Column

As the going got tougher at the Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting in Vienna, the Manmohan Singh government’s man for all seasons, Pranab Mukherjee, burned the midnight oil to work the phone lines. He was tasked with the responsibility of calling up the foreign ministers of the “hold-out” countries, or the G-6 as they’ve been dubbed, to lobby India’s case for a clean waiver. Unfortunately, not many seemed to share the Manmohan Singh government’s sense of urgency and Mukherjee had a hard time tracking some of his counterparts down. Switzerland’s foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey proved particularly difficult to find. When Mukherjee’s staff finally traced her, they were told that she was at a party. Can’t she step out for a bit to talk to India’s foreign minister, they queried. Calmy-Rey’s aide refused to disturb her. She’s on the dance floor, dancing, the aide said. Call later. Mukherjee had to stay awake well past his bedtime to speak to her. He managed to touch base with her only when she
returned home from the party. It was 3 am, our time.

That was on Day One of the just concluded three-day NSG meet. On Day Two, it was a similar story after the waiver got stuck on the issue of testing. Official negotiations lasted 17 hours on Friday, with diplomats retiring for the night at 2 am, Vienna time. But for Indian diplomats, there was no rest. With Mukherjee anchoring the process here in Delhi, ministry of external affairs officials held informal talks with representatives of the “hold-out” countries, including China, till the wee hours of the morning. The bargaining chip was our 9-10 per cent growth rate and the vast economic opportunities it offered. The naysayers were asked, politely of course, whether they wanted to be part of the burgeoning India story or whether they were ready to be excluded. A European diplomat posted in India confessed that he was surprised to see Indian negotiators adopt Washington’s tough-talking ways to get their message through.

It’s interesting that prime minister Manmohan Singh chose to keep a low profile through the entire NSG process. He left it to Mukherjee to guide the tricky and difficult negotiations, with help from National Security Advisor MK Narayanan. The PM’s decision was a surprise because President Bush himself burned the phone lines to help break the deadlock when the waiver seemed impossible. In fact, the PM turned down an American request to approach the countries that continued to hold out in the face of intense pressure. He conveyed to Washington that it was a Bush Administration commitment to push the waiver through the NSG and he felt that the US should fulfill its obligation. India’s unhappiness over Washington’s slackness obviously got through because in the end, Bush even spoke to Chinese President Hu Jintao to bring Beijing around.

TAILPIECE

The NSG process has been the most trying for foreign secretary Shankar Menon. He had to juggle tough negotiations at Vienna and in Washington with his son’s September marriage. When he flew to Vienna for the first NSG meting on August 21, he had expected to take some time off after that to spend a few days with his son and new daughter-in-law in Seattle. Instead, he’s had to shuttle between Vienna, Washington, Seattle and back to Vienna and switch from technical nuclear stuff to wedding talk and back to nuclear diplomacy, all in the blink of an eye. Guess who needs a long holiday now!

Email: a_jerath@dnaindia.net