K. Natwar Singh | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Singh in 2005 | |
| Minister of External Affairs | |
| In office 22 May 2004 – 6 December 2005 | |
| Prime Minister | Manmohan Singh |
| Preceded by | Yashwant Sinha |
| Succeeded by | Manmohan Singh |
| Minister without portfolio | |
| In office 8 December 2005 – 22 May 2009 | |
| Prime Minister | Manmohan Singh |
| Preceded by | Mamata Banerjee |
| Succeeded by | Arun Jaitley |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1931-05-16)16 May 1931 |
| Died | 10 August 2024(2024-08-10) (aged 93) |
| Political party | Indian National Congress (1984–2006) Bahujan Samaj Party (2008)[1] |
| Spouse | Heminder Kaur |
| Children | 2, includingJagat Singh |
| Education | Mayo College |
| Alma mater | St. Stephen's College, Delhi. Corpus Christi College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Awards | Padma Bhushan |
K. Natwar Singh (16 May 1931 – 10 August 2024) was an Indian politician, former diplomat, and an author. He served asMinister of External Affairs of India from 2004 to 2005.[2][3] A veteran leader of theIndian National Congress, Singh was honoured with thePadma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian honour, in 1984.[4]
He held several significant diplomatic postings, including asAmbassador to Pakistan from 1980 to 1982, a period of strained bilateral relations. Entering politics in 1984 as a Congress leader, he was elected to Parliament and subsequently served asUnion Minister of State for Steel and later as Minister of State for External Affairs until 1989.[4][5]
In 2014, Singh published his autobiographyOne Life is Not Enough, which drew wide attention for its account of his diplomatic and political career.[6][7]
Natwar Singh was born the fourth son of Govind Singh and Prayag Kaur inDeeg Palace, then part of the princely state ofBharatpur. His family belonged to the Jat ruling aristocracy of the region, being related to the dynasty of Bharatpur.[8]
He was educated atMayo College, Ajmer, one of India’s most prestigious schools established for princely families and nobility.[9] He later studied history atSt. Stephen's College, Delhi, before pursuing further studies atCorpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he came into contact with leading intellectuals of the time.[10] Singh also spent time as a visiting scholar atPeking University, which provided him with exposure to Chinese history and culture at a formative stage in his diplomatic career.[11]
Singh joined theIndian Foreign Service in 1953 and went on to serve India for 31 years. Among his early postings wasBeijing (1956–58). He later worked inNew York (1961–66) at India’sPermanent Mission, and during that time also represented India on the executive board ofUNICEF (1962–66). He contributed to variousUnited Nations committees between 1963 and 1966. In 1966 he was entrusted with a role in thePrime Minister’s Secretariat underIndira Gandhi.
His overseas assignments thereafter included serving as India’s Ambassador to Poland from 1971 to 1973, then as Deputy High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1973 to 1977, and subsequently asAmbassador to Pakistan from 1980 to 1982.[citation needed] He was part of India’s delegation to theCommonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kingston, Jamaica in 1975, and participated as an Indian delegate to the 30th Session of theUnited Nations General Assembly and theCommonwealth meeting in Lusaka in 1979, as well as to the 35th UN General Assembly in New York. He also accompanied Indira Gandhi on her state visit to theUnited States in 1982.
Beyond bilateral diplomacy, he served as Executive Trustee of theUnited Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) from 1981 to 1986, and was chosen as a member of theCommonwealth Secretary-General’s Expert Group in 1982. In 1983, he was appointed Secretary-General of the SeventhNon-Aligned Summit held inNew Delhi and Chief Coordinator of the same year’sCommonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). He then served as Secretary in theMinistry of External Affairs between March 1982 and November 1984. His long and distinguished diplomatic contributions were recognised when he was awarded thePadma Bhushan in 1984.[citation needed]
In 1984, after resigning from theIndian Foreign Service, Singh joined theIndian National Congress (INC) and was elected to the 8thLok Sabha from the Bharatpur constituency in Rajasthan.[12] In 1985, he was sworn in asMinister of State and was allotted the portfolios of steel, coal and mines, and agriculture. The following year, he was appointed Minister of State for External Affairs.[13]
During this period, Singh played an active role in international diplomacy. In 1987, he was elected President of theUnited Nations Conference on Disarmament and Development in New York,[14] a recognition that underscored India’s growing stature in global affairs and his own standing as a senior diplomat-politician. He also led the Indian delegation to the 42nd Session of the UN General Assembly,[15] further consolidating his reputation as a capable representative of India on the world stage.
