Ambassador Natarajan Krishnan passed away on September 15, 2020, in Bengaluru. An outstanding diplomat, a brilliant negotiator, a great storyteller, accessible to everyone, humble and always smiling, Krishnan was adored and admired widely. Even those who lost their shirt negotiating with him would not cross swords with him because he made them believe that they gained by losing.
Sadly, he never took to writing to reveal his version of the history he witnessed from the ring side which will remain a great loss to posterity. His amazing life in the diplomatic corps and beyond will therefore remain forever locked in the official archives and in bits and pieces in the minds and memories of some who had the privilege of being able to watch him closely or from afar and a few among us whom he taught and trained.
Born on October 6, 1928, after a degree in economics he joined the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) on July 17, 1951, at the age of 22. Scoring 862 out of total 1,350 marks, including 260 out of 300 in his Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) interview, Krishnan topped his batch of civil service in 1951.
When I returned to the Ministry of External Affairs from Damascus in June 1987, I was told to defer my home leave and join as under secretary in a new division named “Southern Africa Unit (SAU)” set up to service the AFRICA (Action for Resisting Invasion, Colonialism and Apartheid) Fund launched by the non-aligned movement (NAM). I was told ambassador Krishnan had picked me to work for the SAU. It was a great privilege to work for someone who was already a legend.
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Krishan’s stewardship of NAM
In the early 1980s, enlightened NAM leaders had started feeling that the then apartheid regime of South Africa was inching towards a region-wide conflagration and that the threat of a possible super power proxy conflict loomed large. To address the growing concerns about the region, NAM launched the AFRICA Fund. The six frontline states bordering South Africa namely Angola, Botswana, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia, and three liberation movements – African National Congress (ANC), The Pan African Congress (PAC) independently fighting the apartheid regime in Pretoria, and The South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) in the forefront of the struggle for independence of South West Africa, now Namibia, were the beneficiaries.
Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda were made chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the Fund. Heads of government of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Egypt, Peru, Argentina, Algeria and Yugoslavia became members of the AFRICA Fund committee which would steer the work of the Fund.
Natarajan Krishnan. Photo: Facebook
The last assignment of Krishnan’s IFS career was as India’s envoy to the United Nations (UN), New York. The last three years of his stay in New York (1983-86) coincided with India’s chairmanship of NAM. The UN being one place in the world where the entire membership of NAM is represented, the envoy to the UN of the country which chaired NAM invariably became de facto global coordinator for NAM during the years of chairmanship.
In 1983, the responsibility of managing the coordinating bureau of NAM fell on Krishnan. With his elephantine memory, vast knowledge, wisdom, experience, charm, humility, wit and pleasant demeanour, Krishnan managed India’s stewardship of NAM with such finesse that he earned accolades of high praise from one and all for himself and for his country. K. Natwar Singh, seven months younger in age and two batches junior in the IFS to N. Krishnan recently wrote, “He served as permanent representative of India at the UN in the mid-1980s with great distinction. He was an accomplished, self-effacing, low-key diplomat.”
Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi couldn’t have found a better candidate than Krishnan to take on the mantle of AFRICA Fund. Krishnan was re-appointed as SEPM after his superannuation from New York.
AFRICA Fund started with zero balance in its account in early 1987. Krishnan led the crusade first to persuade donors to pledge the resources, then to convert the pledges into supplies, projects and programmes to the beneficiaries. With a skeletal team he ensured that the Fund received pledges from more than seventy countries, much of it in supplies, projects and programmes valued at close to $2 billion. By the end of 1989, over 90% of the pledges had been redeemed and the benefits had accrued to beneficiaries.
It must be said to the credit of Krishnan that he executed this amazing show almost single-handedly. He also generously and lovingly distributed all the praise heaped on him to his team, ambassadors and leaderships in donor and recipient countries, the UN system, the Commonwealth secretariat, and last but not the least, in importance the trust and confidence reposed in him by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
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Krishnan’s contribution in the Iran-Iraq war
After his assignment as SEPM, Krishnan became the dean at the School of International Studies, Pondicherry University. His talents were put to use frequently by the government for many more years. He was at one time offered the post of ambassador to the US which he politely declined because, as ambassador T.P. Sreenivasan said, Mrs. Lalitha Krishnan was not happy with the thought of frying puris for three more years!
