Time to make a move, Mr. Natwar

Things have moved quickly in the last 24 hours, and they have changed from bad to worse for Mr. Natwar Singh, India's Foreign Minister. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had looked like supporting Mr. Natwar Singh initially has clearly changed his mind after a lot more damaging evidence came to light. The latest move from the Prime Minister pretty much clears the deck for a dishonorable exit for the foreign minister.

It is indeed sad, however, on the state of Indian democracy that it has taken a major corruption allegation to make Mr. Singh go, but not because of tons of foreign policy faux pas that he has kept making ever since he took over as India's foreign minister last year, as documented here, here, here and here.

Mr. Natwar Singh continues to hold is ground and says that the Volcker Committee report is politically motivated, with the US being vindictive against people close to Saddam Hussein & his Baath Party. His main argument remains that several countries around the world have rejected the report, but this does not stand because Volcker Committee Report does indeed blame over 2000 individuals & entities in 66 countries around the world for having taken part in the Oil-for-food scam, and it is obvious that most of them have rejected the report, as did Mr. Natwar Singh in an interview with NDTV 24x7.

Quite clearly, the fact-finding committee & the Judicial inquiry committee would take many months, maybe years to come out with a final report, and even after it does, to conclusively prove the guilt of Mr. Natwar Singh & others is something that might take decades or it may even never happen. It might very well be that Mr. Natwar Singh made no mistake knowingly, but a tainted Foreign Minister with an international scam staring at his face is too big a burden for the Government to carry. He has lost the moral authority to continue as a minister in the Indian Government, much less as the Foreign Minister of India.

To ensure that the Government of India retains its credibility, Mr. Natwar Singh must be asked to go in no uncertain terms. This is all the more important since Mr. Natwar Singh, as the Foreign Minister, is technically the boss Mr. Virendra Dayal, who has been appointed as the Head of the Inquiry Committee to probe into the allegations made by Volcker Committee. Mr. Dayal, as a special envoy of the Government of India to the UN would liase with the UN, its members & the Volcker committee to collect relevant material which would be the pre-cursor to the judicial probe into the allegations.