Sushma Swaraj : No secrets in this age

Dr. P Pullarao
Sushma Swaraj has been doing an excellent job as the Indian Foreign Minister. Despite initial discord with  Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sushma  Swaraj has handled herself very well and ensured that she played a perfect role as Foreign Minister. She took to the job as a fish takes to water. She ensured that there were no problems with the PM and yet conducted herself  with great aplomb.

Narendra Modi has earned great praise for the conduct of foreign relations.  A good measure of this credit should go to Sushma Swaraj. Moreover Sushma maintained  excellent relations with the Opposition, particularly the Congress party. It was no secret that the Congress would have preferred L.K.Advani or Sushma Swaraj as Prime Minister rather than Narendra  Modi. It was well known that Sushma Swaraj maintained cordial relations with Sonia Gandhi.

Yet the recent political controversy about the alleged close  relations of Sushma Swaraj with Ex-Indian cricket boss Lalit Modi has led to the demand by Congress for the resignation and even a Supreme Court inquiry into the doings of Sushma Swaraj and misuse of office .  So much for maintaining good relations  with your opponent !   A good lesson for Sushma Swaraj.

Sushma Swaraj seems to have forgotten that there are no secrets in the world today. Greater  and mightier people than her like Sepp Blatter, the President  of FIFA  ( World Football association ) had to resign because secrets tumbled out due to emails, phone calls and the very easy ability to record conversations and then later retrieve them.  Sushma ji…there are no secrets.

Sushma Swaraj had obviously close relations with Lalit Modi. Both belong to Delhi. There is nothing wrong with that. There is also nothing wrong  that Sushma Swaraj’s daughter is doing legal work for Lalit Modi, since she seems to be a well  qualified lawyer. One of the qualification for a lawyer or any service  provider is good contacts and Sushma’ s daughter has everything. A lot of wrong doing is accepted in India .  It is only when politicians choose to point it out selectively that trouble begins.

Sushma Swaraj never imagined that the emails of an MP Keith Vaz in England to Lalit Modi and others would create enormous trouble for her and might cost her job and future too. Sushma might never have imagined that casual meetings in London would look shady and ominous.  Sushma would never also have imagined that the legal practice of her daughter would smear her.  Sushma would never   have imagined that her less visible husband would also create image problems for her.

It is not for me to comment whether there was any wrong doing. But the media had portrayed her actions as  wrong . Who can imagine that the distant emails of a British M.P. Keith Vaz  become a political danger for Sushma Swaraj ?  Strangely, Keith Vaz is a long time British  MP, who should know every well how  British tabloids chase scandal and wrong doing and get great glee in exposing them. Yet, Keith Vaz sent emails as if they were inaccessible . Keith Vaz mentioned the name of Sushma Swaraj and that has created a major scandal. Sushma Swaraj was foolish enough to think that secrets can be kept  by anyone.

Strangely , nearly a decade ago,  another  very smart Foreign Minister  Natwar Singh got into similar trouble and had to resign.  Natwar Singh had written a letter  to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein requesting that a quantity of oil  be released for the company that his son had an interest in. Natwar Singh never dreamt that this letter of his would be safe in  the archives of the Iraqi  Foreign Ministry and when the Americans invaded Iraq, it would be found. Along with millions of other documents , the Americans released them.  Natwar Singh had to resign in a blaze of controversy and his political  career ended.

The wise and clever Natwar Singh thought that such letters would be lost. He never imagined that the  Iraqi Foreign  Ministry was so stupid that they never destroyed  their secrets. The chances of Natwar Singh’s letter to Iraqi President. Saddam Hussein  would be found by an invading  USA army was perhaps a million to one. Yet that happened.

Sushma Swaraj never imagined that her meetings In a hotel allegedly with Lalit Modi would  be recorded and noticed. But they were recorded by the ubiquitous CCTV cameras and records kept by the hotel.

The danger for Sushma Swaraj is that more information  might come tumbling out. As it is, Sushma has now lost her political  clout. She had to be defended by the party and the government. She have now become the cynosure of the media and opponents. It is a great lesson to all politicians that they  must avoid any wrong or seeming wrongs at any time. If they occupy a future high office , then they are liable to blackmail .

Any phone conversation, any meeting or even a simple  conversation can come and haunt you.
The next few days will determine whether  Sushma Sharma will pay the same price that Natwar Singh paid by resignation or she will sail through this storm. In any event, there are no secrets in this age or there is no safe place to hide secrets. The best policy might be to operate in such a way that there are   no secrets. New skills have to be developed to meet the new challenges of the ” Age of no secrets “.

Dr P Pulla Rao is a Socio-political and Economic analyst

Courtesy : www.wisdomblow.com