According to a newspaper report, our Executive Director to the World Bank Mr. Pulok Chatterjee, at an internal meeting of the World Bank in Washington DC on the 12th February, which was attended by Executive Director China - Mr. Shaolin Yang, World Bank General Counsel (legal) and Vice President South Asia Division, had verbally conveyed to the Bank, that no Arunachal Pradesh specific projects would be posed to it for financing.
“I also took the liberty to say that the names of the individual states would not be mentioned anywhere in the project document, and that the Government of India would not be posing any Arunachal Pradesh specific project to World Bank.” Mr. Chatterjee informed the Finance Secretary Mr. Ashok Chawla, in a letter written soon after the World Bank meeting. This letter is reportedly in the possession of that newspaper.
Quite expectedly, Mr. Shaolin Yang wanted operationalisation of this statement.
According to our Minister for External Affairs - Mr. S.M. Krishna, while defending the decision not to seek World Bank assistance for projects in Arunachal Pradesh, stated that “necessity arises when we are starved of funds for technical projects in our Country, which is inclusive of Arunachal Pradesh. As of now, for every project in Arunachal Pradesh, we have been able to tie up internal resources.”
But on its part, the Finance Ministry said that India had not made any commitment to the World Bank that it would not pose any Arunachal Pradesh specific projects. “ No such discussion or dialogue can be termed as a conclusive official stand or commitment till it has been formally approved by the government,” a statement from the Finance Ministry said.
Assuming the authenticity of these facts as reported in the newspaper, one wonders:
1. Who gave Mr. Chatterjee the authority or directive to give such kind of a verbal commitment to the World Bank officials, by specifically mentioning Arunachal Pradesh, and that too in the presence of Executive Director China - Mr. Shaolin Yang who later pressed for the operationalisation of this verbal statement ?
2. If Mr. Krishna’s defense of this decision by Mr. Chatterjee is to be accepted, then one wonders if stating such obvious facts was really called for ? Have other countries made similar kind of statements verbally or otherwise in such forums of the World Bank?
3. Would Mr. Krishna be kind enough to clarify if, as of now, are we funding all the technical projects in our country, from our own internal resources, or it is just confined to Arunachal Pradesh?
4. If we are indeed funding all the technical projects in our country as of now from our own internal resources (which would be truly amazing), then do we not reserve the right to approach the World Bank any time in the future, for funding requirements of any technical projects in any integral part of our country, including Arunachal Pradesh as well?
5. If we do reserve the right to approach the World Bank in the future, for funding requirements of technical projects in Arunachal Pradesh as well, besides others, then the verbal commitment given by Mr. Chatterjee, as accepted by him in his letter to the Finance Secretary Mr. Chawla, falls flat on his face, and should he be allowed to continue being our representative in the World Bank? and
6. If only the technical projects in Arunachal Pradesh are being and would be funded through our internal resources, then what reservations do we have in operationalising this statement of Mr. Chatterjee, as demanded by Mr.Yang?
The assertion of the Finance Ministry, that no such discussion or dialogue can be termed conclusive official stand or commitment, till it has been formally approved by the government, contradicts the stand taken by Mr. S.M. Krishna, and also puts a question mark on the credibility of Mr,. Pulok Chatterjee, who is after all a representative of the Indian Government at the World Bank.
The Ministry of External Affairs and the Finance Ministry seem to be contradicting each other in such a serious matter, which concerns the very integrity of our country. Assuming the authenticity of the above statement of the Finance Ministry, what if the Government of India overrules the verbal statement of Mr. Chatterjee, then would it not imply losing confidence in him besides contradicting our Minister of External Affairs Mr. Krishna as well?
With the Sharm El Shaikh disaster still fresh in our minds, this yet another possible faux pax concerning a troubled spot in our bilateral relationship with China, would be too much for us to bear.
While verbal denials , twisting of the words, playing upon the various possible interpretations, as is done usually by the spokespersons, might come in plenty, yet nothing short of rolling at least one head, should be the right action to send across a message, that when it comes to our territorial integrity, there can be and will be no compromise.
No prizes for guessing, whose head that should be.
