Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM's speech on the release of Jagat Mehta's Book

"Today we are gathered together not merely to release a book, but to celebrate the extraordinary career of a very highly accomplished diplomat and a friend of mine for five decades. Jagat has described the circumstances in which we met first, He was the first Indian whom I met when I reached Cambridge and went to see my tutor Claude Guillebaud, who as he said was grandnephew of Alfred Marsahll. That's a friendship which has lasted for five decades and I have learnt a great deal from Jagat and its my proud privilege to acknowledge that fact. Jagat is a quintessential civil servant, an outstanding diplomat, a complete patriot and a thorough professional. The likes of him are not found everywhere and blessed is the land which has given birth or nurtured men of his vision, men of his integrity and men of his courage.

This book has a particular value beyond the many interesting points that our distinguished author is making. A few weeks ago, in this very room while releasing another book I regretted the fact, the absence of long range thinking in policy making in our country. I had then said and I repeat what I say then that in this age of competitive politics we have all become short term maximizers we have in fact, no class which we can call as an establishment. By establishment I mean a group of men and women who are secure enough to think about long term issues. I think over a period of time our politics has been molded and shaped by matters of the moment and events as the come and go. Our Civil Service was, I believe, expected to play that role of doing the essential thinking for statecraft. With the way our Civil Services have evolved over the years, I think the tendencies to promote short termism have also hampered the birth and flourishing of long range thinking. I think that's the point Jagat made and I endorse that no nation can achieve its ambitions whether economic or social unless there is adequate thinking about the trade-offs, about options, about possibilities, about contingencies in the long term sense of the terms. I was saying that this book has a particular value beyond the many interesting points that our author is making. I refer to the importance that memoirs currently play in our effort to recall objectively events of the past for the future. I am aware that serious scholarship in India on government policy is hampered by a lack of access to official documents. Several eminent scholars have mentioned this to me. In other democracies, after a specified period, scholars and researchers are given access to official papers. This has encouraged professional study of contemporary history and policy-making. In the absence of a policy on making government files publicly available, the best records we have of policy-making and thinking at the highest levels in government are to be found in personal memoirs of distinguished men and women in public life. I therefore welcome Jagat's contribution to our understanding of the major events in our recent history.

However, I do hope that we do not have to depend only on memory and personal notes for a record of policy making. I think the time has come for us to have at least a 50-year rule, if not a 30-year rule, that allows scholars and researchers free access to declassified official papers. I would like to have this issue examined so that we can take an early and informed decision. In the long run, this will make it possible for us to draw appropriate lessons from the past and make effective decisions for the future.

I share Jagat's faith in the resolution of problems through negotiation and diplomacy. We often have to take recourse to negotiation and diplomacy in most situations of conflict or dispute. As I recall, it was Sir Winston Churchill who said that he believed that "jaw, jaw is better than war, war". Our own experience has shown that it is possible to resolve some of the most intractable problems through negotiations. This is amply illustrated in Jagat's book

For those of us who believe in the value of talking and negotiating, Jagat's book will be an important instrument in our armory. The history of the modern world tells us that no real human problems are ever resolved or settled by war. History also tells us that there are no serious problems facing humanity that can not be resolved through dialogue.

Jagat's book also makes an important contribution to our understanding of Indian diplomacy. Permit me to quote him at some length, for I believe we must reflect on what he says:

"The essence of diplomacy was always plurality of sovereignties and compromise in conflict resolution. India's civilisational personality, with its old salad bowl of faiths and tradition of tolerance, and its more recent pioneering role in decolonisation should have given the country a natural advantage in diplomacy in the contemporary world. Gandhiji's aversion to violence and placing premium on peaceful dialogue approximated to the method of negotiated persuasion. ... But, if we are honest, we would recognize that in six decades of independence, India has not optimized its international standing. We showed poor comprehension and inconsistent adherence to the diplomatic method." There is food for thought in these words.

These views attain greater relevance in context of our relations with our own neighbours. In fact, a large part of Jagat's book is devoted to diplomacy in our neighbourhood. Few large nations in the world live in situations of such complexity as we do. The fact that nearly sixty years after Independence, we have unsettled boarders in the West and in the East and in the North is something which worries me because this unsettled State is an invitation to outsiders to intervene in the affairs of this sub-continent in which we live. Our links with our neighbours are civilisational, cultural, economic and social. Yet, the obvious imbalance of size poses considerable challenges to diplomacy. Jagat has discussed some of these in great detail, and has suggested sensitive and thoughtful ways of dealing with these complex issues.

I hope younger diplomats will read his book with care, for there is much they can learn from his wisdom, knowledge and experience. In tomorrow's world, our young diplomats will need to deal with the needs of an India which realizes that it is not merely its past, but also its future that is intimately linked with developments in our neighbourhood. As I have said on several occasions, we in South Asia have a shared history, just as we have shared aspirations and common challenges to contend with. Reading Jagat's book should lead the reader to ask important questions that should bother all thinking Indians, including : How can we work together? How can we put our past behind us? How can we overcome the burden of history and march forward? I suggest that there are no answers that lie beyond human ingenuity and diplomacy. Enlightened leadership in South Asia has no option other than diplomacy to deal with the challenges at hand.

In addressing the new challenges of today, and newer ones we may face in the future, Jagat's book should help us keep faith in resolving problems through diplomacy. I compliment him on taking the trouble to record his experiences. I hope he inspires others to follow suit. As George Santayana put it so eloquently, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." I thank Jagat for helping us to learn from the past. I wish him well and wish him a long healthy life."