Narayanan receives a rare honour and meets US heavyweights
ON any given spring evening, banquet halls in the Big Apple are host to one or the other kind of award presentation ceremony—a major industry in New York. What was different about the April 28 ceremony at New York Hilton's main ballroom was that the star was a diminutive man from Kerala, who had climbed several rocky mountains in his career before reaching Rashtrapati Bhawan.
A bit befuddled, yet maintaining the dignity of the high office he holds, Kocheril Raman Narayanan, 77, India's Rashtrapati, accepted a hand-formed eagle atop a solid crystal ball by Steuben symbolising the World Statesman Award from Rabbi Arthur Schneier, president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation. Past recipients include Czech president Vaclav Havel, former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, Argentin-ian president Carlos Menem. Narayanan is the first Asian to win the honour.
To the Americans, Narayanan is akin to Abraham Lincoln or 'Honest Abe', who was born in a Kentucky log cabin, but rose to the White House. He was a man with a conscience, who did what he could to free the then American Harijans—the slaves. "The word 'conscience' has a special resonance in the spiritual and moral history of humanity," said Narayanan after a warm introduction by Dr Henry A. Kissinger, former US secretary of state. "It (conscience) is associated with religious freedom and tolerance, equality and justice, with human rights and values. These are among the great principles on which the United States of America and the Republic of India have been founded," Narayanan said.
The president, who had served as Indian envoy to US in the '80s during the Reagan presidency, asserted that coalition governments have not affected the stability of the administration or the economy.
President Bill Clinton, who was in the Big Apple the same evening—for political fund-raising—sent his Cabinet colleague and UN envoy Bill Richardson to salute Narayanan on his award. The UN envoy read out a statement from Clinton congratulating President Narayanan. Following which, Richardson bolted from the banquet. Another no-show: New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Narayanan's stop-over to collect the little-known award on his way to Brazil and Peru on an official visit is seen to be more than a mere photo-op exercise. Narayanan used the two-day transit halt to push for better US-India ties, accompanied by civil aviation minister Ananth Kumar—who was joined by environment minister Suresh Prabhu of the Shiv Sena. Foreign secretary K. Raghunath and his team of career foreign service officers, who were with the president, met members of the influential Council on Foreign Relations to explain the new BJP government's policies.
At a closed-door dinner meeting on April 29, Raghunath explained to the Council that India's foreign policy wouldn't necessarily change because there was a new government in place in New Delhi. "He explained the new government's economic programme and about the continuation of the reforms," a source told 바카라. Another asserted that though nonproliferation was discussed, the issue of Pakistan's Ghauri missile and India's proposed Sagarika missile were not raised.
Earlier in the day, President Narayanan held a robust foreign policy discussion over breakfast at the Brooke Club hosted by Kissinger. US-India ties, the Asian scene, India and China and the balance of power were issues addressed at the meeting. Among those at the pow-wow: Rupert Murdoch, the global media mogul, Joseph Lelyveld, executive editor, New York Times, Abe Rosenthal, New York Times columnist, James F. Hoge Jr, editor, Foreign Affairs, James Michaels, editor, Forbes, Norman Pearlstine, editor-in-chief, Time, Michael Elliott, editor, Newsweek International, Robert L. Bartley, editor,
The Wall Street Journal, David Westin, of ABC News, Harvey Golub, chairman, American Express International, M. E. Patterson, vice chairman of the Board, J.P. Morgan & Co, David Rockefeller, former chairman, Chase Manhattan Bank, George Rupp, president, Columbia University, Frank G. Wisner, vice-chairman, American International Group, Jeffery D. Sachs, director, Harvard Institute for International Development and W. Wayne Booker, vice-chairman, Ford Motors. "That's a list we can never put together to meet an Indian leader," said an Indian offi-cial. "It's a heck of a power list."