Bono who?

Young Omar Abdullah, the 31-year-old minister of state in the MEA, makes no pretence of enjoying the good life outside South Block. Small wonder he was the only one to recognise the lead singer of the rock group U2 the other day at the World Economic Forum in New York. Bono was doing a latter-day Sting in the Big Apple, moaning about the ‘‘axis of evil’’, that is, poverty, illiteracy and bad debt that was breaking the backbone of many Third World countries. Finance minister Yashwant Sinha, who leads the Indian delegation, was overheard asking no one in particular about that gentleman in grunge sharing the stage with Bill Gates...until he is said to have seen the light c/o Abdullah.

Sinha better watch out. In the Commerce ministry, Abdullah often got better press than mantri Murasoli Maran, in the MEA he’s already become a star both with his own officers and abroad. So much so that foreign leaders are said to be making a beeline for his door, especially since minister Jaswant Singh has so little time.

Two much

Harsh Bhasin asked for a lien on his job after his term as India’s high commissioner to South Africa ended a while ago. And got himself two assignments at a New York college to teach South Asian studies as well as South Africa. Except that there were so few students who applied for the South Asian programme that he ended up teaching the kids only about the latter. That is, until he most recently got himself the powerful, new post of High Commissioner to Pakistan.

Meanwhile, it seems that Yogesh Tiwari, forced to go on long leave because of some negligible impropriety he is supposed to have incurred in Vienna, is now being rehabilitated and will be taking the place of Vivek Katju in Myanmar. Katju, of course, has been posted to Kabul.

So near, so far

Jaswant Singh and Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra were in London within a day of each other, the first to attend some Commonwealth meeting on terrorism, the latter to initiate a strategic dialogue with London (Mishra came from Paris and went on to Munich for a security conference.) Meanwhile, scores of MPs were sent to different parts of the world to explain New Delhi’s position on cross-border infiltration and why it will not dealert its army on the border with Pakistan. Okay. But why did no one think of sending any special envoys to the neighbourhood? Lip-service to the region apart, this is the second time that Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives have been ignored by New Delhi. The first time around was after the nuclear tests in mid-1998, when the government sent envoys all over the world. Of course, let that phrase reread, ‘USA and western Europe.’

Split wide open

Is the powerful post of joint secretary, external publicity (XP), going to be split? The rumour, around since India went nuclear four years ago, has surfaced again with a vengeance. Seems that an inhouse committee that went into restructuring and streamlining the XP division suggested that the spokesperson’s job be split, and even that a new job of deputy spokesperson be created. The argument behind splitting the heavy-duty portfolio — JS (XP)s always travel with the PM when he goes on visits abroad and usually have a great deal of access on home ground as well — was that the work load, especially after India became a nuclear weapons power, was becoming too heavy.

Nobody seems to have liked the idea too much, especially because a spkesperson without the financial clout that went with the ‘publicity’ part of the job, was seen to be a much diminished job. Former spokesman Ramindar Jassal did not, and successfully fought it — until he was posted to Israel. Current incumbent Nirupama Rao, the first woman officer in the job, is also believed to have parried the pressure. It is now rumoured that Rao will be moving to the ICCR. Names of three people as her successor are doing the rounds: Gautam Mukhopadhyaya, who reopened our mission in Kabul, Rajiva Mishra, most recently back from Bhutan, and Navtej Sarna, press officer in the Indian mission in Washington.

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