Naresh Chandra: An affable envoy who was the rock of Indo-US ties

Ambassador Naresh Chandra, who passed away in Goa at the age of 82 on Monday, was critical in shaping India's policy towards the US in the post-Cold War era. An affable bureaucrat who had served as the Cabinet Secretary from 1990-92, he saw the most turbulent times as an Indian envoy in Washington during his tenure between 1996 and 2001. His major challenge was to navigate Indian interests amid US fury over the nuclear tests in May 1998, and he later spent a year convincing then US President Bill Clinton to see through Pakistani designs during the Kargil war in 1999.

While ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former US President President George W Bush may be credited with having authored the Indo-US nuclear deal, the gates for such cooperation were opened with a series of talks held between Strobe Talbot and Jaswant Singh after the nuclear detonation. The talks were arranged by Chandra as India's envoy, and ended in an agreement to expand cooperation in three specific areas — civilian nuclear activities, civilian space programs and high-technology trade. "I was present in every meeting, throughout. We saw the scene develop from a very tense dialogue into a very friendly and frank exchange of views. This brought about stability and progress in a positive direction in our relations with the US," he once said in an interview.

Chandra's long official association with the US spanned more than three decades, beginning with his first visit to that country in 1963-64. He has been the Indian co-chairman of the US-India Technology Group and a member of the Indo-US Economic Sub-Commission, which lent him valuable insight into the broad range of Indo-US relations.