K Natwar Singh: A staunch Nehru follower who parted ways with Congress

Natwar Singh was External Affairs minister in 2004-05 in Manmohan Singh's government till he was asked to step down after alleged charges of nepotism

Kunwar Natwar Singh, former foreign minister, India’s ambassador to Pakistan during a critical period in the relations between the two countries, and an important influence in guiding India’s foreign policy that went far beyond the formal positions he held, died in Delhi at 93.

He quit the foreign service to join politics in 1984 and directed the Congress party’s stance on geopolitics till he fell out with the party leadership and left the Congress in 2008. He was a superb raconteur and a gifted writer.

Singh was external affairs minister in 2004-05 in Manmohan Singh's government till he was asked to step down after alleged charges of nepotism that he denied vehemently. He also served as the Union minister of state for Steel, Mines and Coal and Agriculture from 1985-86 in the cabinet of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, followed by a stint as minister of state in the external affairs ministry during 1986-89 in the same government.

However, few knew about the semi-political policy interventions that were entrusted to him. He acknowledged that he was a lifelong Nehruite. Because of his admiration for her father, Indira Gandhi became a personal friend and he became an unofficial advisor on policy-making beyond diplomacy. For instance, he played a crucial role in persuading India’s princely families to accept the abolition of the privy purse, a crucial element in Indira Gandhi’s recast of the Congress. He was always her unabashed admirer and once recalled to Business Standard, his trip to Kabul with the then Prime Minister. Mrs Gandhi expressed the desire to visit Emperor Babur’s grave – Bagh-e-Babur. As she paid homage, she told Singh: “I have had my brush with history”. Singh replied he’d had two. “Paying homage to Babur in the company of the Empress of India was a great honour”. Because of his proximity, he was able to intervene directly at the level of the PMO, which he did in the days leading up to the partition of Pakistan when he transferred crucial information about Pakistan’s moves via information handed to him by an East Pakistani diplomat in Poland where he was posted. It was Indira Gandhi who suggested to him that he join politics.

When Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister, Natwar Singh was made a minister, but his heart was not in steel or coal. He was also resented by a group of Rajiv Gandhi’s advisors. The posting as MoS in MEA thus came after a gap. Singh played a central role in the organisation of the meetings of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) India hosted. He would later use his skills and friendships to project Gandhi on the international stage even as an opposition leader.

But after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, he felt sidelined in the Congress and mounted an ill-advised coup against PV Narasimha Rao. It fizzled out mainly because the central actor, Sonia Gandhi, did not want to enter politics as the leader of a faction of the Congress. Later, he became Sonia Gandhi’s advisor on foreign affairs and was one of the three people in the room when she proposed to Dr Manmohan Singh that he become the Prime Minister.

However, a bitter breach would follow. Although he was exonerated of any charges of corruption by a committee set up by the Indian government, his alleged involvement in the UN’s oil for food programme prompted rivals to discredit him. In 2014, he met Narendra Modi, possibly to offer his support. He remained a Modi supporter till he died.

Natwar Singh, the man, was engaging and witty if blunt. He told Business Standard once that a venerable, but skeletal leader in the US administration who was to come to New Delhi on a visit “not only looked like an undertaker, but also needed one”. About himself, he said in his autobiography One Life is Not Enough: “What are my vices? Conceit, overconfidence, occasional obstreperousness, zeal, suffering the foolish, leaping before looking”.