Saturday Interview:‘Vendetta is what they have against me’

It took Kunwar Natwar Singh two years and a month to complete his controversial autobiography One Life is Not Enough (Rupa Publications) after he began writing it in December 2011. A career diplomat, Natwar Singh was close to Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. In 1984 he resigned from service to contest elections on a Congress ticket.He won and served as a Union minister of state until 1989.

Thereafter, he had a sketchy political career until he became India's foreign minister in 2004.
However, 18 months later, he had to resign under a cloud after the UN's Volcker committee named him as a beneficiary of illegal payoffs in the Iraqi 'oil for food' scam.
In his autobiography, which was published this month, Natwar Singh has revealed that it was not Congress president Sonia Gandhi's “inner voice” but her son Rahul's fierce opposition that forced her to decline the Prime Ministership in 2004.Rahul feared that like his grandmother and father, his mother,too, would be killed. These and other revelations in Natwar Singh's book have embarrassed
the Congress, prompting party leaders to accuse Mr Singh of betrayal and sensationalism.
Having maintained a regular diary for 60 years Natwar Singh says he writes everything “from political happenings to who I met”. In a conversation with SUCHAYAN MANDAL,he discussed a range of issues.

Are you working on a sequel to your current book, One Life is Not Enough? What is the idea behind the second volume of your autobiography?

No, I am not. It's a mistake that came out in the media. It's not a sequel of this. You can't have a sequel to this. It's another book. It will take another one-and-a half years. It will be on my daily affairs, like what I do in my dayto- day life. It may be on the journalists I am meeting these days,
or also may be on political discussions here and there.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has dismissed your revelations about the Nehru-Gandhi family as a bid to market your product. What would you say?

First of all, why should I comment on anything that someone like Manmohan Singh says? Has he read the book? He can say whatever he wants, but that doesn't do him any credit. Do I tell my publisher not to sell books because Manmohan Singh has said so! It has sold 50,000 copies already.

Many Congress leaders have accused you of betraying the  Gandhis and misusing decades of your close proximity  to the family. Is this a fair criticism?

The Congress has betrayed Sonia Gandhi. I haven't responded to most of the Congress people. I think I have replied to two of them. I mean I have commented on them. One is Digvijay Singh, who has said something like the book wasn't worth reading. I have replied, Digvijay Singh is a very great political leader. I wish him good luck. I hope he becomes the PM of the country. And there was Anand
Sharma who criticised the book. I have said that I have no significance in front of Anand Sharma. He is a great leader. Let him become the chief minister of his state.What do you do? You dismiss the allegations.
I don't think the people who have criticised me have read my book. I can't think of anybody who reads in the Congress party.

The Congress has trashed your book and claims it is “sensationalism” arising out of “vendetta” since you were fired from the Union Cabinet and the party over your alleged involvement in the UN oil-for-food scam. Your comments?

It is eight-and-a-half years ago. How has the Congress treated me and my family? And then why did Sonia Gandhi and her daughter come to see me? Why? In the last eight-and-a-half years they didn't come to meet me a single time. Vendetta is what they have against me.Without giving me a chance to express
my views, they had betrayed me at that time. Sonia came and told me, “You're my closest friend. I don't even tell Priyanka and Rahul things we talk. In spite of this you're writing all these.”

Do you think Sonia Gandhi, despite her Italian origin, would have done a better job than Dr Singh as India's PM?

I don't think so. Manmohan began quite well during UPA-I The whole thing went to pieces in UPA-2. He wasn't an elected PM. Being a Rajya Sabha member he became PM twice, the only PM to have achieved such a distinction. Talking of Sonia heading the country in UPA-2, Rahul wouldn't have let her.

Do you think Priyanka Gandhi could be a better leader than Rahul in steering the Congress?

The decision has to be taken by the family. But Priyanka is a very attractive personality. She reminds me of her grandmother. She is a very good  communicator. She relates to people both in urban and rural places. She is down to earth and will eat meals with farmers. She is a very nice person. But then the question comes, what would happen to Rahul? I think Rahul is a very fine young man but the real test came in the 2014 elections and he couldn't meet the challenge.
The Congress tally drastically came down from 206 to 44. He and his mother were star campaigners. Nothing helped.

How would you compare Sonia Gandhi with Indira Gandhi?

There is strictly no comparison.Sonia had no challenge in Congress for that matter. For the last 15 years she has been president. Before she became president of the party, there was one Sangma or Sharad Pawar. But Indira
Gandhi had to fight the syndicate for three years. Tough people like Kamraj and Morarji Desai, and SK Patil, Atulya Ghosh and so many other people.

Are you planning to return to politics?

No, I don't have any desire. I'm 83 and I don't want to get involved in active politics anymore.

Published : The Statesman , Perspective , Page - 9 , 9th August , 2014