A swadeshi prime minister totally obsessed with videshi. Sounds incredible. But for most of the 10 weeks that he has been in power, our homegrown Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has been talking and espousing his Government's foreign policy.For the first few weeks, Vajpayee adopted a hands-off policy as far as the media was concerned. But when he began responding, it turned out to be a verbal deluge on India's nuclear policy and its implications on international relations.In less than a week, Vajpayee outlined and articulated his very own external policy in over half a dozen interviews given to local and international publications and wire services. Each time a request for an interview is granted, the prime minister's media advisers make it abundantly clear that he will not answer any question dealing with domestic politics or the economy.For the 75-year-old Vajpayee, the nuclear blasts turned into an arduous refresher course in delicate diplomacy. During his 26-month stint as foreign minister in the Morarji Desai government in the late '70s, he could not come to complete grips with the highly specialised arena of international relations because he was not his own leader. Without the authority to influence the nation's nuclear policy, he had to remain content merely continuing with the Nehruvian foreign policy. He could not accomplish his childhood dream of leading a nuclear India.All that is history. As nuclear India's prime minister, Vajpayee is now making headlines. He has been confabulating for an average of six hours daily with senior officials of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), led by the low-key Foreign Secretary K. Raghunath.Not since the 1965 Indo-Pakistan War has the 538-member Indian Foreign Service, with 158 offices abroad, been pressed into the service of the prime minister. From May 11 onwards, all the divisional heads in South Block and over 100 heads of missions all over the world have been putting in daily 12-hour schedules, preparing briefs for Vajpayee. Each day, they send summaries of reactions of international media, industry, academicians, think tanks and politicians to India's new postures.By concentrating on foreign policy, Vajpayee is proving to be no different from most of his predecessors like Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, P.V. Narasimha Rao and I.K. Gujral. Like them, he also believes that a prime minister's local standing is directly linked with his international acceptability. In fact, it was Indira Gandhi who set in motion the process of packing the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) with officials from the MEA. While others indulged in diplomatic sophistry to carve out a niche for themselves, Vajpayee preferred the nuclear option to assert his leadership. .preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}In retrospect, it is clear that the induction of Brajesh Mishra, a former diplomat, as the prime minister's principal secretary was to equip the PMO to deal with the emergence of a nuclear India.His preoccupation with transnational affairs has also forced him to spend over 14 hours at work everyday so that he can deal with domestic economic and political issues. He has successfully led the foreign office in fire-fighting the videshi menace. His real test, however, lies in dealing with the swadeshi backlash which has just begun.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Jun 8, 1998--- ENDS ---
