New twist to Mishra, Blair meeting row

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, MAY 12. The controversy over the meeting which the Hinduja brothers set up between the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee's Principal Secretary, Mr. Brajesh Mishra, and the British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, at Downing Street following India' nuclear tests in the summer of 1998 has been given a new twist by the Tories saying it contradicted the Blair Government's tough public posture to ``isolate'' India at that time.

They said the meeting indicated that the government was privately talking to India on its nuclear policy while condemning it publicly and threatening to break off diplomatic relations.

In the House of Commons on Friday, a Tory MP, Mr. Andrew Tyrie, demanded that the government reconcile the ``inconsistency'' between its official stand in the wake of India's nuclear tests and its actions a few days later.

He reminded the Foreign Secretary, Mr. Robin Cook, of his strong statement on the issue on June 1, 1998 - three days before the Downing Street meeting - and the government's ``determination to isolate'' India. Behind this public posturing, however, the government was secretly talking to India, courtesy of the Hindujas, he charged .

``Mr. Robin Cook appears to have said one thing to the House in public and to have been doing another in private. It seems as if he has been less than frank with the House'', Mr. Tyrie said.

He is reported to have written to the Prime Minister demanding that all documents - letters etc - relating to the government's involvement with the Hindujas being handed over to Sir Anthony Hammond, the jurist who had inquired into the Hindujas' passport affair.

Earlier this week, the Vajpayee Government was embarrassed when Mr. Tyrie released a set of leaked letters showing the Hindujas' active role in New Delhi's diplomatic campaign to defuse the angry international reaction following the Pokhran tests.

The letters indicated that they not only set up Mr. Brajesh Mishra's meeting with Mr. Blair on June 4, 1998, they were also present on the occasion. Later, they sought to get Mr. Mishra meet the G-8 foreign ministers to explain India's position.

Downing Street has made it clear that it had nothing to do with the Hindujas' initiative and that they were present at the June 4 meeting on behalf of the Indian Government. New Delhi's decision to use the good office of the Hindujas' in a major diplomatic campaign, bypassing its own High Commission in London, has surprised observers.

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Section  : International
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