 border peace and tranquility agreement with China, Prime Minister Narasimha Rao asked me to go and regularly brief a few political leaders, particularly Mr Vajpayee, who was then leading the opposition. He was always constructive and creative in his suggestions for the negotiations, once he was convinced that it was in India’s interest. Never did he hint at a calculation of party political interest, though it must have been made, but we civil servants were never brought into that.
Whether it was the first free trade agreement (FTA) with Sri Lanka or putting relations with China back on track in 1979 and 2003, or the peace process with Pakistan after 2004, Vajpayee’s personal initiative and efforts drove new policies. And the neighbours responded to the sincerity that they saw. His speech at the MinarePakistan in Lahore in 1999 is well worth listening to.
Going to see him at Race Course Road, one never knew what he would ask. Once, during Operation Parakram and the standoff with Pakistan, I came from China to be greeted with a question in Hindi, “Cheen ne itna chhalaang kaise mara (How did China make such a giant leap)?” For the next 40 minutes, I received a tutorial on China’s development, how India differed from China, and what I should be looking for in China. When you thought about it later, you realised that you had been given a deep and fine set of instructions. And all the while feeding you well and wrapped in the kindness of appearing to consult you.
Vajpayee was wise enough to build on the foundations laid by Narasimha Rao’s reform of Indian policies and fortunate that Dr Manmohan Singh continued with the major lines of his foreign policies. If he is sorely missed and mourned across the political and social spectrum in India today, it is because we now realise how fortunate we were to have real, firm and steady leadership in those critical years.
WHEN YOU PROPOSED SOMETHING, HIS FIRST QUESTION WAS WHETHER AND WHY YOU THOUGHT IT WAS IN INDIA’S INTEREST