Pompously unanimous

BY Darius Nakhoonwala| IN Opinion | 12/11/2013

You don’t say!
Darius Nakhoonwala

There is nothing editors like more than to wag their forefingers disapprovingly at the Prime Ministers. It makes their week. 

And, god knows, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has given them enough chances not just to wag their fingers but also cluck in disappointment, disillusion and despondency. They can do it with their eyes shut now. 

Dr Manmohan Singh, no slouch at attracting the ire of all and sundry, bowled them another half-volley last week. “I am not coming to your CHOGM gig,” he wrote to President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka “and I have my reasons which I will tell you on the phone.” 

The leader writers were off like a bunch of Milkha Singhs.  

They forgot two things, though: one, that CHOGM is a silly British vanity and doesn’t matter one bit in global affairs; and two, that attendance by heads of government at its four-yearly meetings is usually only 50 per cent. 

Not a single editor examined the deeper issue, namely, the role that the border states must play in foreign policy. Nor did any of them have the nous to point out that the problem, if it is one, is not new. It goes back to India’s signing the WTO agreement in 1996. 

The reason then was different but the issue was the same. 

The Hindu, which has made it a habit to twist and turn with the wind, was the first off the mark. Its first sentence said it all. “Once again, foreign policy objectives have been sacrificed at the altar of political expediency.” Then very daintily it said it was “disappointed.” 

It then had this to say: “If the primary reason for staying away is to express displeasure at Sri Lanka’s reluctance to address alleged atrocities against Tamil civilians during the final battles against the LTTE, it is doubtful if the decision will yield a different, more positive outcome.” Alleged? Talk about covering your backside with that word. 

The Times of India made the same point: “This utter capitulation to domestic political sentiment - months before the general elections - exemplifies an infirm government whose creeping paralysis has affected its foreign policy as well… Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's petulance was allowed to torpedo what could have been a new chapter in India-Bangladesh ties…On the other hand, India's determination to steadfastly support engagement with Myanmar - despite international criticism - is today celebrated as commendable foreign policy foresight that has held New Delhi in good stead.” 

Then The Indian Express said the same thing as well. “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's decision to skip the Commonwealth summit … is another reminder of the fact that…the Congress party has relentlessly undermined the government's ability to conduct a foreign policy that pursues the nation's self-evident collective interests…the Congress has kept pulling the rug from under the feet of its own government.” 

The Telegraph also said the same thing but, as the edit writers say, the nuance was different. “Between votes in Tamil Nadu and foreign policy imperatives, the prime minister has chosen the former…the Congress made the choice for him… Officers in the ministry of external affairs must be wondering who they should actually report to — the head of the Congress or the head of the government.” 

And the Pioneer agreed with the others. “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's decision to skip Meeting… demonstrates that domestic considerations have disproportionately outweighed the country's foreign policy (and) it has done nothing to further the interests of the Tamil population in Sri Lanka. 

The Deccan Chronicle and Asian Age didn’t have anything different to say. “The decision… to ultimately succumb to domestic constituencies… will rank among its lowest points… Dr Singh has opted to sacrifice national strategic interests… he has shot himself in the foot as far as wider national opinion is concerned.”

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