Singh continued as Minister of State for External Affairs until the Congress party lost power in the 1989 general election. He contested the Mathura seat in Uttar Pradesh that year but was defeated.[16] When the Congress returned to power in 1991 under Prime MinisterP. V. Narasimha Rao, Singh was not a Member of Parliament and therefore did not hold ministerial office. He subsequently left the party along withN. D. Tiwari andArjun Singh to form the All India Indira Congress.[17]
In 1998, the new party merged back into the Congress. Singh contested the general elections that year and was elected to the 12th Lok Sabha (1998–99) from Bharatpur, defeatingBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidateDigamber Singh.[18] He served in the opposition during that term but lost his seat in the 1999 election. In 2002, he was elected to theRajya Sabha from Rajasthan.[19] Following the Congress party’s return to power in 2004, Prime MinisterManmohan Singh appointed him as India’sMinister of External Affairs.[20]
Singh assumed office on 23 May 2004 as India’sMinister of External Affairs. On 27 October 2005, the Independent Inquiry Committee chaired byPaul Volcker released its report on the United NationsOil-for-Food Programme, naming theIndian National Congress (then led bySonia Gandhi) among “non-contractual beneficiaries” and referring to Singh in connection with certain Iraqi oil allocations. Singh denied wrongdoing and described the allegations as politically motivated.[21][22]
The report also cited a number of companies and individuals internationally.Siemens stated that it had “found no evidence of kickbacks” allegedly paid by its subsidiaries,[23] andAstraZeneca likewise denied the allegations.[23] In the United Kingdom and France, figures such as MPGeorge Galloway and former interior ministerCharles Pasqua were named in relation to allocations,[24][25] but no cabinet-level ministers in either country resigned or faced prosecution as a result of the Volcker findings.[26] Several companies, includingTotal andVitol, later faced proceedings in France; some cases resulted in fines, while others ended in acquittals.[27][28]
India was among the countries that initiated a formal judicial inquiry. A one-man authority headed by former Chief JusticeR. S. Pathak was established in 2006. The Pathak report concluded that no financial or personal gain could be traced to Singh and that the Congress party had no proven link to illicit oil transactions.[29] No criminal charges were filed. Singh resigned from his ministerial position in December 2005, making his departure one of the most prominent ministerial resignations internationally linked to the Volcker report.[30]
The Volcker Inquiry itself has been the subject of criticism. Analysts have noted that it relied heavily on Iraqi ministry documents for its findings,[31][32] despite Iraq at the time being under Saddam Hussein’s authoritarian regime where official records were vulnerable to manipulation. Other critiques highlighted the inquiry’s limited powers and questioned its independence; aU.S. Congressional hearing in 2005 raised concerns about the scope and reliability of the report.[33] Commentators also observed that while the inquiry documented widespread irregularities, national governments responded unevenly across jurisdictions.[26]
In February 2008, Singh announced his resignation from theIndian National Congress during a Jat community rally in Jaipur. He shared the stage with Rajasthan Chief MinisterVasundhara Raje.[34][35][36]
Later that year, Singh joined theBahujan Samaj Party (BSP) but remained associated only briefly. He subsequently stepped back from active politics and focused on writing, publishing books, essays, and columns on diplomacy and public life.[13]
In August 1967, Singh married Heminder Kaur, the eldest daughter ofYadavindra Singh, the lastMaharaja of Patiala and his wife Mohinder Kaur. She is the sister ofAmarinder Singh, who later served asChief Minister of Punjab.[37]
Their son,Jagat Singh, has been elected as aMember of the Legislative Assembly three times in Rajasthan and representsNadbai constituency from the BJP in Bharatpur district.[38]
Natwar Singh died inGurugram on 10 August 2024 at the age of 95, after a prolonged illness.[39][40]
Following Singh’s death in August 2024, leaders across parties paid tribute. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi expressed condolences, noting Singh’s “rich contributions to the world of diplomacy and foreign policy.”[41]
External Affairs MinisterS. Jaishankar called him a “distinguished diplomat and former External Affairs Minister.”[42]
TheIndian National Congress leadership also offered condolences.Sonia Gandhi said he made “important contributions to national affairs.”[43] Congress leaders hailed his role in Indian diplomacy, with tributes published in national media.[44][45]
Natwar Singh was also active as an author. Early in his career he edited a tribute volume to the novelistE. M. Forster, with whom he developed a long friendship dating back to his years atCambridge.[46]
He went on to write historical studies of two prominent north Indian rulers:Maharaja Suraj Mal, 1707–1763: His Life and Times (1981) andThe Magnificent Maharaja: The Life and Times of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala (1891–1938) (1997). The former reflected his ancestral connection toBharatpur, while the latter drew upon his family ties toPatiala through his marriage.[47]
In 2013 he publishedWalking with Lions: Tales from a Diplomatic Past, a memoir of fifty episodes from his career. The book was launched by Vice-PresidentHamid Ansari and was noted for portraits of world figures includingFidel Castro,Lord Mountbatten,Nelson Mandela and others Singh met during his diplomatic career. It also recounted his friendship with the painterM. F. Husain, one of India’s most prominent modern artists.[48]
He later publishedTreasured Epistles in 2018, a curated selection of his correspondence with political and literary figures, including material highlighting his friendship with Forster.[49]
In 2014 Singh’s autobiographyOne Life is Not Enough became widely discussed and drew significant attention for its candid account of his diplomatic and political career. Its release occurred in the same year as Sanjaya Baru’sThe Accidental Prime Minister, and the two works were widely discussed together in media coverage of that year’s political memoirs.[50][51] Singh’s remarks on the Congress leadership attracted widespread comment;Sonia Gandhi publicly rejected some of the book’s claims and indicated her intention to publish her own memoir.[52]
| Lok Sabha | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forBharatpur 1984 – 1989 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forBharatpur 1998 – 1999 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Minister for External Affairs of India 23 May 2004 – 7 November 2005 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Academics | |
| People | |
| Other | |
