October 5,1998

The UN General Assembly is like Vajpayee's home turf and and he was on a roll this time, as Editor Prabhu Chawla saw in New York.

It was a business lunch but the ambience was definitely informal, with a good deal of Indo-Pakistani banter thrown in. The diplomatic encounter between prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharif at the New York Palace Hotel yielded more concrete bilateral initiatives than the half a dozen formal meetings did over the past three years.

Vajpayee played the perfect host, serving Sharif and his aides a delicious five-course Punjabi and Mughlai fare. And even as the first course -- vegetable soup and green salad -- was being served, the two prime ministers had established a close rapport. Both began talking in terms of constructing express highways linking the two countries. At which, a Sharif aide remarked, "Our prime minister's fondness for fast cars is known throughout the country. He and Begum Sahiba can drive at 250 km an hour on the Islamabad-Lahore highway without any problem." A young Indian diplomat was quick to retort: "Is there any speed limit in your country?" The Pakistanis were equally quick on the up-take: "We inform our policemen to be a little liberal with our prime minister."

By the time the guests began tucking into the lobster masala curry, the Pakistanis were clearly enchanted by Vajpayee. One of the ministers in the Pakistani delegation jokingly told him, "Sir, I belong to Lucknow. And if I were to vote in India, I would also have voted for you." The minister even suggested running a bus service between Delhi and Lahore, besides offering to sell Pakistan's surplus electricity to India at cheaper rates for the sake of keeping "good neighbourly relations".

SWEET SOMETHINGS
It was one summit where language was a facilitator rather than a barrier. Vajpayee and Sharif spoke in shudh (pure) Hindustani, a language both are comfortable with. The two, who were at each other's throat in Colombo just two months ago, were all sugar and spice in New York. In fact, during his brief opening remark, Vajpayee turned to Sharif and told him: "Arre saab, jhagde ki baat hi kahan hai? Hum to apki chini kha rahein hain. Bahut meethi hai (Where is the question of quarrelling? We are eating your sugar. It is quite sweet)."

Such disarming remarks helped convert the meeting to one of the shortest between the two prime ministers. It took less than five minutes for joint statements from the prime ministers and the foreign secretaries to be approved by both sides. The statements were promptly released to the press, opening what Vajpayee later on described as "a new chapter in Indo-Pak cooperation". Later, the prime minister surprised everyone by making an impromptu appearance at the Indian foreign secretary's briefing. A relaxed Vajpayee even fielded questions from the Pakistani media about protecting Indian minorities, answering them with equanimity and conviction.

DRAFTING DILEMMA
Whose speech was it anyway? The initial draft of Vajpayee's speech to the UN General Assembly was provided by the office of Kamlesh Sharma, India's permanent representative to the UN, and his deputy S. Paul. By the time it reached the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), it had been rewritten by at least three joint secretaries, an additional secretary and finally vetted by Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Brajesh Mishra.

Vajpayee was said to be none too happy with the original draft. It was then left to Prabhat Shukla, a joint secretary in the PMO, to rework the speech during the 20-hour flight from Delhi to New York. But when Vajpayee rejected even this draft, it was evident none of the officials could read the prime minister's mind. It was then up to Jaswant Singh, who has for the past few months been involved in parleys with the Americans, to fine-tune the document. Curiously, the final clearance was still delayed because there were differences over just two sentences in the final paragraph that related to the CTBT. It took several permutations and combinations from Singh, Mishra and Foreign Secretary K. Raghunath before the speech was finally cleared. Only to run into yet another hurdle: Sharma said a few sentences which seemed too harsh on the UN Security Council ought to be dropped. The original draft had stated that the Security Council was just a pawn in the hands of a few superpowers. Sharma felt that such a frontal attack in the General Assembly would prove counter-productive. The prime minister accepted his suggestion.

TONGUE TWISTERS
Two decades ago, as foreign minister in the Morarji Desai government, Vajpayee addressed the UN General Assembly in Hindi. This time too, he had decided to speak in Hindi, but Singh, Mishra and Shukla thought he ought to speak in English. Their preferences may have something to do with the fact that all three are distinctly uncomfortable in Hindi. But once Vajpayee made up his mind, he decided to do the translation himself, with some help from Private Secretary Shakti Sinha. This raised the hackles of the foreign office mandarins who would not trust even the prime minister to translate his own speech! Finally, professional translators in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) were woken up at midnight in India and asked to do a quick job barely hours before Vajpayee took the floor of the General Assembly. With the UN having no Hindi translators, Atul Khare from the Indian office at the UN was roped in for simultaneous translation of Vajpayee's speech. Much to the prime minister's satisfaction, the speech was received with loud applause.

