It follows in the footsteps of his earlier book, the eminently readable Anatomy of a Flawed Inheritance: Indo-Pak Relations 1970-1994. It connects events, assuming the lay reader's unfamiliarity with the subject. In My South Block Years the reader is introduced to the countries covered, given a brief backgro-under, developments during the author's tenure in the foreign service and what he did to further India's interests and finally, how he expects the situation to develop in the future. The book covers in relevant detail an important period of transition in India's foreign policy.
Dixit dwells at length on the decision to extend diplomatic relations with South Africa and Israel. The author voices concerns all of us share—how the economic clout of a country affects its diplomatic relations. Rich nations have little explaining to do for their decisions, whereas we have to explain our stance. Dixit says: "India's establishing diplomatic relations with Israel early in 1992 generated some resentment among Arab countries. Such sentiments arose despite the fact that India had consulted Yasser Arafat before taking the decision and despite the PLO and Saudi Arabia interacting with the Israelis and the Russian Federation. Prime Minister Rao asserted that I would have to explain to ambassadors of the Arab and Islamic countries the rationale behind our decision, whilst, at the same time I should not be on the defensive regarding our establishing relations with Israel.
I decided to be unorthodox. I requested Arab and other Islamic ambassadors/high commissioners to meet me in two groups. I briefed them about our decision, and provided them with full background information which led to our decision. Some of the Arab ambassadors were not in a mood to accept our rationale and tended to be slightly abrasive. At this point I bluntly asked them why India should be sensitive to their concerns about Israel? I reminded them that we have been consistently supportive of the Arab cause and the Palestinian movement for nearly four decades. We did not waver in our stand, whereas the Arab countries themselves presented a divided front vis a vis Israel and some of them showed flexibility and willingness to compromise with Israel under western pressure. I went on to explain that despite India's continuing friendship and support to the Arabs, they have been singularly insensitive to India's concerns on Kashmir and to the trends of subversions and secessionism generated against India by Pakistan. The same approach worked with the Chinese when India opened trade relations with Taiwan."
Dixit is pragmatic to the core—accepting reality, shedding much of the ideological baggage we have burdened ourselves within dealing with an even more assertive America after the break up of the Soviet Union, the lessening of India's strategic importance to the Russian Federation, and new equations developing with CIS countries. Neither does he mince words on how we, with the second largest Muslim population in the world, never made it to the OIC. "We were invited to the first OIC meeting at Morocco in 1969. We botched up the opportunity in an impractical exercise in assertive secularism by deciding to depute our Sikh ambassador in Morocco to represent India at this meeting. Pakistan took advantage of this ineptitude of ours and ensured our exclusion from the OIC despite our having the second largest Muslim population in the world. I felt that we must open up lines with the OIC and reassert the Islamic component of our national identity. After internal discussions it was decided to authorise our ambassadors in Saudi Arabia, Geneva and New York to reopen contacts with OIC representatives. These contacts became a regular phenomenon by the end of 1992, and helped us in moderating the OIC reactions towards Indian Muslim issues, though not fully."
There are also little known nuggets of information. In 1946, the only judge on the International War Crime Tribunal for Japan, who dissented from the prejudiced judgements and punishments passed by that court against Japan's political and military leaders, was an Indian.
Even while political events unfold on a grand scale, the lives of lesser individuals are also affected, and it is heartening to note that nothing was too small to escape the foreign secretary's attention. While the break up of the Soviet Union wrought many changes, the plight of 10-15,000 Indian students on Soviet scholarships which were discontinued by Russia went largely unnoticed by the public. Inability to pay enhanced fees meant repatriation, regardless of their not having completed the courses. 'Insistent persuasion' on the part of the MEA with the relevant ministries helped and the parents of these hard-pressed students were permitted to make remittances in foreign exchange.
Every age is an age of transition and My South Block Years makes transparent India's foreign policy considerations during a time when the world as we had known it since Independence changed faster and more abruptly than ever anticipated.
