On way back home, the Prime Minister, had tough time clarifying that there was any feud between his Finance Minister and the Home Minister over 2G scandal. “The rift you talk about is only in the Media. This is a cohesive government. There is no dissension. There is no truth in what has been written in media about a rift between Chidambaram and Mukherjee”, he said.

There has been speculation in the media that the UPA government would not survive its full-term and a mid-term poll appears inevitable. But a confident Dr Singh was dismissive of what he called a mounting campaign by the opposition, implying the BJP in particular, could be part of a campaign to “destabilise our polity”. The Prime Minister scoffed at the opposition for raising the issues on which UPA government could have been judged in 2006 or so. After that the elections had taken place and the people voted for the UPA on the basis of the government’s performance. “That is why I suspect there is some other agenda at work”, he said. Dr Singh was dismissive of the mounting pressure over 2G scam and the threat held out to topple his government. “The opposition is getting prematurely restless. “The government has mandate from the people to govern for five years, and it will stay the course. The opposition should be patient until the elections”.

Despite pressure at home, the Prime Minister’s decided to visit UN after a gap of three years, ostensibly, to firm up India’s permanent seat in the Security Council and succeeded appreciably. Even China, who opposed India’s entry in Security Council as permanent member, somewhat eased its rigid position.

Dr Singh’s address, which called for UN reforms so that the world body could address global crisis, was praised in UN lobbies. It was considered one of the best. The economist Prime Minister’s genius sparkled when he called for change in the structure of UN to enable it address to a deepening global crisis which has generated “great uncertainty and profound change”.

In his address Dr Singh said, “Till a few years ago, the world had taken for granted the benefits of globalisation and global inter-dependence. But now we are being called upon to cope up with negative dimensions. Economic, Social and political events in different parts of the world have coalesced together and their adverse impact is now being felt across countries continents”. He noted that “the traditional engines of global economy such as US, Europe and Japan, which are also sources of global economic and financial stability, are faced with continued economic slowdown”.

Later asked, if he is tilting towards socialist policy, he quipped if time changes, one has also to change.

On the sidelines of UN, the Prime Minister’s meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad is considered most significant. The meeting was able to remove many misunderstanding between the two countries which had strained relations. President Ahmedinejad invited Dr. Singh to visit Iran and he accepted the invitation. Although the proposed ambitious Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline is nowhere in sight after several years of discussions, India and Iran appeared mutually inclined to explore scope for economic cooperation especially in areas of hydrocarbons’ With US sanctions against Iran in place, India would like to avoid the prospect of its companies that deal with Iran coming under any penalty regime. India is also looking at payments to Iran through the aegis of a Turkish Bank.

The US delegation walked out when Iranian President was addressing UN. When US is so hostile to Iran, India’s conciliatory moves towards Tehran and describing it as a stabilising factor in Afghanistan, is very significant indeed. (IPA Service)