Katyayani Shankar Bajpai, former Indian Ambassador to the United States and Pakistan, was one of India’s finest diplomats, said former External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh remembering the veteran diplomat who passed away here on Sunday. he was 92.
Mr. Bajpai joined the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) in 1952 and served in many key positions including in the United States where he was India’s envoy during the crucial interaction between Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and President Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s.
He served in Pakistan as a younger officer during the mid-1960s when the war with Pakistan broke out across the western sector. He subsequently accompanied Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shatri to Tashkent. His most challenging assignment was to be India’s envoy during Indira Gandhi’s tenure when the Cold War had begun to slow down new opportunities for India in the West, especially the United States.
“He was an accomplished diplomat and served in Pakistan, China and the United States of America at critical period in our history. I succeeded him as India’s ambassador to Pakistan in the early 1980s,” said Mr. Singh, who was a year junior to Mr. Bajpai in the IFS.
In a social media message, External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar referred to Mr Bajpai as a “mentor and friend”.
“(He) will be missed by so many of us,” said Mr Jaishankar.
Following his retirement in 1986, Mr. Bajpai turned to academics teaching at various American universities. He also served as Chairman of the National Security Advisory Board from 2008-2010. One of the late ambassador’s enduring contributions in the study of foreign affairs will be the Delhi Policy Group (DPG) that he founded as an independent think tank in 1994 and served as Chairman.
A statement from his family recounted his eclectic personality and his love for poetry and films as well as good food. “He was an avid film buff, but above all was known for his culinary skills and as a consummate host. He remained engaged with India’s foreign policy and governance, and at the time of his death was working on a biography of his father, Girja Shankar Bajpai, first Secretary-General of the Ministry of External Affairs, and on his own memoirs,” the statement said.