But this was what became a sore point for the imperialist powers as the non-aligned countries put up united resistance against these powers' machinations in various parts of the world. In the United Nations also, India and other countries came out vehemently in defence of the cause of the developing countries. This anti-imperialist stance of the non-aligned movement reached its crescendo when it elected Cuban president, Fidel Castro, as its chairman. It was an abject defeat for the US imperialists who were trying to pressurise the NAM countries not to elect Fidel as its chairman. The NAM itself was further strengthened and got a new tempo under his leadership.

Then came a time when the NAM summit was held in India and the mantle was passed on to Indian prime minister, Smt Indira Gandhi. Despite US pressure, India was able to stand up and did not desert the struggle to resist the imperialist pressures or to overcome the backwardness of developing countries and kept strengthening the bonds between various constituents of the movement. The Soviet Union and other socialist countries proved to be natural allies of the non-aligned countries and firmly stood behind the NAM in its endeavours.

UNDER UNITED FRONT REGIME

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the initiation of the policies of liberalisation and globalisation by the Indian government, there was a noticeable change in the contours of our foreign policy. Despite this, all was not lost till then. When the United Front was in government, it tried to pick up the threads. It, for instance, improved relations with China. President Jiang Zemin's visit to India, when an agreement on confidence building measures was signed, marked a significant step in the improvement of relations between the two countries.

The visit to Russia by the Indian prime minister and foreign minister was also a big success. The visit took place in the background of a changed world situation, in the situation of a unipolar world, when the US was trying to impose its hegemony on the whole world. The visit signalled resistance to US pressures, in cooperation with Russia and China. In fact, cooperation between these three countries is still of great significance in the present world situation.

The United Front government also successfully improved India's relations with her neighbours. The agreement signed over sharing of Ganga waters with Bangladesh, in which chief minister Jyoti Basu and the West Bengal government played an important role, brought about a change for the better in the ties between the two countries. There was a significant improvement in our relations with other neighbours also.

PROSTRATING BEFORE THE US

However, after the BJP came to power at the centre, the long-standing foreign policy of India was sought to be reversed, with a tilt towards US imperialism. Ambititious of establishing its hegemony worldwide, the USA is seeking either to bulldoze the UN into submission to the US diktat or to bypass it completely. This was very much evident during the attacks on Iraq and later on during the NATO aggression against Yugoslavia. It provided encouragement to movements like the one in Chechnya. In the case of Cuba, the US refused to comply with the UN resolution calling for the lifting of the illegal US blockade. It may be recalled that only 3 UN member countries, including the US, had voted against this resolution.

As for Iraq, the sanctions imposed on her by the US and UK have already taken a heavy toll, killing so far more than 1.3 million people, mostly the infants, children, the aged and the infirm. At the same time, these sanctions have also destroyed Iraq's industry, agriculture, education and other vital sectors, pushing the country into medieval times. But the blood-thirsty US imperialists are not content with all that. US-UK planes have imposed illegal, so called no-fly zones in the northern and southern parts of Iraq and are still carrying out bombardments on Iraqi sites. Of late, the US has gone still further and is training Iraqi mercenaries with the express aim of overthrowing Saddam Hussain.

However, despite the fact that the real nature of US imperialism is no secret, the BJP-government is prostrating before the US, thinking that it is the only force in the world. Our foreign ministry is busy trying to woo the US imperialists and reassure them that, whatever may come, the Indian government will be on their side. No other foreign minister or emissary has, during so short a period of time, paid so many visits to the US or met the US officials so many times in third countries. From a policy of resistance to the US pressures, now we have come to wooing the US!

Needless to say, the BJP government's understanding on foreign policy affairs is defective to the core. One will recall that when the present prime minister, A B Vajpayee, was the foreign minister in the Janata Party government during the years 1977-79, he had himself paid a visit to China to improve our strained relations with that country. It is indeed strange that, having recognised the importance of improving relations with China about two decades ago, the same Vajpayee, in his letter to Clinton immediately after Pokhran II, described China as one of India's enemies.

