Henry Kissinger, the US Secretary of State during the Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford era, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 100. Despite having no connection to Kerala as he never visited this part of India, he was surprisingly popular in the State.
Kissinger, credited with a new style and art of diplomacy, reigned supreme during the peak of the Cold War and was recognised as one of the architects of US-China ties through Ping-Pong (the Chinese term for the game of table tennis). The diplomatic relations between the US and China received a boost from the Ping-Pong games between the two countries, paving the way for President Nixon’s historic state visit to China in 1972.
The former Secretary of State was renowned for his ability to turn unfriendly countries into allies of the US. He believed in the principle that there were no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests, particularly focused on US commercial and strategic interests.
Kissinger deserves full credit for his foresight and visionary forecasts. It was Kissinger who cautioned the world about the impending rise of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism, which would disrupt peace in Asia and pose a threat to India.
While addressing the Davos Symposium on January 31, 1980, Kissinger said, “The problem with India has the component that, for India, the existence of a strong, fundamentalist, Islamic state presents problems of its own internal cohesion and may create its own incentives for war. On the other hand, if India is concerned about our policies, it must provide assurances, beyond rhetoric, that it will not act in collusion with the Soviet Union and that it will not cooperate in an attack on Pakistan,” as quoted in Henry Kissinger: For The Record.
Kissinger is also recognised for exposing what he saw as the folly behind the Non-Aligned Movement, which he deemed a means to fortify the hegemony of the then Soviet Union. His aversion to socialism and communism was unmistakable. The Kerala media, quick to react to international developments, particularly in extolling the virtues of Communism and comrades in the USSR and China, portrayed Kissinger as a villain.
Despite the party cadre’s ignorance about Kissinger’s stance toward socialist countries, they seized every opportunity to taunt and ridicule the Nobel laureate.
In the early 1970s, when the Muslim League faced a split, Congress strongman K Karunakaran assigned Baby John, a leader of the RSP and a Congress ally, to negotiate with the League leadership to avert a breakup. Baby John, arriving at Parappanangadi in Malappuram district, aimed to reconcile the warring factions.
The CPI(M), in opposition, desired the Muslim League to split, anticipating support from the breakaway faction. Baby John’s mission was to prevent the split and maintain good relations with the leadership. The day after Baby John arrived in Malappuram, the CPI(M)’s mouthpiece featured this headline as the lead news: ‘Kerala Kissinger in Parappanangadi to broker peace in Muslim League.’ Despite this Kissinger’s charming manners, he failed in the mission, and the League experienced a brief vertical split.
The uniqueness of Kissinger was his expertise in making the impossibilities a possibility.