Date:08/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/08/stories/2007120855961400.htm

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Yashwant Sinha met Japanese counterpart briefly in 1991

Neena Vyas

Yashwant Sinha

NEW DELHI: In the second week of April 1991 the Chandra Shekhar government’s Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha, travelled to Tokyo in search of early disbursement of promised aid to help tide over the economic crisis at home. On April 11 he had a brief meeting with his Japanese counterpart Ryutaro Hashimoto before he returned home the next day.

The Hindu published a report by K.V. Narain, its veteran Tokyo-based correspondent, on April 12, 1991. The report, titled “Sinha hopeful of Japanese aid,” stated that “Mr. Sinha met his Japanese counterpart, Mr. Ryutaro Hashimoto, and the Foreign Minister, Mr. Taro Nakayama, late this afternoon [that is, the afternoon of April 11, 1991] and it was not known what transpired in the talks.”

This meeting that took place in Mr. Hashimoto’s antechamber has assumed importance as it has become a matter of privilege. Mr. Sinha gave notice of privilege on December 5 against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and it is currently lying with the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Hamid Ansari for further action.

The privilege issue arose during the debate on the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal on December 4. In a brief but heated exchange of words, the Prime Minister charged that when Mr. Sinha went to Japan as India’s Finance Minister he “was not allowed to meet the Finance Minister there [in Japan].” Mr. Sinha has since stated that he had gone to Japan as Finance Minister “only once” during the Chandra Shekhar government’s tenure and he did meet Mr. Hashimoto “briefly.”

Mr. Sinha told The Hindu on Friday he clearly remembered that visit to Tokyo since an “impression had gone around that I was there with a begging bowl and wanted aid to tide over the financial crisis and I was touchy about this. I could not enjoy the splendid cherry blossoms. I wanted early disbursement of aid already promised as our foreign exchange position had become precarious…I had a meeting with Mr. Hashimoto, although it was a very brief meeting, I also met bankers to ask them to reschedule loans to India…as Finance Minister in the Vajpayee government I did not visit Japan, so the question of my not meeting my counterpart does not arise.”

A senior Indian Embassy official, now retired, accompanied Mr. Sinha when he went to see the Finance Minister. Speaking to The Hindu, he recalled the meeting vividly: “We had the appointment for Mr. Sinha with the Foreign Minister of Japan, but we could not get one with the Finance Minister. We kept trying and then got a five-minute slot. When we went there, we were asked to wait in Mr. Hashimoto’s antechamber. Mr. Hashimoto came out of his room and Mr. Sinha spoke to him for a few minutes…The Japanese Finance Minister said he knew what Mr. Sinha had come for and it could be discussed with his vice-minister [rank equivalent to Secretary Finance Ministry]. The discussions continued later between the Finance Secretaries of the two countries.”