With a background in physics, my English was simple and my sentences were short. I considered it a weakness. Krishnan convinced me that it was the core strength of a good officer and an effective communicator. Thanks to him I also imbibed the habit of reading a book a month which helped enormously in widening my knowledge and smartening my English. Krishnan often corrected my drafts to make them more coherent and crisp. After dealing with senior ambassadors and ministers, presidents and prime ministers, he had no issues teaching basics to a junior under secretary and actually enjoyed it.
Krishnan’s skills in drafting documents to achieve consensus were legendary. When the Iran-Iraq War broke out, relentless efforts were made by NAM, the Organization of Islamic Conference and the UN to get the two warring countries to agree to a ceasefire. Any number of debates, discussions and personal meetings with leaders of the two countries failed. The two countries never agreed to a single formulation on cessation of war and peaceful settlement. The first ever formulation accepted by both was drafted by ambassador Krishnan. A research paper notes, “Finally, after intense negotiations conducted by the Indian ambassador Natarajan Krishnan with the envoys of the two concerned countries, a draft acceptable to both sides was hammered out on October 4, 1984.
The draft finally accepted by Iran and Iraq said: “…need to exert all possible efforts to contribute to the implementation of the principles of non-alignment with regard to the conflict between Iran and Iraq in order to find a peaceful, just and honourable solution to this unfortunate conflict in accordance with the charter of the UN and principles of non-alignment which would bring durable peace and security to the region.”
The above formulation of Krishnan became the template for all subsequent negotiators that followed. Finally, it took the UN eight long years, 11 security council resolutions, numerous presidential statements and a long series of mediating attempts by the secretary-general before the ceasefire came into effect in August 1988.
Drafting documents and proposals under the guidance of Krishnan was a fascinating experience. In my initial weeks with the SAU, one day he asked me to prepare a proposal for the next committee meeting. As desired by him, I made the first draft thinking like a European country, the second as an African and the third as an Asian. We discussed each draft and improved on it.
It was during those discussions that I learnt what it means to think like someone else. As a European I wanted to minimise my financial outgo for the AFRICA Fund, as an Asian I wanted aid to create spin off commercial benefits and as an African I only wanted cash and supplies. The D day came when the three final drafts were ready and Krishnan ordered that I merge the three draft proposals into a single consolidated draft which was nerve wracking. That is when I realised how difficult it would be to arrive at a consensus among 120 NAM members or 193 of the UN.
Every time we prepared for a new AFRICA Fund SOM, we were ready with a dummy final document prepared in consultation with committee members well before delegates arrived for the meeting. The committee and the sub-committees almost always accepted our final document since we earnestly tried to take care of the concerns of all parties. If there were differences, we would persuade disagreeing countries towards consensus.
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Krishnan spoke to delegates in their own language – English, Spanish or even a bit of French as the case may be and got them to agree. It was amazing to see how overawed the delegates were of ambassador Krishnan when he conducted meetings and how respectful when he individually spoke to them. I saw many delegates speaking in a high-pitched voice, questioning some words or sentences during formal deliberations, but become quiet and acquiescent after Krishnan spoke to them during tea break.
During the course of our long careers as diplomats, we worked in many countries in different continents under varying cultures and conditions. In the process, we encountered a variety of interlocutors, made many friends, worked under several superiors and dealt with a number of younger subordinates.
A few of us who were lucky got to meet some gems among our superiors who not only polished the rough edges of our personalities but also provided a sense of purpose to our lives and taught us to become happier human beings. Natarajan Krishnan was one of them. In his passing away we have lost an irreplaceable guru and a wonderful human being whose stock of charm and affection was unlimited.
A.R. Ghanashyam is a former Indian diplomat.