HEIGHT OF SHORTSIGHTEDNESS

This defective perception was very much evident during the recent hijacking crisis. The prime minister and the foreign minister praised the Taliban to the sky, without any rhyme or reason. This is a glaring example of their shortsightedness and of their wrong assessment of the Taliban. The Taliban are a force that was created and nurtured in Pakistan with active support from the US, with the aim of destabilising the democratic regime in Afghanistan and replacing it with a theocratic state. Pakistan was the first state to recognise the Taliban government in Afghanistan whereas the rest of the world still recognises the Rabbani government. It is an open secret that the Taliban would not take any such step as may compromise the interests of Pakistan.

However, the Vajpayee government must also realise that none of its new-found friends were there by its side when it was faced with the hijacking crisis. The US too reacted only after more than four days had passed. What about the others? No western country was ready to take a forthright stand on the hijacking episode and on the role of Pakistan, condemning the incident.

As for Pakistan, though it is not easy to impose a fundamentalist regime there as it is a multinational country, efforts were made by various rulers to appease the fundamentalist forces in order to serve their own interests. Yet Nawaz Sharif's proposal to impose the shariat faced resistance. It may be recalled that Nawaz Sharif was elected with only 25 per cent of the people exercising their franchise in favour of his party.

As regards Kashmir, it must be understood that Pakistan will not give up its claim over the valley. The majority of political leaders in Pakistan have used the Kashmir issue to whip up sentiments in order to compete with one another by displaying their loyalty to the issue.

NUCLEAR JINGOISM AND ITS AFTERMATH

But what has been the approach of the Vajpayee government to improving relations with Pakistan? Immediately after assuming power, it decided to conduct the nuclear tests at Pokhran. India had already acquired the nuclear capability with its first test at Pokhran in 1974. Where, then, was the necessity to re-demonstrate this capability? We have consistently been maintaining that we advocate peace and are against nuclear weaponisation, but will not sign the NPT and keep our option open as long as nuclear powers do not agree on total nuclear disarmament. The BJP went in for the tests only to arouse jingoistic and chauvinistic feelings. This nuclear jingoism led to India's isolation on the international plane and encouraged Pakistan to conduct its own tests. The Vajpayee government sought to mend fences with Pakistan only after threatening the latter on the Kashmir issue, with its nuclear capability, which had already caused much damage.

The reference here is to Vajpayee's much-hyped bus trip to Lahore, touted as a landmark in relations between the two countries. Was the government trying to befool the people, or was it itself being misled? Be that as it may, this excitement over the Lahore visit proved short-lived. Soon came the discovery of a large scale intrusion into Kargil and the simultaneous infiltration into the Kashmir valley by several hundreds of Pakistan-trained militants.

That all this was aimed at internationalising the Kashmir issue, was evident from the joint Clinton-Sharif communique in which Clinton assured that he would take "personal interest" in the Kashmir issue. However, what is still more significant is the fact that after Vajpayee was informed about the joint communique, he gave his approval to it. Now, even though the intrusion in Kargil has been vacated, infiltrators continue to play havoc in the valley, attacking police pickets, military and other key installations, and even the innocent people at will. The mishandling of such a sensitive matter by the government of India can lead to serious consequences.

The Indian government does not seem disappointed at all by its failure in persuading the US to mobilise international opinion so as to pressurise the hijackers and their mentors to give in. Instead, they are now preparing to give Clinton a the red carpet welcome during his proposed visit to India. Evidently, the Vajpayee government has not given up its illusion that the US will abandon its long-standing alliance with Pakistan to embrace India. While the US does want to drag India into its fold, it will not be at the cost of Pakistan. It is not only Pakistan; the Americans have their own gameplan on the issue of Kashmir also. The US has always dreamt of an independent state of Kashmir, as opposed to the views of both India and Pakistan.