IKG was among the youngest ministers and much liked. He was efficient, sophisticated and warm hearted.
Rajya Sabha member Naresh Gujral invited me to a function held in New Delhi on 4 December to celebrate the hundredth birth anniversary of his father, Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral. As I was out of Delhi, I could not attend.
I first met Gujral Saheb in the late 1960s when I was on the staff of Mrs Indira Gandhi. Inder Kumar Gujral was Minister of State. He knew her much before she became Prime Minister. He was among the youngest ministers and much liked. He was efficient, sophisticated, warm hearted and a dedicated Nehruite.
One of his close friends was Raja Dinesh Singh, a Cabinet Minister. The Raja overdid his proximity to the Prime Minister. This did not go down well with her. In a few months after P.N. Haksar took over as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Dinesh Singh was shown the door. This, Haksar did without the word getting out. As soon as Gujral Saheb heard the news he asked me to meet him. “Natwarji, how did this happen. It has come as a great surprise to me. He was so close to Indiraji.” I said, “Sir, the falling out had started sometime back. But Dinesh Singhji kept his intimate friends like you in the dark.”
To his eternal credit it must be said that he was among the two or three ministers who stood up to Sanjay Gandhi.
During the Emergency, Sanjay said to Inder Kumar Gujral that AIR’s reporting on the Emergency was wholly unsatisfactory. He asked IKG, who was Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, that all material relating to news broadcasts should be shown to him in advance. This, Gujral Saheb said could not be done. Sanjay raised his voice, the response of the minister was, “Don’t raise your voice. No material in files from my ministry will be sent to you” and walked out.
I did not go along with the “Gujral Doctrine”. I wrote a critical article in the Hindustan Times. I argued that India’s foreign policy was not run by doctrines on dogmas. This did not impair our personal relations.
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Rahul Bajaj I have known for several decades. His grandfather Seth Jamna Lal Bajaj was called by Gandhiji his fifth son. Rahul has always been outspoken, at times overdoing so.
He hit the headlines a few days back, when at a gathering of India’s corporate multi-millionaires and billionaires, presided over by the awe inspiring and dynamic Home Minister he spoke about the atmosphere of fear prevailing in the country. Not one of the other capitalist bosses spoke up to support Rahul Bajaj. By and large the hard working, wealth producing heads of corporate houses are not given to sticking out their necks to take on the ruling establishment. I applaud Rahul Bajaj for doing so.
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was established in 1949. The cold war was red hot. Most of Eastern Europe was under Soviet domination. Only Tito’s Yugoslavia had defied Stalin. Western Europe was militarily no match for the Soviet Union. The United States was the only country to challenge the Soviets. It was hence in the vital national interest of the US to strengthen Europe militarily and economically. For economic revival of Europe the US offered the Marshal Plan.
The seventh anniversary of NATO was observed in London earlier in the week. All member states were present. Three Heads of State, by their unbecoming, unseemly and undiplomatic conduct diminished the importance and significance of the summit. Who were the three? President Trump, President Macron of France and President Erdogan of Turkey. Good manners and verbal restraints are indispensable qualities for practising diplomacy and running a foreign policy. Can one imagine a Kennedy, a De Gaulle or an Ataturk behaving similarly?
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Is India becoming the rape capital of the world? So it seems. What punishment should be meted out to rapists? Opinions differ. Some suggest castration. Others life imprisonment. I have reflected on this subject for long. There are no easy answers. My conclusion is, hang them in public.
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The Governor of West Bengal is constantly getting into the news for all the wrong reasons. He should set a better example.