Author: Chidanand Rajghatta
Publication: The Times of India
Date: June 11, 2004
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/731067.cms?headline=Natwar~may~have~to~eat~crow~in~US
Asked during a previous stint in
the External Affairs ministry whether he was a hawk or a dove, India's
foreign minister Natwar Singh was famously quoted as saying he ran a foreign
policy, not a bird sanctuary.
Natwar Singh paying homage to late
former US president Ronald Reagan at US embassy in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Ambassador David C Mulford and his wife Jennie also in the picture. (AP
photo)
But in his first visit to Washington
since the new UPA government took charge, Singh faces the unpleasant prospect
of eating crow after years of attacking the United States when he was outside
the corridors of power.
In exactly a year, India's foreign
policy has moved from Evian, France (where Vajpayee was a special guest
for the G-8 summit) to avian metaphors, while seemingly having lost its
place in the pecking order of world powers.
Singh arrives in Washington on Thursday,
ostensibly to represent India at Ronald Reagan's funeral, but also taking
the opportunity to establish the first high-level contact with the Bush
administration.
Amid the grief and gravitas that
has enveloped Washington, he is being rushed within hours of his arrival
to Foggy Bottom, the State Department headquarters, to meet Secretary of
State Colin Powell.
He is unlikely to get a ringing
welcome. In the years he has been outside the official loop, Singh has
penned some trenchant commentaries in the Indian media on US foreign policy,
being especially tough and acerbic on the Bush administration.
Some examples of Singh's contretemps:
"The America of Bush has becomes menace" and "American actions and thought
processes leave much to be desired".
He has also lambasted National Security
Adviser Condoleeza Rice's "evangelical mindset" and projected a Republican
defeat in the November elections.
Fortunately, Singh has been a little
more charitable about Powell, saying he has "earned the goodwill and respect
of all those who have come in contact with him". But even Powell was roasted
on one occasion for essaying "diplomatic nonsense".
The Bush administration can be unforgiving
about critics, but as Singh steps into Foggy Bottom, he could do well to
recall the lessons of the former President Bush.
After initially opposing Ronald
Reagan and calling his ideas "voodoo economics", Bush publicly ate crow
and recanted his political indiscretion after signing up with him for the
vice-presidentship.
Singh has already tried to offset
some of the damage after taking office. In recent interviews, he has said
India is for the "closest relationship" with the United States since it
is in the interest of both countries. But experts reckon Singh has a tough
job ahead of him bringing this about.
The transition from commenting to
policy making is still a big one," writes Teresita Schaffer, a South Asia
maven and former envoy to the region. "In years gone by, Indian governments
and especially opposition parties played out their disagreements in public,
raising Washington's blood pressure in the process."
Schaffer also suggests that in the
conduct of foreign policy, there is no substitute for "personal relations"
at the top.
Natwar Singh's PR battle begins
Thursday with Colin Powell.
