Exclusive: Natwar Singh on Rahul, the Gandhi family and the future of Congress

Veteran politician and ex-Congress leader Natwar Singh, whose autobiography ‘One Life is not Enough’ has so provoked party president Sonia Gandhi that she was forced to personally react to the allegations, was in Mumbai recently promoting his book. Singh spoke to Firstpost about his relations with the Gandhis, his role in the UN oil-for-food programme and whether the Congress can revive itself from this humiliating defeat.

Here are excerpts of the conversation.

The book 

FP: After Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi met you, before your book released, did you have second thoughts of publishing the book?

Natwar Singh: No. I didn’t change any part of the book. Not even a word. I have said a lot of good things about Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka. But I have mentioned their drawbacks, because I know the family for a very long time.

And since the book has been published has there been any contact between you and the Gandhis?

No. No contact at all. I was very surprised (when she reacted to the book) it was unlike her to have. But no, they did not try getting in touch post the release of the book.

FP: Given that your book and Sanjaya Baru’s were released around election time, do you think it was ethical on your part to bring out the book?

Natwar Singh: I started writing my autobiography in December 2011 and I finished it in January 2014. We had to proof-read and I had to rewrite several chapters so the book was not ready. It had nothing to do with elections. When the book was complete that’s when… I didn’t expect it to attract as much attention as it has.

FP: You’ve said you will write another book. Will you wait for Sonia to write hers and then counter it?

Natwar Singh: Well I had told Sonia that she should write a book when I was close to her… I told her she was a world figure and she should write her biography. She had then said ‘I won’t, but Priyanka will write my biography’ so I said I’ll join her (Priyanka).

So when my book came out I was surprised she reacted, which she doesn’t and that’s part of her strength. But when she did, the sales of my book shot up and Jug Suraiya wrote a column saying Sonia will need a ghost writer and that person is Natwar Singh.

On the Gandhis

FP: What do you think of the Priyanka-Rahul relation with regards to the future leadership of the Congress party?

Natwar Singh: He is a major setback given the dismal performance of the Congress in the 2014 elections. And it was a big challenge for him and he failed the challenge.

FP: Is there a section of disgruntled Congressmen seeking to target Rahul and push for Priyanka getting a larger role?

Natwar Singh: They are not really of consequence. She herself has said she’s not interested in taking an active part in the party or any post. She will take care of the constituencies of her brother and mother.

FP: But there has been talk of a larger role for Priyanka. Reports suggest that Rajiv had said his daughter should get a larger role in active politics.

Natwar Singh: I am not aware of it. But you see it is a very united family. If a decision has to be taken about Priyanka, it will be taken by Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka together. If she comes in, what happens to Rahul?

FP: You wrote in your book that Rahul’s opposition to Sonia becoming the prime minister, fearing her assassination was the main reason why she did not take up the post. Now, ten years later,do you think Rahul has matured politically, given that he himself was willing to take up the role had Congress won?

Natwar Singh: But he is still his mother’s son, whatever the age.

FP: But he was willing to take up the role himself?

Natwar Singh: Well he has to wait five years.

Congress revival

FP: Do you think the BJP is now the ‘grand old party’ in a sense. Do you think the Congress has any hope of revival?

Natwar Singh: Well they (BJP) are traditionally not a governmental party and it has only been Vajpayee’s government for six years. While the Congress has been there for 60 years. So let’s see. I think Modi has a vision, he is a strong leader.

FP: Congress is down to 44, its lowest tally. You said without Sonia it would have been four. Do you see them reviving themselves anytime soon? Or will the BJP rule for the next 15 years.

Natwar Singh: No, not 15 years. Let them first complete five years. They are aiming for 10 years. But politics is a very uncertain game.

FP: What would you say are the steps for Congress’s revival. You’ve been a long time Congressman

Natwar Singh: Well the Congress cannot do without the Gandhis, there’s no two ways about it. And if Sonia and Rahul were to withdraw, I think it will fractured into four or five groups because nobody will agree on one person. So I think the present situation will continue.

FP: You think Sonia Gandhi will continue?

Natwar Singh: Yes, I don’t see any substitute. Well if the family were to withdraw, which is not likely, then the Congress will be in a very poor shape indeed.

FP: What would you say was the cause of the Congress performing so poorly? Failure in its policies or a failed leadership?

