Bhabani Sengupta resigns!

George Iype in New Delhi

Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral's decision to appoint his friend, foreign policy analyst Bhabani Sengupta, as an officer on special duty has backfired.

A day after he took charge at the prime minister's office, Sengupta resigned, following protests over his appointment in the Lok Sabha. The prime minister has accepted his resignation.

Sengupta's views had worried ministry of external affairs officials.

Speaking to Rediff On The NeT hours before the resignation, MEA officials feared that Sengupta's contentious views on a host of issues, including the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and Indo-Pakistan relations would result in a definite shift in India's foreign policy under the United Front government.

The maverick Sengupta, who calls himself Gujral's "intellectual friend," said he would make no compromises on the issues he has held dear to his heart and mind all these years.

For the 75-year-old former senior fellow of Columbia University, the prestigious job in the prime minister's office brought accolades and unforeseen hurdles. Nevertheless, his candid views on nuclear disarmament and Kashmir have been severely curtailed. "I have been asked by the government not to give any interviews without permission," he had said on Monday night.

He, thus, refused to give a full interview to Rediff On The NeT. "I now hold the rank of a secretary to the Government of India," he had said, justifying his reticence. Nonetheless, Sengupta, who has written 35 novels in Bengali under the pseudonym Chanakya Sen, did answer a few questions.

Sengupta said since he had taken charge on Monday, his priorities had not been set by the PMO yet. His brief, he had said, would be to assist the prime minister in formulating crucial policies in international affairs.

Discussing his conflicting views with the GoI, especially on CTBT and Kashmir, he said, "Everyone's views on any issue cannot be similar. It does not mean that we should not work together. In fact, solutions also arise out of differing views."

Last year, when foreign policy analysts in India debated whether the country should sign the CTBT or not, Sengupta had publicly advocated the signing of the treaty. But far from that, India made every effort to block it.

Acquiring a nuclear arsenal is another major area of Sengupta's disagreement with government policy. According to him, India should not make a nuclear bomb. "It is an instrument of war, not peace," he said. But the Indian government in the last two decades has refused to give up its nuclear options. Similarly, other nations too continue to reject demands of abandoning nuclear arsenals.

Sengupta was optimistic that the Gujral government would be able to make a breakthrough in Kashmir. "I hold in high esteem the Gujral doctrine of good neighbourliness. It is quite possible that the United Front government finds a settlement to the Kashmir problem," he said.

He had expected a fruitful outcome of the meeting between the prime ministers of India and Pakistan later later this month. He, however, avoided comment on whether he would influence Gujral with his controversial views on Kashmir.

Sengupta, who has openly admitted that India should give up the Siachen issue, has often called for a "porous, open border with Pakistan," in order to resolve the Indo-Pak border issue.

While Sengupta was getting ready to become the real power behind the United Front government's foreign policy initiatives, key MEA officials attacked him as "an anti-establishment man whose theories have flopped many times."

Citing an example, a senior MEA official pointed out that Sengupta was largely responsible for a major foreign policy gaffe during the Gulf war. Sengupta is alleged to have influenced Gujral, then foreign minister in the V P Singh government, to fly to Baghdad and embrace Iraqi President Saddam Hussain. That tryst with Saddam considerably strained Indo-US relations.

EARLIER STORY:Storm in Lok Sabha over Sengupta's appointment