K.Natwar Singh, former Union Minister, distinguished diplomat and erudite scholar had a multi-faceted personality. A regular columnist with the Sunday Guardian, he was one of the most well-informed persons with unlimited anecdotes to narrate, that he could hold your attention for hours together. During the course of his assignments as a Foreign Service Officer, he had come in contact with many top international celebrities. He had worked with many key leaders and individuals and always had a story to tell. This was amongst the multiple reasons, why he was a favourite of the Gandhi family, starting with Indira Gandhi and also many other Congress luminaries. He was very well read and would never hesitate in pointing out a mistake if he spotted one in the newspaper reports or in articles. Once in my Column, I had while quoting Iqbal’s couplet, made a small error. The first call in the morning was from Natwar himself who said that the word which I had wrongly used should have been “Nadaan’’ and not “Bande’’. He was correct and I acknowledged my oversight immediately. This was something which showed that he would read every word if he wanted to and was a perfectionist to the core. My first one on one meeting with him was at the Moti Bagh Palace in Patiala in 2002.
The Punjab Assembly elections had been announced and Captain Amarinder Singh was campaigning extensively at several places. I was on that winter morning picked up by the late Sanjit Sinha, who later became the CM’s principal secretary, and was driven down to Patiala from Chandigarh to facilitate my travel with the Captain in a Helicopter. I was at that point the Political Editor of Hindustan Times and as soon as I reached the Palace, the first person whom I was introduced to was Natwar Singh. He was in the room where breakfast was being served while Amarinder Singh was getting ready. Natwar did not waste any time in reminding me how well he knew my Chairperson, Shobhna Bhartia. It was his way of intimidating me though it hardly made any difference. He dropped her name at least a dozen times during breakfast, probably for the benefit of Amarinder Singh, whose elder sister was his wife. I used to subsequently meet him occasionally in Delhi and he would never fail to point out that he was one of the few close to the Gandhi family. This he was and he felt betrayed when he was asked to resign as a minister in the Manmohan Singh government after his son’s name figured in the Paul Volker report on Oil for Food scam in Iraq.
Natwar never thought that Sonia Gandhi would allow this to happen and after that made some loose remarks which strained their relationship. Natwar was disillusioned but as a politician, he had made many enemies within the Congress who ensured that he was ousted. In his early years, after he had quit from the Foreign Service to join politics, he was quick to learn. When Rajiv was the Prime Minister, Natwar was involved in a major incident that almost cost the then Police Commissioner Ved Marwah his job. It was on November 18, 1987 when Natwar went to the airport to receive the then Soviet deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Ryzhkov. Parliament was on and he had to rush back to answer questions related to his ministry. The only way he could have done that while the VVIP arrangements were on was by travelling with the Police Commissioner, who was a college mate at St. Stephens. Marwah’s car raced towards Parliament and in the final stretch took the Hukambai Marg towards the South Sunken Road of the Rashtrapati Bhawan. As luck would have it, the VVIP motorcade came on to the South Sunken Road from the opposite side and the incident was labelled as major security breach by the SPG. Marwah was sent on leave and TN Seshan, then Secretary (Security) conducted the Inquiry.
Marwah was defended by Sarla Grewal, principal secretary to Rajiv Gandhi and he, finally got a reprieve and rejoined his duties, to be posted out shortly afterwards to the NSG. He had got into trouble only because he had tried to oblige his friend, Natwar. There is also this famous tale when during the centenary celebrations of his alma mater, St. Stephen’s College, Natwar got up to speak and declared that whatever he was it was because of this institution. Mani Shankar Aiyar, who was in the audience was quick to react and shouted, “Do not blame the College, Natwar’’ amidst laughter from other attendees. Natwar also had perfected the art of sending confusing messages to fellow Congressmen. He would sit for hours on at Sonia’s secretary, Vincent George’s office which was outside the area where Ms Gandhi would meet visitors. He would come out and give the impression as if he had spent all that time advising the lady inside.
In 2004, after Sonia Gandhi declined the Prime Ministership, she asked senior leaders of the party to go and inform the allies personally. Makhan Lal Fotedar and Natwar were asked to visit V.P.Singh. During the conversation that followed Natwar told Singh that Sonia Gandhi had changed her mind out of security concerns. Once the meeting ended, Fotedar rebuked him and said that there was no need to give such a long explanation. After that Fotedar went to his house but Natwar drove straight to 10, Janpath and while narrating what happened at VP Singh’s house attributed what he had stated to Fotedar adding that he should not have said all this “since there was no need’’. Natwar would always be remembered and his absence at the High table of politics would take a long time to be filled.
