Vajpayee's letter to Clinton after 1998 tests

Taken from http://www.rediff.com/news/1998/may/13bomb2.htm

Dear Mr President

You would already be aware of the underground nuclear tests carried out in India. In this letter, I would like to explain the rationale for the tests.

I have been deeply concerned at the deteriorating security environment, specially the nuclear environment, faced by India for some years past. We have an overt nuclear weapon state on our borders, a state which committed armed aggression against India in 1962. Although our relations with that country have improved in the last decade or so, an atmosphere of distrust persists mainly due to the unresolved border problem. To add to the distrust, that country has materially helped another neighbour of ours to become a covert nuclear weapons state. At the hands of this bitter neighbour we have suffered three aggressions in the last 50 years. And for the last ten years we have been the victim of unremitting terrorism and militancy sponsored by it in several parts of our country, specially Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. Fortunately, the faith of the people in our democratic system, as also their patriotism, has enabled India to counter the activities of the terrorists and militants aided and abetted from abroad.

The series of tests are limited in number and pose no danger to any country which has no inimical intentions towards India. We value our friendship and co-operation with your country, and you personally. We hope that you will show understanding of our concern for India's security.

I assure you that India will continue to work with your country in a multilateral or bilateral framework to promote the cause of nuclear disarmament. Our commitment to participate in non-discriminatory and verifiable global disarmament measures is amply demonstrated by our adherence to the two conventions on Biological and Chemical Weapons. In particular, we are ready to participate in the negotiations to be held in Geneva in the Conference on Disarmament for the conclusion of a fissile material cut-off treaty.

I enclose for your information the text of the press statement issued after the nuclear tests were carried out today. I close with the expression of my highest consideration for your country and yourself.

Yours sincerely,

A B Vajpayee

Vajpayee's defense strategy way back in 1974

Vajpayee was very sharp and foresighted. What step should be taken at what time before hand was known. He could sense it like a sniffer dog. In 1974 during discussion with Y.B. Chavan (The then defense minister during Indira Gandhi), Vajpayee said - "We should not put all our eggs in one basket. That would not be a good strategy and good diplomacy".

Of course, the statement of eggs in the basket was not created by Vajpayee. The fact that he used this to make a sharp point should be noticed. The defense Minister Chavan was talking about Russia and its betrayal to Sadat. Vajpayee clearly told - " I do not want to go into who betrayed whom and why. The Soviet Union will supply arms when it pleases, stops when it pleases. This has made even Egypt to look up for arms with US. We should not depend on any country".

Way back in 1974 a strategy and foresight of this nature is commendable by an Opposition leader (Vajpayee). It is essential to understand that Vajpayee knew that india has to depend upon several countries rather than one for security and weapons.

In fact Narasimha Rao began relations with Israel when he was the PM. The starting of that relationship and its immediate continuation by Vajpayee in 1998 helped the country during Kargil War. If Israel had not supplied arms and ammunition during 1998, we would have lost the war. India at that time under Vajpayee sensed the dire need and quickly approached Israel and not Russia (This was the strategy of Congress till Rao).

Sometimes crises test those people who can come out with flying colors and perhaps God wants to see such colors. Vajpayee's test was Kargil. He passed with flying colors although there were intelligence failures.

Al Gore's speech in USA about Vajpayee amidst diplomats

In today's world, it is rare to find a leader who combines the qualities of idealism and pragmatism, confidence and humility. In you, Mr. Prime Minister, we find such a leader.

As a poet, you have inspired the imagination of your people with your eloquence. As Prime Minister, you have challenged your people to act on their imagination, to create a shared vision for a united, democratic, prosperous and peaceful India, and then to make that vision a reality. You are truly a leader in both word and deed.

President John Kennedy once said, in our country, "If more politicians knew poetry, and more poets knew politics, I am convinced the world would be a little better place to live." I cannot translate that into Hindi, but Mr. Prime Minister, you embody President Kennedy's words. You know both poetry and politics, and through your inspired leadership, you are indeed making the world a better place to live.

