Time to Review India's Foreign Policy

The situation arising after the joint statement issued by the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani couterpart Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt) cannot be wished away in any manner.

This is the first time that India was forced to take a weaker position than Pakistan. It had to soften the hard stand earlier taken by the Government after the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, to which the whole world appreciated, and approved our foreign policy. The present compulsions and pressure on India make the common man think that there definitely was the wish of "Uncle Sam."

Weakening Strong Policy
Nobody could have thought that under the guidance of a great scholar like Dr. Singh, India's foreign policy would have become so weak. Even the Congress members were in such a state of shock that the Congress leaders are not declaring their opinions openly. Nobody had even thought that there would be any outcome of the meeting.

Bear in mind that while media here were disappointed and in a state of shock, whereas the media in Pakistan were jubilant with the separation of peace talks from terrorism. Including a mention of Baluchistan in the joint statement was considered as a resounding success of the Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani and his foreign policy, and the Pakistani media were jubilant over their success.

After returning from Egypt, Dr. Singh had to clarify India's stand, but everybody knows that no one was satisfied with his weak reply and argument. Let alone the opposition, even his own party was not satisfied with his explanations. This was also the first time that such a wide crack had appeared between the party and the Government.

Congress Stand
It is said that Congress President Sonia Gandhi was not happy with the nuclear agreement with the United States. Despite this, she put all her strength behind Dr. Singh and stood behind him like an iron wall. This is the first time that Singh has appeared extremely weak and it seems that he will not get the support of the party's top leadership.

However, from reports that are filtering out, it seems Rahul Gandhi has put his support behind Singh, and has played a salutary role to get this problem solved, and has managed to convince everybody that there should be no differences of opinion between the party and the Government over this issue. As the joint statement was already out in the open, the party and the Government had no alternative, but to stand behind Dr. Singh and to honor the agreement, which he had signed.

This was the reason why Sonia Gandhi broke her meaningful silence and called a meeting of the parliamentary party, and announced her intention to stand behind the Prime Minister. Besides Rahul Gandhi, the Union Finance Minister Paranab Mukherjee was a great help in this matter. He agreed to speak in the Parliament on this issue, although the truth is that he was not happy with the joint statement issued at Sharm El-Sheikh. According to information received by us, Mukherjee agreed to give a statement in the Parliament as Sonia Gandhi requested him to do so personally.

However, in this matter, some points stand out absolutely clearly. First, the Congress chief did not want to speak or make a decision blindly on any matter without studying it thoroughly. The second point is that she has a strong and clear image of the country always in mind, which guides her in making important decisions. It is also clear that she keeps Rahul Gandhi's wishes in mind, as the common impression is that he is going to be the next Prime Minister.

Drawing New Lessons
The Prime Minister has finally received the Congress's support, which has brought the Government back on rails. But to draw from this, the conclusion that all problems have been solved will not be correct.

The after effects of this can rise again, for which the Government should be prepared. In this whole affair, another lesson that should be learned that we should safeguard India's foreign policy and shun the US pressure. In this lies the welfare of the country.