Singh: Decisive

New Delhi, Feb. 3: The glimpse of steel was not by design, or so they say.

Manmohan Singh?s decisions to skip the Saarc summit and increase the foreign investment ceiling in telecom was not part of a larger exercise to redefine his image as a ?tough and decisive? leader, sources close to the Prime Minister said.

But they conceded that the moves ?belied the perception of a person who could be persuaded under pressure? and ?to that extent? signalled a reinvention of his persona.

The sources said the Prime Minister, right from the beginning, had not been at ease with the idea of attending a summit in Dhaka in an environment perceptibly ?hostile? to India. ?The PM felt the idea of Saarc was meaningless if it took place in an environment that was inimical to peace and prosperity. Any statement or resolution that emanated would be hollow and rhetorical,? a source said, referring to reports of how Bangladesh ?encouraged? anti-Indian insurgency groups on its soil.

?His priority is to have the best of relations with our neighbours but these would have to be reciprocal and mutually beneficial and not at the cost of having terrorists sneaking into Jammu and Bengal from across the borders. Singh is all for breaking down trade and human barriers in the subcontinent, but not at the cost of harming our territorial integrity,? he added.

Singh?s decision to abstain from the summit, the sources said, was meant as a ?message? as much to Nepal, where King Gyanendra sacked the government on Tuesday, as to Bangladesh that he would not countenance any breach of democracy or territorial integrity.

The sources claimed that once Singh got a fix on the events in Nepal, his ?mind was as good as made up?. Yesterday, he held a series of consultations with national security adviser M.K. Narayanan, foreign minister K. Natwar Singh, former Prime Ministers I.K. Gujral and Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani.

Though Vajpayee and Advani refused to make a statement ? sources said the matter was ?too sensitive? for a casual response ? an official statement from the BJP echoed the Indian establishment?s view. ?The king?s draconian actions have caused a serious setback to the process (of democracy),? it said.

Asked how long India could avoid doing business with the Nepal king, a source said: ?We will eventually have to. But we have made our point. Don?t forget how (Pakistan?s Pervez) Musharraf had to struggle before he gained legitimacy and when he did, it was only because the US found him useful post 9/11.?

On the FDI hike in telecom, Singh, the sources said, was determined to push it through before the budget. A senior minister had reportedly raised the security ?bogey? at the cabinet meeting but was firmly told that such fears were taken care of.