Antony blasts Navy for pulling off last-minute USS Cole surprise

The Indo-UK ‘Konkan’ exercises were held from April 21 to May 2 in which USS Cole and French stealth ship FS Surcouf participated as observers.

According to reliable sources, Navy had first taken the permission for a French and a Spanish ship to be observers from the British side in the exercise. Later, the Navy is said to have informed that USS Cole would participate and that the Spanish ship was withdrawing.

This was when matters came to a head. USS Cole’s presence coincided with the brief visit of Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But with the Navy taking the plea that the ship had already set sail for India, no option was left with South Block but to give the clearance.

The entire episode prompted a strongly worded letter from the Ministry of External Affairs which alleged that the Navy was seeking clearances just a week or so before the foreign ship was to arrive in India, hence presenting a “fait accompli” not keeping in mind the foreign policy implications. This further escalated the situation.

As a result, Antony has conveyed to the Navy that from now on, the contours of a naval exercise with any country must be spelled out to the last detail and the ministry intimated “well in advance”.

Sources said he had expressed reservations even during the Indo-US Malabar exercises in which ships from Japan, Australia, Singapore participated. The event had sparked off a major protest by the Left parties which organised ‘jathas’ along the coast. Under constant attack from the Left for moving closer to US and not pursuing an “independent foreign policy”, the Government is clearly making sure that it does not give the slightest opportunity for the Left to accuse it of being part of a Western alliance.

Once it was clear that stopping USS Cole from being embedded into the exercise was not a...