In your poem Oonchai -- or "height" in English -- you speak of the importance of not losing touch with humanity as one rises in life. Your poem ends with a stirring line, which I would like to quote: "Never let me climb so high that I cannot bend down to embrace another human." You have dedicated your life to this noble ambition.

I am confident that India is destined for great heights. One of the World's great civilizations, India has emerged, of course, as one of it's great democracies. India's history has been turbulent at times. But your nation is on the way to overcoming these challenges by embracing change, uniting all, and setting a course for the future.

Ref:
http://www.indianembassy.org/indusrel/pm_us_2000/gore_pm_september_15_2000.htm

This interesting speech highlights one thing. Vajpayee had changed the mindset of US about India. It was reflected in the speech. Sometimes, any reader might wonder and say - "Nothing unusual about this. US does appreciate and respect and gives warm welcome of this kind if it wants to pursue diplomatic relationships. "

My reply to such a statement is that one could not have imagined that US could do such a complete U-turn in a span of 2 years. It is not possible to convince big powers to speak so much about our country and its people (in a positive manner) just to smoothen relationships. Why should US care anyways about this courtesy? They could have simply conducted a bilateral meeting and announced the change of relationships. They made it a gala event because they became genuinely interested in having diplomatic interest. It cannot be denied that the Indian lobby in US also played a great role. However, Vajpayee had given a midas touch. It worked. In fact, click here. This article says how Clinton immediately lifted sanctions within couple of months of talks with Jaswant Singh. It is a really a miracle for an ordinary citizen, but a small task for two big speakers - Vajpayee and Jaswant Singh.

Some critics may even argue that US wanted someone in Asia to counterweight China and so chose India. This is true but not the major factor that heralded a new wave of positiveness in the 2 largest democracies. Indian lobbies have been pressing for stronger relationships with India since 1995. But, US was not serious until Kargil war happened and Jaswant Singh had around 14 round of talks.

How Vajpayee changed the Highway map of India

Here's my article on this

How DRDO and Vajpayee fooled CIA

Here's my article on it

A good move by Vajpayee to allow FDI in defence in 2001

When NDA was in power in 2001, the Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha and PM Vajpayee realized the great need for tapping domestic private potential to develop defense parts. So far from 1947 till 2000, Defense was purely a Public Sector Unit (PSU) and the problem was improper access to emerging technology and huge imports of weapons and equipments from Russia and other countries. When machinery came from Israel, it helped India win the Kargil war else we would have lost. Even before war had started, Vajpayee had continued discussions with Israel to get more weapons.

Hence in 2001, 100% private participation by domestic companies(like L&T) was allowed to manufacture parts of the defense equipments like radar, parts of helicopters etc. This helped better quality and high efficiency low cost materials to be infused into defense sector. In fact, Dhruv, Tejas have become very famous and countries have signed billions of dollars since then to buy them. At the same time FDI was capped to 26%. This helped foreign companies to strike deals with India.

Vajpayee made drastic changes to Defence System Structure: The first attempt after 50 years

For all along, committees and committees have been set up from 1947-1999 to make changes in defence establishments - structural changes and cohesion amongst various components, but none took any shape. This was primarily because the bureaucracy and the polity was simply unwilling to make bold steps. Rajiv Gandhi, V.P Singh and Narasimha Rao did make an attempt towards the set up of National Security Council, but failed. The first time ever proposal was brought into reality in 1998 under specially Vajpayee's intervention. It must be understood even when proposals were thought of, Kargil happened. And post Kargil, Vajpayee set up another committee under expert K.Subramanyam and after 6 months the report was given. The report was the first of its kind as Subramanyam himself points out. It was a very comprehensive study and proposed far more changes than expected to ensure that different defence establishments can work cohesively.

