Book War

    The mask is slowly lifting up. The days are being numbered. Former External Minister of UPA-I Natwar Singh in his new autobiography, "One Life Is Not Enough" is about to reveal too much, that the Congress(I) President herself had to come out in defense.

    The party is on it's toes as the forthcoming autobiography of Natwar Singh is set to embarrass the Congress(I) leadership. This is the second book after the media adviser of former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh Sanjay Baru's The Accidental Prime Minister which was released in the final stages of the election campaign which gave the Narendra Modi led BJP full throttle and forced the Congress(I) in the backseat never to recover. Natwar Singh recently gave a TV interview where he discussed some of the many things coverd in his memoirs.

    It starts from the days of Rajiv Gandhi government, where Natwar Singh says that the then PM Rajiv Gandhi had dispatched the army to Sri Lanka without even consulting his own Cabinet. The Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was sent due to massive protests which had erupted in the island country following the Indo-SL agreement signed in June 1987. The agreement sought to end the Tamil Separatist campaign and restore peace in the island. However the IPKF ended up fighting with LTTE till it's return in 1990, which resulted in the death 1200 soldiers. Natwar Singh said in the recent interview that the IPKF were sent in the island without any briefings. They had no idea about the topography of Jaffna as well the hiding spots of LTTE. He further said that India also provided financial aid to LTTE to make them accept the Indo-SL agreement.

    When Congress(I) led UPA came to power in 2004 and Sonia Gandhi was all but sure to become the next prime minister, certain things as well know, kept her away from the post. She had said in 2004 that it was her inner voice which made her renounce the highest office whereas Natwar Singh says it was Rahul Gandhi who had given her an ultimatum not to become the PM as he feared she will face the same consequence as that of his grandmother & father. So, as she passed on the baton to Dr. Manmohan Singh she also made sure to keep the seat warm for her son. Natwar Singh also said that Sonia Gandhi had access to all government file and that Pulok Chatterjee, IAS officer in PMO use to carry them to 10,Janpath for her approval during the Manmohan Singh's prime ministership. This vindicates the claims made by Sanjay Baru and again contradicts the Congress(I) version which said the party chief never interfered in the functioning of the government. 

    Singh claims that Sonia Gandhi is the most powerful Congress president and has more grip over the party than Jawaharlal Nehru or Indira Gandhi had in the past. He also made it clear that Sonia Gandhi & Priyanka Gandhi did meet him in the month of May asking not to go ahead with printing of the book. He stressed on the fact that it was for the first time the members of the Gandhi family met him since his exit from the party in 2008.

    Natwar Singh name had surfaced in the Iraq food-for-oil scam which had led to relationship getting spoiled with the Gandhi family. He said that he was falsely implicated and that the documents linking the party's hand in those murky oil deals were suppressed.

    This may be the second book, of the many to come, which further lifted the veil from the Gandhi family. Only time will tell in what depths the book will further reveal things. But the announcement made by Sonia Gandhi herself that she will be writing her own memoirs to reveal her truth itself speaks the gravity of the content in Singh's autobiography. Well, I don't know about One Book, but it seems One life will surely be not enough to know all these back stage tricks.


SR.