Wikileaks, in an arrangement with The Hindu daily, on Tuesday made public cables between the American embassy here and the US state department that showed former National Security Advisor M K Narayanan (now governor of West Bengal) had strong differences with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on rapproachment with Pakistan and other issues.
The Hindu said after a meeting with Narayanan in August 2009, American ambassador Timothy Roemer concluded that Singh was isolated within his own government in his “great belief” in talks and negotiations with Pakistan.
Narayanan had been described by the Embassy in a January 12, 2005, cable as a long-time Gandhi family loyalist, “who is seen as part of the traditional ‘coterie’ around Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi.”
According to the published leak, in an August 11, 2009, cable sent a day after the meeting, Roemer noted that Narayanan, a former chief of the Intelligence Bureau, readily conceded he had differences with Singh on Pakistan. The PM was a “great believer” in talks and negotiations with Islamabad, but Narayanan himself was “not a great believer in Pakistan.” The NSA recounted to the ambassador how after the Prime Minister spoke of India’s “shared destiny” with Pakistan, he had told the PM: “You have a shared destiny; we don't.”
However, Roemer also noted in the cable: “Narayanan made the comments above with some joviality and was totally complimentary of the PM throughout the discussion. He made a point of commending PM Singh’s intellect, economic prowess among the G-20 leaders, and self-effacing manner as an ‘accidental politician’ and former civil servant like him.”
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‘Lonely dove’
Roemer seemed surprised that Narayanan should be so forthcoming in an initial courtesy call and said his effort to “distance himself from his boss [Manmohan Singh] in an initial courtesy call would suggest that PM Singh is more isolated than we thought within his own inner circle in his effort to ‘trust but verify’ and pursue talks with Pakistan, particularly in the wake of the hammering his government took from the opposition for the July Sharm al-Sheikh statement with [Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza] Gilani.”
The cable says that not only was the ministry of external affairs apparently not in the loop in foreign policy making, but also that Narayanan himself seemed to be driving foreign policy from the PMO.
‘US friends in Cabinet’
In another set of cables about the first term of the United Progresssive Alliance government which was propped up by the Left parties, the newspaper reported the US was satisfied at the “undeniable pro-American tilt of the Cabinet shuffle.” This remark was part of a cable sent by US Ambassador David Mulford in 2006, who also said the reshuffle “has infuriated the Left, which will view it as a throwing down of the gauntlet and an invitation to open warfare”.
Cong rubbishes leaks
As the latest Opposition heat on the United Progressive Alliance government on Tuesday came over the Wikileaks, the Congress party rubbished the cable leaks as “subjective, unauthorised elements of sensation”. In the morning, Left parties aggressively raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha and demanded an explanation from the Prime Minister over leaked leaked cables that suggest a “US tilt” was visible in the Union Cabinet reshuffle of 2006.
The Bharatiya Janata Party didn’t take an active role but its members along with the Shiv Sena supported the CPI(M) demand. The CPI(M) said ex-US ambassador Mulford had described the 2006 Cabinet reshuffle in the petroleum portfolio as a “determination to ensure US-India relations continue to move ahead rapidly”. The Congress tried to downplay the leaks.“Indian democracy is far larger than these sensational tidbits,” Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.