Yet there was no way to confirm what was being said.
Now a recent WikiLeaks cable confirms the theory. Suggesting behind the scene US influence in the cabinet reshuffle of 2006, the cable confirms that the “contentious and outspoken Iran pipeline advocate” Mani Shankar Aiyar was removed and “pro-US” Murli Deora was appointed as Petroleum Minister — basically to eliminate the irritant in the budding Indo-US relationship. Aiyar was too small a fry to be taken care of.
The cable from the then US envoy to Delhi David C. Mulford makes interesting reading: “The UPA's Jan. 28 cabinet reshuffle signifies a determination to ensure that US/India relations continue to move ahead rapidly, and strengthens the cadre of modernizing reformers at the top of GOI. Removing contentious and outspoken Iran pipeline advocate Mani Shankar Aiyar from the Petroleum Portfolio, the UPA replaced him with the pro-US Murli Deora, who was one of several figures inducted with long standing ties to the Indo/US Parliamentary Forum (IUPF) and the Embassy.”
At a later point the cable says, “Aiyar's dismissal, following on USG demarches against oil and gas cooperation with Iran and Syria, will probably disrupt the recent momentum built by Aiyar and MPNG Additional Secretary Talmiz Ahmad (the current Indian envoy in Riyadh) in favor of the Iran-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline, as well as cooperation with Syria, as Deora conducts a thorough review of these transactions.”
Washington was definitely happy at the developments. Deora was a familiar and friendly figure. The leaked cable also underlined that Deora's appointment signified a “determination to ensure that US-India relations continue to move ahead rapidly.”
To some it signified a major step towards the nuclear deal between the two countries — reversing the 30-year-old sanction on India's nuclear program — indeed at a price.
And for Aiyar, the price was apparently too much!
Deora was appointed at a particularly sensitive moment, as India was under pressure to join the US in voting against Iran's nuclear program at IAEA in Vienna. And baffling many, Indian vote went against Iran. Indeed this surprised many — keeping in view India's long time, independent, non-aligned foreign policy and its deep, historical relations with Tehran.
In the weeks and months after induction, India's new oil minister adopted a less strident approach to an Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project.
Indeed Aiyar was not the sole casualty of this relationship. His was the smaller sacrificial meat on the table. On the altar was the decades' old independent, non-aligned, the Nehruvian foreign policy of New Delhi too.
Apparently in deference to Washington's concern, the Reserve Bank of India recently concluded that payments to Iran, made by India to Iran for its oil exports, could no longer be settled using the long-standing clearinghouse system run by regional central banks.
RBI said it could not allow the Tehran-headquartered Asian Clearing Unit (ACU) to be used for making payments to Iran. Till October 2010, the transactions between the two countries were carried out in euro through the ACU, which was set up in 1974. The clearinghouse settles trade transactions with Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, the Maldives, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. India imported 21.3 million tons from Iran in 2009-10.
Interestingly, the decision was taken weeks after US President Barack Obama visited India. The move was definitely welcomed in Washington which said it would reduce funds available to Tehran to support its nuclear activity.
Further delays were now expected in the signing of accord between the Indian Oil & Natural Gas Corp Ltd. and Iran's state-run Petropars Ltd. to develop phase 12 of the South Pars gas field, as US sanctions on Iran were apparently making it hard to secure funding for the project.
The South Pars gas field, owned jointly by Iran and Qatar, is the world's largest gas reservoir and contains about half of Iran's gas resources. Despite its robust cash reserves, ONGC is seeking loans for the phase 12 development project, which is likely to cost about $7.5 billion.
“ONGC has the funds. But we can't spend it all on this project, as we keep scouting for attractive assets overseas,” an ONGC official said. He added that ONGC also needs to involve banks to transfer its share of the development cost to Petropars. This is a difficult process because of curbs placed by the U.S. on transactions with Iran.
When Aiyar left the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, he definitely left a mark there too. He was remembered long after. In May 2007, one could vividly recall Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi while addressing the 2nd Asian Energy Ministerial at Riyadh Intercontinental thanked, 'Mani Shankar Aiyar, the former Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas in particular, for launching the Asian Ministers' Roundtable, and graciously hosting our first meeting in January 2005.' Aiyar was indeed behind the very idea of 'South -South dialogue' in the realm of energy too, most acknowledge even today.
Mani Shakar Aiyar has a knack for doing things differently. One could recall the ebullient and the socially approachable Indian Consul General in Karachi — who is still remembered there by many. His impact was so big in Karachi then, that even as a college going student, this correspondent vividly remembers seeing him from a distance, advocating the cause of peace between the two warring nations — Indian and Pakistan — from the depth of his heart. That was the younger, idealistic and the diplomat with a thinking cap — different from the run of the mill diplomats — endeavoring to make an imprint issues that matter
Eminent Indian journalist M.J. Akbar in one of his columns in this newspaper had carried excerpts from a book by an old, retired, senior Indian bureaucrat, who had been a witness to the forced induction of Manmohan Singh, at the behest of Washington, in the Indian cabinet when Narasimha Rao led India was about to go bankrupt. In order to bail India out, Washington insisted on Singh's induction. Perhaps in the same vein, Washington this time wanted Aiyar to be out of the way, for he was apparently born in a wrong decade. Unfortunately, the US intervention cut short Aiyar's career in the realm of energy, for he had the tenacity to leave his mark here too. Indeed politics and energy could not stand separated for too long — the Aiyar saga underlines.
