Hello, Mr. Gujral…

The turn of events that brought the Pakistan-born Inder Kumar Gujral to the seat of Prime Minister augurs well for India and South Asia. Without a political base of his own, Mr Gujral has little to lose by taking bold, potentially unpopular measures. By personality, too, he has more than once in his long career shown his willingness to take a stand, as when, as Minister of Information, he had a spat with Sanjay Gandhi over government control of media, or when he opposed the Soviets´ Afghan adventure while ambassador to Moscow. On a South Asian plane, Mr Gujral is the architect of India´s benign face to its neighbours, the drafter of the Gujral Doctrine of Non-Reciprocity. He is someone who has been derided by one Indian commentator as a member of the nefarious "Lahore Club" for being friendly with those who are promoting Indo-Pakistan people-to-people connectivity.

It was a surprise when this confirmed dove was given the high office of foreign minister of India by the previous government. And now, incredibly, he is Prime Minister of India!

Even more than in his previous role, Mr Gujral has the opportunity more than anyone else to remake South Asia. Besides setting in stone the liberal-minded non-domineering approach already incorporated in the Gujral Doctrine, he is in a position to do several other things.

First, as an intellectual who has become Prime Minister of India, Mr Gujral can promote a legitimation of regionalism within India, so that the power of the monolithic state is ratcheted down for the multiple voices of the vast and diverse multitude to be heard in the running of the state. Second, to take governance to the people at the village level, Mr Gujral needs to give teeth to the Panchayati Raj process, something started by earlier governments. Third, we would suggest that Mr Gujral pick up the Kashmir tangle and try to do something no other leader has done before him—try to solve it rather than let the wound fester further. As everyone realises, Kashmir´s problem is that the Kashmiris themselves are not being given a voice in their future. The establishments, both in Islamabad and New Delhi, do not want to hear this, and Mr Gujral knows this to be true. Even if he does not succeed, he might at least raise the level of debate and lower the threshold for an eventual solution.

Mr Gujral did not come to his new job as part of any political "machine", to use an Americanism. He can, therefore, afford to tinker with the machinery.