What do you think of the prime minister handling the foreign affairs portfolio himself?
To a large extent every prime minister has to participate in foreign policy because ultimately when the nation's foreign policy is spelt out the head of the government has to be very closely associated with it. Foreign policy can be divided into two parts: day-to-day administration and the policy. It has become more difficult now particularly when we are trying to structure India's post-Cold War strategy. Therefore I kept the portfolio to myself primarily because I felt that I should be able to sustain the type of vision that I have on foreign policy and to that extent I have succeeded. It has some handicaps also because sometimes the details in administration are just defused. But it is very important that whenever a prime minister holds the portfolio, he must have his own credentials as foreign minister also. Credentials in the sense that his own vision should be very clear as to what type of foreign policy you want to give. When Panditji took charge of foreign policy himself, I don't think anybody else could have done it.
People say there are certain advantages—for instance, the PM can take direct interest in policy formulation.
But at the same time it is very important that foreign policy is not like any other portfolio, it is not that you can give it to anybody. You see, the administrative portfolios any person can be given charge of. But when you select your foreign minister, there should be some orientation in the man and unfortunately this commodity is not readily available. People generally comment on foreign affairs but I do not come across many people who really understand it, particularly at a juncture when you are not running a routine foreign policy.
Do things like joint commissions suffer because the PM is busy elsewhere.
Ultimately you have to balance the two. That is why during my period I had two ministers of state who discharged their responsibilities reasonably well.
How do you see your tenure as the foreign minister?
Well, without being egotistic about it or without bragging about it, I think I succeeded in giving a structured foreign policy for a post-Cold War era.
Will Pakistan's missile test have an impact on Indo-Pak talks?
The main point is that modernisation of weaponry is a concern of every nation. It has not come as a surprise to us, we knew it was coming. We knew that their internal capacity and capability is limited and we as a nation are very confident and it in no way disturbs our own capacity or our security. But please understand that improvement of ties with Pakistan is not going to be an event, it is a process.