Natwar Singh: No, I think Mr Narendra Modi ran away with the campaign. The Congress did not know what to do. He had such a forceful campaign using modern technology, he has learnt from Barack Obama but the Congress just could not cope with it.

FP: Rahul had also focussed on youth but you’ve earlier dismissed his move saying his ‘young turks’ or his ‘boy scouts’ have failed. In fact, you chose to compare Rajiv and him, where Rajiv managed to get over 400 seats while Rahul got 44.

Natwar Singh: Well, I thought after this debacle he would change his team but he hasn’t. I haven’t met any of them but as far as I know they don’t know ground level politics.

FP: Do you think that was his failure?

Natwar Singh: Well, it was one of them. You see politics is not a part time job, it’s a whole time job. And in politics, you must have fire in your belly, and he has neither. The oil-for-food scam

FP: You have said you’ve been hounded by the Congress for the last 10 years. The Enforcement Directorate has been chasing you. Do you think now, with a change in government, the case against you will be dropped?

Natwar Singh: But there is no case, it has just been dragging on. The Pathak committee report exonerated me and has said there is no material to prove that Natwar Singh has made any gain from the contract. It should have ended there but now I think it will.

FP: You were in Moscow meeting Vladimir Putin when the Folcker committee report investigating the scam named you and the Congress party as non-contractual beneficiaries. Do you think the then PM Manmohan Singh could have done more to defend you when the party went out against you without giving you a chance to speak?

Natwar Singh: Manmohan Singh is not a leader so I don’t think he could have done more. He doesn’t support his colleagues. That’s a fact of life.

FP: Did you speak to him before you flew down from Moscow?

Natwar Singh: No I didn’t. I did see him when I came back, but I didn’t see Sonia, because I expected she would say ‘Natwar Singh would not do a thing of this kind’. Because I know her and her family for years. Apart from her immediate family I’m among two who know her very, very intimately.

FP: Did she betray you, and your loyalty to the Congress and the Gandhis?

Natwar Singh: Well, I wouldn’t use that term. She could have acted in a different way. She said I betrayed her but it is opposite to the truth. I’d be horrified. When she came to see me (before the book was released), she said, ‘you know, Natwar, why are you discussing what I discussed with Rahul and Priyanka?’ I said ’this is what you’ve done to your closest friend’.

FP: There are contradictions in what’s out of the Pathak committee report. You say the report exonerates you,  saying you did not benefit financially. What’s out in the media is that the report claims it (illegal dealings) could not have happened without your intervention. Did you write any letter?

Natwar Singh: Yes, there was a young man who did business in Iraq for a long time. The food-for-oil programme was a UN programme, a bonafide programme. If I wrote a letter, what difference does it make. I didn’t ask for my self.

FP: But he is friends with your son? There was no implication there?

Natwar Singh: Yes he is. None at all. My son did not talk about any contracts with anyone. He had hardly any contact with Andleep Sehgal in Baghdad. I hardly remember seeing him. People say he travelled with me in the plane. I don’t remember seeing him.

FP: But he is now family? Your son is married to his sister.

Natwar Singh: Yes, but I don’t think the sister and brother talk to each other.

FP: You’re saying there is no implication that his involvement did have some connection with you?

Natwar Singh: His name does not appear in the Volcker report. And they went for him with no reason. None of us are implicated in this. They also said I’ve been putting pressure or showing off to the government of Iraq, well I am good friends with Iraq. And I went to Iraq on their invitation, I even carried a letter from Sonia to Saddam Hussein.

Relations with the Congress

FP: When you resigned from the Congress, you chose to announce it from a BJP platform. Was there a plan to join the BJP that did not materialise?

Natwar Singh: This happened in 2008. There was a huge crowd, about a lakh of people. Vasundhara Raje (BJP) was also there. I said I’m not a member of the BJP but I’m resigning from the Congress.

FP: But why from a BJP platform? Vasundhara Raje was there with you

Natwar Singh: Well it was not entirely a BJP platform. It was a meeting of the Jat committee and I could not keep from it. Where I come from is the largest Jat population in India.

FP: Do you see yourself getting back into politics? Or perhaps joining the Congress in the unlikely event that the Gandhis move out?

Natwar Singh: Well I’m 83 years old so I think younger people should be taken into important places, in all parties and I think Narendra Modi has done just that with him sidetracking some of the old people in the party. And I’ve made it quite clear that there’s no question of me joining the Congress again. People of my age have no business being in politics.