PROBLEM OF PLENTY
In India, even the prime minister may find it difficult to collect so many movers and shakers under one roof. No such problems in New York though. With every Indian organisation suddenly eager to flaunt a saffron connection, Ambassador Naresh Chandra, Counsel General Harsh Bhasin and Kamlesh Sharma were wooed by powerful non-resident Indians for an invitation card to attend the function in honour of Vajpayee. Their telephones stayed busy all day as they fielded calls from senior politicians in India seeking invitations for their trusted friends in the US. Ambassador Chandra had organised the reception at the Waldorf Astoria's Empire Room which can at best accommodate 300 people.

Problem was there were over 200 organisations, all of them claiming to represent the Indian community in cities across the US. In the past, such receptions were invariably hosted by ethnic organisations which would extract a cover charge from the invitees. But Vajpayee had made it clear beforehand that he would not attend any private function. With the prime minister's delegation itself in excess of 100, Chandra had the tricky task of choosing 150 Indians out of over 5,000 who claimed they were eminently qualified to shake hands with Vajpayee. Some NRIs berated Chandra for booking such a small space for an important event, but others exhibited patience: they assured Chandra they would stay away from the function, "but you must extend the invitation nevertheless". Little wonder, Chandra and his senior colleagues went underground for the duration of the prime minister's New York visit.

ALL THE PM'S SPOKESMEN
In the past, it was different people saying different things. But in New York, it was a case of too many people repeating the same things. Both Singh and Raghunath were often seen making the same presentation again and again. Last Thursday, for example, Raghunath chose to brief the press half an hour before Vajpayee's address. But no sooner had the prime minister finished his speech than Singh was directed to talk to the media: with journalists asking the same questions, he had merely to repeat what Raghunath had said earlier in the day. On another occasion, Mishra decided to give an overall view of the visit after Singh and Raghunath had already briefed the press.

As in cricket, in public relations too the Pakistanis seemed to get the better of the Indians. While Indian officials were, as usual, elusive and inaccessible to the media, the Pakistanis went out of their way to court journalists, specially those from India. Mushahid Hussain, Pakistan's information and broadcasting minister and close friend of Sharif, even went to the extent of handing out his cell phone and hotel room numbers to mediapersons. He also insisted on walking the short distance to the UN headquarters with the Indian journalists for Vajpayee's speech. On the contrary, when Sharif made his speech, it was left to officials of the Indian consulate in New York to report to Vajpayee.

NO WORRIES ABOUT HOME
Vajpayee was clearly at home in New York, having represented the country at the UN on several occasions. Unlike his grim countenance at home, here he was full of charm and cheer, catching up with many of his friends and hosting dignitaries. Among the notable ones was his meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister. Netanyahu displayed great camaraderie, which Vajpayee reciprocated, but with some caution. After all, he had to keep in mind India's friendly ties with the Arab nations.

Sharif too was totally relaxed in New York, despite his growing woes back home. Ignoring all security and protocol considerations, he chose to have breakfast in the lobby of the New York Palace Hotel rather than in his luxurious suite. Sharif, unlike Vajpayee, spent most of his time outside the hotel. He was obviously looking for freedom of movement which he is denied at home.

AWAY FROM IT ALL
Why was Mishra not staying in the New York Palace? He and his wife chose to stay far from the crowd. In fact, Mishra's name did not figure in the accommodation plans for the Indian delegation, leading to all sorts of speculation. As it turned out, he decided to keep a low profile after Singh was made deputy leader of the delegation. Both of them disagree on many foreign policy issues, particularly the US. Since Singh has become the darling of the US establishment, Vajpayee advised Mishra to operate from behind and let Singh take the centrestage.

THE JUMBO DELEGATION
How many officials should accompany the prime minister during his trips abroad? The foreign office, of course, chooses not to address this question. But it appeared as if the entire PMO and the mea had moved base to New York. Besides Mishra, there were two secretaries, two additional secretaries, over a dozen joint secretaries and other officials. In addition, over 100 officials, drawn from the Indian missions in Washington and New York were pressed into service. In contrast, the Pakistani delegation comprised just 30 people. There were several junior officials in the Indian delegation who had nothing to do. Presumably, they'll be made scapegoats if something goes wrong.

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