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London, June 27: Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi is in London, accompanied by his wife, Dolly, and his senior team of officials are doing rather a good job of promoting his state, according to those who have met him.
Today, he spoke at Chatham House in St James’s Square, London, which has been the home of the Royal Institute of International Affairs for 90 years.
So far so good, but the 77-year-old chief minister looked somewhat baffled when The Telegraph explained to him that his words in praise of Assam could not be reported because he was “speaking under Chatham House rules”.
The institute’s goal is clear enough: “Our mission is to be a world-leading source of independent analysis, informed debate and influential ideas on how to build a prosperous and secure world for all.”
However, in order to encourage speakers to be totally candid when expressing their views, direct quotes are not permitted under pain of ex-communication.
Journalists are made to sign a pledge to that effect when attending a conference at Chatham House — and so it was with The Telegraph today.
Therefore, Gogoi’s stirring words on Assam at a conference entitled, Regionalisation, Reform and Investment, must remain a secret.
However, he was encouraged to repeat the gist of his message outside the conference — and this can be reported without breaking any rules.
The audience was informed that Gogoi is a seasoned politician who has served six terms in the Lok Sabha.
He had served as a Union minister of the food-processing industry when he had taken the initiative to push for the admission of Coca Cola and McDonald’s as he felt this would sent a positive message about the new India to the outside world.
More to the point, he had matched Narendra Modi in that he has been elected three times as chief minister of Assam since he first took over in 2001.
The audience also learnt that Assam has had a GDP growth rate of 8.6 per cent.
“But no one knows about it,” Gogoi later told The Telegraph, revealing a dry sense of humour.
He came across as a pragmatic man: his three priorities were education, climate change and employment generation among the young.
“Yesterday, I went to the LSE (London School of Economics) to see if we can have a tie-up with them,” he said. “Our boys and girls need skills development.”
There had also been a meeting with Lord Swraj Paul, chairman of the Caparo group and someone with long family connections in Assam.
Paul told The Telegraph: “He is a very experienced politician and a charming man — I have known him for a very long time. I think he is doing a very good job as chief minister. We are in tea gardens in Assam, though that is looked after by my younger brother’s family.”
Gogoi expressed “great concern” about the effect of climate change on Assam.
“We have lost 4 lakh hectares through the Brahmaputra’s erosion. On something like this we need to talk to China, Bhutan and Bangladesh. There is the problem of deforestation. I don’t want another Uttarakhand.”
Gogoi wants to promote tourism to the Northeast and investment in oil and gas industry in Assam. He is reminding the British “you were the ones to discover oil in Assam”.
Other speakers at today's conference included Jaimini Bhagwati, Indian high commissioner in London, Dr Isher Ahluwalia, chairperson, board of directors, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, Harish Salve, senior counsel, Supreme Court of India; economist Lord Meghnad Desai; and Gregory Barker, minister for energy and climate change as well as “minister for business engagement with India”.
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