New Delhi, August 21
India’s ambassador to the USA Ronen Sen, who risked the wrath of MPs for allegedly describing them as “headless chickens” in the context of the Indo-US nuclear deal, today offered an unqualified apology.
Already in a Hamletian dilemma over the deal in the face of stiff opposition from the Left parties, the government had to resort to expeditious damage control over the ambassador’s statement carried by an English daily.
External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee today read out Sen’s statement in both Houses of Parliament.
“My comment about running around like headless chicken, looking for a comment here or comment there, was a tactless observation of some of my media friends and most certainly not with reference to any Member of Parliament. It was certainly not my intention to cast aspersion on any individual or organisation. However, if I have unwittingly hurt any sentiments, I offer my unqualified apologies,” said the statement.
The envoy has clarified that some comments attributed to him in the off-the-record conversation with a correspondent of a news website, were either misunderstood or misquoted or quoted out of context.
Responding to a clarification sought by the external affairs ministry, Sen has said in his message: “Some of the comments attributed to me in this off-the-record conversation were, however, made by me in my personal capacity and do not reflect the positions of the government. I fully recognise that such
personal views, even in a private conversation, should have been expressed with better judgment and due decorum.
I did not say that the Hyde Act could not be renegotiated but said the bilateral agreement could not in my view be renegotiated. With reference to the Act, I had expressed my assessment it would not be amended in the foreseeable future.”
As the external affairs minister read out Sen’s message, the Opposition made it clear that it was not in a mood to forgive or forget.
As soon as Mukherjee finished reading out the message in the Rajya Sabha, Leader of the Opposition in the House Jaswant Singh described the situation arising out of Sen’s remarks as “most exceptional”.
Jaswant Singh said the House had good reasons to feel aggrieved over the envoy’s comments as they were demeaning to the self-respect of the members. He also took offence to foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon briefing alliance partners of the UPA on the deal.
As members of the Opposition, the Left parties and the UNPA stood up to seek clarifications, deputy chairman Rehman Khan said the minister had only read out the Sen’s message verbatim. He said it was not a statement on which clarifications could be sought and adjourned the House till Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Mukherjee regretted the comments of Sen that have hurt the feelings of the MPs.
“These comments, if made by our ambassador, and reported correctly, are totally unwarranted and unacceptable.”
Mukherjee was compelled to make a clarification in both Houses of Parliament after members belonging to the BJP and the Left parties demanded action against the envoy.
Not satisfied with Mukherjee’s clarification, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani demanded that the full text of Sen’s interview be handed over to the House to enable the members to form a considered opinion on the matter.
Speaker Somnath Chatterjee made a plea to the members to take their seats. He assured the agitated members that Parliament is in the position to take action if it finds anyone showing disrespect to its members. The House was adjourned till 11.30 am. When the House met again, the members again raised uproar, compelling a second adjournment. The Rajya Sabha also witnessed two adjournments over the issue.
The uproar created by the Opposition and the Left over the remarks compelled chairman Hamid Ansari to adjourn the House for an hour within minutes of the beginning of the day’s proceedings. They demanded that the question hour be suspended so that the issue could be taken up. Several members rushed to the well of the House. The chairman asked them to go back to their seats and allowed minister of state for parliamentary affairs Suresh Pachouri to make a statement but his words were inaudible.
Sensing that the members were in no mood to relent, Ansari adjourned the House for an hour till noon. The issue again rocked the House. The proceedings lasted about 20 minutes as the chairman adjourned the House following pandemonium.