Although Vajpayee took the report very seriously and made changes to defence structure as per its recommendations, there were shortcomings. But it cannot be denied that it was the first concrete attempt in 50 years that Vajpayee and his team challenged bureaucracy which was against many such changes.

Vajpayee and his coterie of leaders - Advani, Brajesh Mishra and Jaswant Singh did the following:

• Created Defence Intelligence Authority - a new body directly accountable to the Defence Minister. This agency is headed by a member whose ranking is equivalent to an Air Marshal/General and could be from any of the 3 armed forces. The person heads the already existing intelligence agencies in Army, Navy and Air Force. Such an agency is now less dependable on civilian intelligence agencies like Intelligence Bureau(IB) and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). The dependency on IB and RAW caused major blunders in 1962 war. From those years, the armed forces have been demanding. Now, it is fulfilled.
  
• Created a Nuclear Command Authority whose directives are to be operationilized by Strategic Forces Command under the supervision of Air Marshal (or equivalent). This is solely responsible for management of strategic nuclear weapons
• Agreed to the creation of post of Chief of Defence Staff and Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, but could not make it a reality because of controversies involved between bureaucracy and armed forces w.r.t the impact such a post can create in decision making
• Created National Security Council consisting of 3 tiers:
  

  1) Strategic Policy Group (SPG) – includes Cabinet Secretary, Chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Force, (Foreign, Home, Defense, Finance) Secretary, Secretary (Defence Production), Secretary (Revenue), RBI Governor, IB chief, RAW Secretary, Dept of Atomic Energy Secretary, Secretary of Dept of Space, Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister, Chairman of Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) – responsible for short and long term security threats and policy options.

  2) National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) – consists of officials from outside the Govt who have in expertise in external security, strategic analysis, foreign affairs, defence, the armed forces, internal security, science and technology and economics.

  3) NSC Secretariat: JIC is the main one and it encompasses integrating RAW, IB Intelligence agencies along with Army, Navy, Air Force Intelligence agencies

• National Security Advisor (NSA) who acts as a main interface between these 3 tiers and PM.

In fact, B.Raman, defence analyst and a member of intelligence agency has stated that 70% of the recommendations of Subramanyam Committee have been implemented.

The major problem that draw flak from everyone was the post of NSA which got mixed with Principal Secretary (PS) to PM. Both were held by Brajesh Mishra and even Advani had difference of opinion on this as he quotes in his autobiography ("My country My life"). The 2 posts in terms of responsibilities are so huge that mixing them only dilutes the whole purpose of creating NSA.

There are several criticisms about all these changes - but it cannot be ignored that the attempt was the first of its kind and no doubt even NDA leaders admitted that further changes are required. So, one should be patient enough and expect that future governments (be it Congress or BJP) take this seriously. Failure to do so will only make these bodies useless.

Infact , J.N. Dixit who was the diplomat during the crucial years of East Asian Crisis and Sri Lankan Crisis and assisted the Congress was chosen to write the Defence Policy of the Congress in 2004 for Lok Sabha elections. The fact J.N. Dixit himself clarifies (as given by Congress manifesto) that all entities created are good, but certain changes are required to make them effective. But it appears that even after 5 years of being in power, Manmohan Singh has not given any attention to his proposed changes.

This and further the appreciation given by Subramanyam quoted as below only confirms the fact that Vajpayee took some bold decisions to change the age old norms of the Indian Defence.

"* The Government broke the taboo of 53 years on review of national security matters. This precedent will enable periodic reviews in the future.

* The reform process of national security requirements was preceded by intense debate at political level. This has helped in "cutting through the Gordian knot of sequential bureaucratic nitpicking and consequent delays."

* Recommendations and supporting arguments of the review are being published. This will add to transparency in discussion of India’s national security matters."

We should remember that the first time when new changes are done, it takes a while that it gets accepted in totality and its effectiveness proved. However, certain aspects of the brought in changes required immediate rectification and this is where Vajpayee's Govt failed.