The Nut is out. And I’m delighted that I was proved wrong when I wrote about reaping the rewards of loyalty. For once, the good Doctor has shown guts.

Amid mounting pressure for his exit, K Natwar Singh was on Monday relieved as External Affairs Minister and made Minister without portfolio hours after government appointed a judicial commission to inquire into allegations of Iraqi oil pay-offs.

With a caveat: he gets the rare honour of remaining in the coterie powerdom without a portfolio.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrote to the President that he would be minister without portfolio in the Union Council of Ministers.

Further proof that loyalty does pay.

What perhaps is the most disgusting element of this whole drama is Nutwar’s clamorous defiance that he will not step down because–sigh–he’s not guilty. That his guilt is not proven is not the point. One would expect this sort of shameless behaviour as natural if it orginiated from the RJD goons that dot Manmohan’s cabinet. Nutwar on the other hand seems to be an accomplished man with a stellar academic record as well as the authorship of several books to his credit. However, his behaviour is proof that book learning/scholarship is useless without character.

As this Indian Express report says,

While the Manmohan government was set on a nay vote, Natwar Singh went on record to say that when it came to voting in the UN on Iran nuclear issue, then he, as the External Affairs Minister would vote for Iran rather than against it. He thereby single-handedly trashed the official government stance - for personal reasons.

What does it say about his character? That he placed self interest above the nation’s interests? And more excellently, the same report says:

With the PM handling the Iran N-issue with a hands-on approach, Natwar’s stance was flabbergasting. It was not his place to speak out of turn. At stake is India’s new-found N-solidarity with the US signalled by the Indo-US accord. Natwar, if he had been successful, would have endangered that, causing harm that would perhaps be irreparable.

That India’s First Lady has acted with prudence in endorsing Nutwar’s removal is commendable: whether she has the required foresight to do it or merely acted on the advice of her inner circle is another matter. The Indian Express lead editorial on this issue also makes an insightful observation on Nutwar’s nightmarish nostalgia:

Deciding he would leave the foreign minister’s office kicking and screaming, he swung to reckless and extreme positions on foreign policy. If he genuinely believed, as he said he did and does, that the collapse of the Soviet Union was “one of the tragedies of the 20th century” or that Paul Volcker singled him out because Saddam Hussein supported Indira Gandhi’s Emergency, or that NAM’s revival is essential to take on those “who have discovered Islam after 9/11″, it was his problem. There was no reason to make Natwar’s nostalgia India’s nightmare.

Damn good, I should say. In a lighter vein, Nutwar’s antics look hilarious; his behaviour resembles that of a stubborn child whose prized toy is taken away from it as punishment for bad behaviour. Hence all the kicking and screaming. Nutwar’s faith in braindead ideas like the NAM is the result of his endless Nehru-fetish. And as the edit rightly points out, there was no occasion for him to try to enforce his private fantasies as India’s foreign policy.

Thanks to his mindless outbursts, Nutwar’s credibility as a responsible foreign minister has taken an incurable beating. This piece concludes that he has become a liability which the government (as well as the Congress party) has finally got rid of, Volcker or no Volcker.

Paul Volcker, admitted the final draft was watered down against the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, and his son, Kojo, first finger-pointed in the Iraqi oil-for-food scandal. What Volcker did nor did not do for Annan’s sake is one issue, which India as a UN member state can surely call to investigate, but letting off Natwar Singh on that count makes no sense. Natwar, by his continued retention as minister, is implicating India in the scam, and the longer he stays, the deeper the Congress party will be seen to be implicated as well. The nation is bigger than Natwar Singh, and for its sake, he has to be sacked, if he does not go on his own, and the cleanest image the Congress can get for itself is to be prepared for a full probe. The government appointed the former chief justice of India, R.C.Pathak, to probe the Volcker allegations today, and that is a good decision. But there is no reason for Natwar Singh to stay on. He has lost all sense of proportion in attacking America, with which, like it or not, we are embarked on building a strategic relationship. On one day, we recognise the government in Iraq, and Natwar Singh comes along and delegitimses it. And now, a very sensitive international issue like the Iran vote in the IAEA becomes a political dartboard for Natwar. He tells for all the world to know where he stands on the issue. On an issue where the cabinet has still to decide its position, should a minister speak out in public? Is this a new variant of the display of collective responsibility? As we argued before, Natwar Singh has become a gross liability as foreign minister. He is so implicated in the corrupt dealings of the United Nations that he is in no position to advance India’s case for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. [...] No senior Bush administration official would want any more than absolutely formal meetings with Natwar, strictly because he happens to be India’s foreign minister, but intimacies, the bread and butter of diplomacy, will cease. Can Natwar get any of India’s work done abroad? Not anymore.

(India Reacts)

To me, Nutwar’s misplaced expressions of fury seem less a logical expression of ideology or position than the effects of senility. That’s probably being personal but his recent behaviour speaks otherwise. No person occupying such an important position will in his right mind, ever vent in this manner with no thought about consequences. I find it hard to believe that Nutwar isn’t aware of this simple fact in his long and distinguished (?) career mainly as a diplomat. Or is it merely the height of his arrogance?

Postscript:

1. Among the several writings on this issue, I found B. Raman’s most surprising. His stance is completely the opposite. While almost all pieces have hailed Nutwar’s exit, Raman treads the road not taken. It is welcome to hear voices from the other side. However, his case doesn’t have a solid foundation. One, he doesn’t touch upon the most vital aspect of Nutwar’s sacking: his incompetence to remain in office: the Volcker report was merely an excuse. But Raman argues for Nutwar’s case based only on the Volcker report. For good reason. It gives him a good premise to blame the U.S for Nutwar’s dismissal. Whatever be his conclusion, it is incredible that he says Nutwar Singh is besmirched because the US doesn’t like him! Is it then reasonable to conclude that Nutwar lost his job because someone in the US top brass sought it? The India Reacts report also says the same thing but provides more balance to its piece by citing reasons why the US hates Nutwar, and why it is in India’s interests to further foster its relationship with the US and how Nutwar proved a liability to this cause.
2. The Nut still believes that he can get his job back. He’s let loose the Left wolves. Says the leader of the pack in his press statement:
   

   The CPI(M) reiterates that the Volcker Committee findings cannot be treated as final and conclusive, given the circumstances in which this committee was set up and the fact that it has got material from a US occupied administration in Iraq. The two inquiries instituted by the government should help sift through all the material and ascertain the truth. Shri Natwar Singh has stepped down as external affairs minister till the inquiries are completed. This may be seen as helping the enquiries. At the same time, there is a concerted bid to malign all those individuals, parties and forces who opposed the brutal sanctions in Iraq and showed solidarity with the Iraqi people and government. The BJP and pro-American forces are unable to see that the worst crimes and loot of Iraq have been committed by the invasion of Iraq and its occupation.

   At least he has some support.

Related Blogs: Natwar Singh must go and Good Riddance (The Acorn) || Natwar Singh and the Oil For Food Scam (Secular-Right) || Natwar Singh and Oil Money and Reading from the same script?(Varnam)