Prof. Ninan KoshyProf. Ninan Koshy, who was active even on his last day on earth, was a man who has made unparalleled contributions to the Leftist movement, activities of the Church and the analysis of foreign affairs.
I had the opportunity to work closely with Prof. Koshy during the last 10 years. I made acquaintances with him during the discussions on TV channels on foreign affairs. He had also become the founding member of Kerala International Centre. He was one of the key speakers in the seminar on foreign policy conducted by the Kerala University last week.
What set him apart was the fact that his thought was not overly infected by ideology when he analysed foreign affairs. His stands were based on great scholarship and extraordinary love for the nation. He did not show any blind opposition to the US or the Congress Party.
Prof. Koshy, who had stayed at Geneva when he was working for the World Council of Churches (WCC), had also travelled the world widely. He had also advocated cooperation between the nations. Prof. Koshi had understood very well how the United Nations functioned and was also a spokesperson for the foreign policy of India. He had clearly understood the pros and cons of the foreign policy and criticised it too. However, he was mild-mannered when he gave his opinion and had an extraordinary talent to respect the views of others. Since he was interested in imparting knowledge to the future generations, he had widely participated in public talks and meetings.
He had analysed the various aspects of the Indo-US nuclear pact during the tenure of Manmohan Singh. He had pointed out that the real motive behind the pact was military cooperation.
It was Prof. Koshy who first said that what led to the nuclear agreement was a Defence pact signed by Pranab Mukherjee. The developments after the agreement, as well as the defence pacts signed during President Obama's visit to India this year, have confirmed his views.
It has now become clear that US is more interested in defence deals than in the nuclear deals.
In many discussions, I had to express my disagreement with Prof. Koshy. He never got provoked on any of those occasions and stood firmly by his opinion. In a recent analysis on Obama's visit to India, he had said that India did not gain much from the visit.
But he agreed that up to a limit, that it was necessary for India to be close to the US in the wake of the new developments in the Asia Pacific region.
His criticism regarding China was also realistic. He had observed that the growth of China and its presumptuous attitude were against the interest of India. Prof. Koshy had expressed his worries about China several times.
With the death of Prof. Ninan Koshy, we have lost a moderate socialist, a diplomatic scholar and a mild-mannered human being. The diplomatic world will remember him with respect.
(The author has been the Indian Ambassador in many countries)
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