Ji Mantriji!!

So day 3 and I have so many people to cover, but one person at a time is the way I go. I have been thinking about who gets to be the protagonist of todays post and well I decided it should be contemporary and in contrast with the Nehru era. The best period which fulfills these requirements happens to be the Vajpayee era. Many of you would have guessed who this post is going to be about, but I am afraid thats not how I roll. Of course the image must suggest our dear kaviraj but its not the revered poet. It is the man to the left of him, Mr. Brajesh Mishra.

So I am quite sure many readers would not recognize him so here is a brief introduction.

Mr. Brajesh Mishra is an IFS officer who retired in 1987. By then he had taken up key positions like India's permanent representative at Geneva and India's ambassador to Indonesia.He is the son of senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh C.M. D.P. Mishra . In spite of the fact that his father was a senior leader in congress Brajesh Mishra joined the Bhartiya Janata Party in 1991 and became a key figure in formulating party's stand on foreign policy issues. He also became a very close aide to Mr.Atal Bihari Vajpayee.When the BJP came into power for the first time in 1998 he was appointed as the principal secretary to the Prime Minster. He also became the first National Security Advisor of the country.

So, I guess that was an introduction good enough. Lets get to the task at hand, trying to decode the reason why this gentleman happens to be so important in Indian politics. Well it just so happens that Mishra belonged to a regime of diplomats which followed a pro-Russia pro-left ideology, thanks to the Nehru era policies and his confidant V.K. Menon's approach. I have written about it in my previous post. While working as an Indian diplomat he always felt the need for reforms and once he retired out of the Indian Foreign Services he joined the BJP and formulated the foreign policy for the party think-tank right from the scratch. He also became a close friend of Mr. Vajpayee, who was an important figure in Indian foreign policy issues being the Minister for External Affairs in the Morarji Desai cabinet and member of several parliamentary committees on foreign affairs.

Circa 1998, the BJP came into power and Mishra became the first non-IAS officer to take up the post of the Principal Secretary to the P.M., he also became the inaugural holder of the office of National Security Advisor of the country. What followed was a series of events that reshaped India's politics forever.

* The Prime Minister's Office bypassed the Ministry of Foreign affairs on almost all major foreign policy matters. Mishra started major reforms in this direction and he had the full support and conservation of the P.M. The foundations for closer ties with the U.S were laid during this period.

* Mishra played a pivotal role in the Pokhran-II and coordinated with finesse between the Scientific community and the Government.

* Further, Mishra remained Vajpayee's chief aide on almost all issues from National Security to Home affairs, People in the South Block and the North Block were now feeling the heat from the P.M.O and the National Security Council.

* Mishra was the troubleshooter during IC-814 and it was he who coordinated the overall proceedings during the incident. He was the link between the Cabinet Committee on Security and the Negotiators from India.

* He was instrumental in initiating a new series of strategic dialog with the U.S. and Pakistan.

Mishra is considered by many as the second in command after the P.M. himself . In fact, in his book My country, My life Advani mentions an event where he went to the P.M. along with other members of the cabinet to reassign the post of Principal Secretary to the P.M. because he believed that with the two posts Mishra had become very powerful. Mishra ran the most powerful P.M.O in the history of independent India.

Mishra is credited for having revamped the Indian foreign policy and having paved the way for closer ties with the U.S. He helped improve India's position in strategic terms. He was also the support for the P.M. who led a government as well as a party that was divided into several factions.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh briefed him about the Indo-Nuclear U.S. deal after Mishra went public with his skepticism for the agreement. Mishra then endorsed the deal and said it would be in the best interest of the country. He also congratulated the Think-Tank for having prepared a perfect draft of the agreement. Today he is one of the top strategic thinkers of the country.

Many criticize him for having undermined the cabinet members on several occasions. But he had the conservation and full support of the Prime Minister. In a recent statement, Mishra said that the office of the National Security Advisor should be dissolved as it was not required and his responsibilities be split between the P.M.O. and the cabinet committee on security. This was a shock given he was the one who ran the first omnipotent office. He has also been criticized for the events following the Kandahar incident. The beauty of Mishra's job was that he got credit for all that went right and the blame went to the B.J.P so much so that they lost the 2004 general elections.

Anyhow he can be termed as one of the most powerful bureaucrats in the Indian political history in the league of the likes of V.K. Menon. He also formulated the Indian stand on several issues and prepared India for the 21st century.

But his biggest achievement remains the reforms he brought in governance. He took the Union government from being a collage of several conflicting individuals to leadership. Even in the era of coalition it was thanks to his support that Vajpayee could lead with such stability. He was India's first equivalent for a White House Chief of the Staff. It is this philosophy of governance that has continued in the UPA government and has allowed a politically powerless Prime Minister to be able to govern with favorable results for the country. It is this philosophy that enables India to prepare for the challenges the modern World order has posed in front of us.

So I am off to Kolkatta for the weekend and it is there that my next icon hails from. A spoiler!!!!!

Lets see on Monday.

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brijesh_Mishra
2. http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?20998
3. http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/indo-us-strategic-ties-won/t-be-easy-feels-brajesh/106301/on
4. http://www.timesnow.tv/articleshow/4325803.cms

and here is the conspiracy theory special :

http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2005/04/brijesh-mishra-cia-agent.html

enjoy!!!!!