Natwar’s grudge report is just that

The genre of writing by persons once close to centres of power, but subsequently estranged, is hardly new. Looking back in time, we may think of illustrious Persian poet Firdousi and his Shah-e-Nama in which he tried to get even with his master, Mahmud of Ghazni. In less recent times, in India, we had M.O. Mathai. More recently, we had Sanjaya Baru. And now there is K. Natwar Singh.
While in Firdousi’s case, the lack of a sufficiently hefty purse as reward was thought to be the motivating impulse, political considerations or personal hurt have generally informed this genre. The information offered by Mr Singh is hard to establish beyond reasonable doubt, and we are left mainly with anti-Sonia comment.
Indeed, the book can hardly be anything but grudge play. Sonia Gandhi’s former confidant, who was external affairs minister in UPA-1, felt deeply slighted when forced out of the government and then the Congress after the Volcker report, that tracked foul play and corruption in the UN oil-for-food sanctions against the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, became public. India could very well have dismissed the Volcker findings if it had taken the position that the anti-Iraq sanctions were misplaced, and that it would challenge these. That not being the case, it would have been difficult to retain Mr Singh as his name was linked negatively to the Volcker findings.
No responsible democratic government in the world could have done that. Mr Singh, who did no more than assert his innocence and did not seek to bring out concrete material to defend himself, might himself agree with this proposition. But once he was sent out and lost the privileged position with the Nehru-Gandhis, the former minister clearly sought to avenge an insult.
His account would be believed and politically used by those opposed to the Congress and to Mrs Gandhi. Whether it necessarily carries credibility because it comes from an estranged insider is another matter.
Mr Singh tells us that Sonia’s “inner voice” — shorthand for the high motive of self-denial — was not the reason why she turned down the chance to be PM in 2004. She did so because her son Rahul had opposed the idea, fearing his mother may be killed. So what, even if it’s true? Ten years have gone by, and the political landscape is transformed. In any case, this factor was widely spoken of even then. Former PM Manmohan Singh has gone public to dismiss another charge in the book: that Sonia had access to government files. So who should we believe? Mrs Gandhi too says she may be inclined to write her account. We hope she will just be concerned with informing the world.