- Sarkozy shortened visit by a day
- India cancelled the $600-million Eurocopter deal
- The Scorpene submarine deal is under investigation
- India declined to sign a bilateral civilian nuclear agreement
- Said a polite "no" to conferment of top French award for Taslima during visit
- Some French CEOs pulled out of the trip
***
But the story had taken a life and flight of its own. Old-fashioned mandarins openly worried about the solemnity of the Republic Day being swallowed by the Bruni frenzy. They couldn't quite accept the lady whose candid shots were appearing regularly in the Delhi papers. Finally, Bruni herself begged off, saying she couldn't accompany the president on an "official" trip because they weren't married. Besides, long flights for short stays weren't her cup of tea. But wild speculation continued about her coming a day later to join her beau for the Taj trip while staying away from official ceremonies. Given Sarkozy's dizzying pace, surprises couldn't be ruled out. But would he allow his love affair to intervene further into matters of state and overshadow the visit?
Or what was left of it. Nothing was going really right—India had cancelled defence deals and refused to sign a civil nuclear agreement with France. The timing was wrong for some prospective business delegates. A few top French CEOs, including the head of Capgemini, the fourth largest BPO, opted out because their Indian counterparts were going to be in Davos for the World Economic Forum. True, a French leader was being honoured by India for the third time in a decade as chief guest for the Republic Day, but the idea was to enhance the visit with major bilateral announcements. Sarkozy likes his forays to be embellished by huge contracts. He signed deals worth Euro 20 billion in China last November.
But in India, there were only disappointments from his point of view. The French were mighty miffed that India cancelled the $600-million Eurocopter deal last December after everything had been negotiated, robbing Sarkozy of a good Kodak moment. European aerospace giant eads has to supply 197 helicopters to the Indian Army to fill a desperate need under the agreement signed in 2005 but the alleged role of agents and irregularities in the bidding process led to the scrapping of the deal. With the other big Indo-French defence deal—the $4.7 billion Scorpene submarines—under a CBI investigation for alleged kickbacks, the French establishment was seeing red. Sources talked of a lack of "transparency" in the Indian decision-making process.
Sarkozy, who was to land in Mumbai on December 24 for a meeting with Indian CEOs, decided to give the business meet a miss, apparently in displeasure over perceived Indian snubs. He cut short his trip, forcing Indian CEOs to divert their plane from Davos to Paris to meet him. No big deal, said the diplomats, trained to depict the silver lining in a cloudy scenario. Hours before his departure for India, the French government also decided to summon steel king Lakshmi Mittal for an explanation on shutting down one of ArcelorMittal's plants in France, affecting 600 jobs. Ouch.
Realising the Indo-French ties were threatening to drift, New Delhi got into the act. Sources say India has decided to grant a $1.3-billion contract to Dassault to upgrade the two squadrons of Mirage-2000 currently with the Indian Air Force. The deal is likely to be signed during the visit, to cool tempers and add substance. The Israelis were also in the running for the bid, having done a similar upgrade for the Russian MiG-21 fleet.
Indian officials also went to Paris to finalise the text of an Indo-French bilateral civil nuclear cooperation agreement, placing the French in top position to start nuclear commerce with India as soon as the Indo-US nuclear agreement goes through all the hoops and clears the international path for removal of sanctions. But the Indo-French nuclear agreement would be signed only after India concludes a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency and gets an exemption from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) both of which are required under the Indo-US deal, the mother agreement which opened the door to other roads. American sensitivities were in play again because India had given Russia the same reasons for not signing the bilateral nuclear agreement.
But experts argue that nuclear pacts with Russia and France would have committed these countries on paper to support India's case within the NSG and acted as insurance against conditions that others might try to insert. Besides, signing them ahead of time saves time.
When Sarkozy was invited as chief guest, the Indo-US nuclear deal was expected to hum along fine. His visit would have advanced further the Indo-French strategic partnership launched in 1998 in the international maelstrom of condemnation of India's nuclear tests. The two nations, which pride themselves for their independent foreign policy, have always had a tender spot for each other, but "a lack of strong political direction on what to do next to build the strategic relationship" has slowed down the momentum.
Then additional irritants sprang up. Sarkozy wanted to confer the Simone de Beauvoir award on Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen during the visit, but Indian officials "politely" declined. Not keen to rile up mullah tempers further, New Delhi was firm in its response. "It is typical of the French to make such gestures and get points on the cheap," commented one Indian source. "We give asylum quietly to people who need it without making a fuss and get no credit. The guests must not embarrass the hosts."
Is this turbulence typical of Sarkozy or is there a deeper problem? India's ambassador to France, Ranjan Mathai, remains upbeat. "The visit gives us a great opportunity to rebuild a strong equation with the President of France that existed with former presidents. Sarkozy considers India as an important pole in a multipolar world."
