A chain that links us all

How a governor of Andamans influenced the Barbados programme of action for Small Island Developing States in 1994

- RAMU DAMODARAN

In February, the effortlessly elegant Indian permanent representative to the United Nations, Ruchira Kamboj, presented a cheque to the ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda as contribution for hosting the fourth global conference for Small Island Developing States from May 27-30. It was a reaffirmation of the support India had extended to SIDS from the very first conference 30 years ago, which put small islands on the map of global responsibility and saw a pivotal contribution by an individual who might otherwise have been considered an unlikely presence on the multilateral diplomatic stage.

The ministry of external affairs had proposed that India’s delegation to the 1994 conference, held in Barbados, be led by one of its ministers of state. Prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, in whose office I was working at the time, was not enthused. “This is not an expression of altruism,” he remarked. “It is a question of self-interest, of our identity as a nation that has 1,300 islands within the geography of our union. The problems that are being discussed, and the solutions that may be attempted, are not external affairs.”

He paused, reflected a moment, and instructed: “Let me speak to Purushothaman.” I was used to the telegraphic quality of Rao’s instructions and understood he wished to be connected on the phone to Vakkom Purushothaman (VP), then lieutenant governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. (I should say “largely used to”; there was an occasion in 1992 when he said, “Let me speak to Narayanan”, meaning K.R. Narayanan, then member of Parliament, and I mistakenly connected him to M.K Narayanan, director of the Intelligence Bureau, who was bemused to hear the prime minister congratulate him on his nomination as the Congress party nominee for the vice presidency of India.)