NEW DELHI: Until a few months ago, Muchkund Dubey would often be seen at the India International Centre (IIC) in Delhi, meeting people, engaging in discussions on foreign and domestic issues.
His passing away in Delhi on June 26, 2024 would leave a void not only in the lives of his dear ones but also on the IIC premises.
Dubey was India’s 17th Foreign Secretary (1990-91). He worked under the Prime Ministership of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1957. The other Prime Ministers he worked with include Rajiv Gandhi, VP Singh and Narasimha Rao.
"Muchkund Dubey was a remarkable man whose legacy today has been established not only because he was the Foreign Secretary of the country but also due to extensive contribution to relations with our immediate neighbours, ,’’ former Foreign Secretary, Harsh Vardhan Shringla told The New Indian Express.
Dubey served as Indian High Commissioner in Bangladesh and also the permanent representative of India in the United Nations in Geneva between 1982-85. Post retirement he also taught at the School of International Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Dubey was born in 1933 in Jasidih, which was then a part of undivided Bihar and is now in Jharkhand. He was fluent in English, Hindi and Bengali during his childhood. On joining the service he also learnt French and Persian. He was a part of the first decade of diplomats in independent India (1948 -58).
He served as Secretary (East) and then took charge as Foreign Secretary and working along with the then External Affairs Minister (EAM) I K Gujaral. When the Gulf war began he was involved in the process to evacuate a large number of citizens from there.
"His prodigious writings, erudition, understanding of issues and human qualities set him apart. He will be missed in India and elsewhere,’’ Shringla noted.
Dubey translated Rabindranath Tagore’s Geetanjali in Hindi in 1953 and also poems of Bangladeshi poet Shamsur Rahman.
He was honoured with a D.Litt (Honoris Causa) by the Calcutta University in 2015.
In addition, in 2017 he translated the poems of Sufi saint Lalan Shah Fakir of Bangladesh.
Dubey’s diplomatic career took off after the 1956 Suez crisis which left a mark on foreign policy in India, while the end of his career in 1991 coincided with the dissolution of the USSR, end of the cold war, Mandal agitation and also saw the economic liberalisation of India.