'Coincidental' diplomacy

Economic diplomacy may have helped the Indian private sector break the barrier of suspicion and get government support for business overseas but Sunil Mittal, chairman, Bharti Enterprises, had delegates at the India Global Forum amused when he mentioned that business delegations accompanying the Indian prime minister are still referred to as "coinciding" with the prime minister's visit overseas. "As if it is just a coincidence that we are there," Mittal added. He recollected how on one such delegation with Atal Bihari Vajpayee he had protested about this to N K Singh, then a senior bureaucrat, but the tradition of describing business delegation visits as "coinciding", instead of "accompanying", if not "part of the delegation", continues.