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| Vol. 4, Issue 5 May 2012 |
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Reporting & Essays |
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Excerpt |
Absolute Khushwant
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| Absolute Khushwant: The Low-Down on Life, Death & Most Things In-Between (Penguin Books India, August, 2010) |
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Published : 1 September 2010 |
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DELHI PRESS ARCHIVES |
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| A undated family portrait of the Gandhis: Left to Right (front): Sonia, Rahul, Indira, Varun and Maneka. Left to Right (back) Rajiv and Sanjay.
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THOSE I RESPECT AND ADMIRE
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BELIEVE MANMOHAN [Singh] is the best prime minister we have had. I would even rate him higher than Nehru. Nehru had vision and charisma, but he had his faults. He was instinctively anti-American and blindly pro-soviet and socialist. He could also be impatient with people and had favourites. Manmohan has a free and extremely good mind. He can’t be accused
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of nepotism. Nehru could, Indira could.
No one would say that of Manmohan Singh. He had the courage to disagree with Nehru’s socialist vision and turn away from Mrs Gandhi’s legacy. He pursued a pro-America policy. He opened India to the world, championed the private sector and set us on the path of economic progress without compromising India’s interests. He has completely turned around our sick economy. He is also very humble and simple. He grew up in a small village in a family of very modest means and struggled to get an education. Initially his ambition was only to be a college professor, find a small flat and settle in Chandigarh. Then chance changed the course of his life and took him to Cambridge and Oxford, the UN and the highest positions in India’s financial institutions; and now he is prime minister. But he remains grounded.
I really got to know him at the election he lost from South Delhi. This was in 1999. I was surprised and impressed because his son-in-law, whom my family knew, came to borrow some money—just two lakhs—to hire taxis that were needed for the campaigning. They didn’t even have that much to spare! I gave the money, in cash. Only days after he had lost the election, Manmohan Singh called me himself and asked for an appointment. He came to see me with a packet. ‘I haven’t used the money,’ he said and handed me the packet with all the cash I had given his son-in-law. That kind of thing no politician would do!
When people talk of integrity, I say the best example is the man who occupies the country’s highest office.
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU
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EHRU ANSWERED ALLAMA IQBAL'S requirements of a Meer-e-Kaarvaan—leader of the caravan:‘Nigah buland, sukhan dilnawaz, jaan par soz/Yahi hain rakht-e-safar Meer-e-Kaarvaan ke liye’(Lofty vision, winning speech and a warm personality/This is all the baggage the leader of a caravan needs on his journey). |
He should have been the role model for the prime ministers of India. He was above prejudices of any kind: racial, religious or of caste. He was an agnostic and firmly believed that religion played a very negative role in Indian society. What I admired most about him was his secularism. He was a visionary and an exemplary leader; the father of Indian constitutional democracy, of universal adult franchise, the five-year plans, giving equal rights to women, among other things. He was better educated than any of his successors, with the exception of Manmohan Singh, and spent nine long years in jail reading, writing and thinking about the country’s future.
But being human, Nehru had his human failings. He was not above political chicanery. Having accepted the Cabinet Mission plan to hand over power to a united India, he reneged on his undertaking when he realized Jinnah might end up becoming prime minister. He had blind spots too. He refused to believe that India’s exploding population needed to be contained. He refused to see the gathering strength of Muslim separatism which led to the formation of Pakistan. He failed to come to terms with Pakistan and was chiefly responsible for the mess we made in Jammu and Kashmir. He was also given to nepotism and favouritism.
I first met Nehru in London, when I was a Press Officer at the Indian Embassy, and my first impression of him was that he was short tempered.
| MUNISH SHARMA/REUTERS |
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Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi during an election campaign rally in Amritsar in May 2009. |
He could also be ill-mannered. I once had to host a lunch so that the editors of leading British newspapers could meet him. Halfway through the meal, Nehru fell silent. When questions were put to him he looked up at the ceiling and did not reply. He proceeded to light a cigarette while others were still eating.
To make matters worse, Krishna Menon fell asleep. It was a disastrous attempt at public relations. Another time, he arrived in London past midnight. I asked Nehru whether he would like me to accompany him to his hotel. ‘Don’t be silly,’ he said. ‘Go home and sleep.’ The next morning one of the papers had a photo of him with Lady Mountbatten opening the door in her negligee. The huge caption read: Lady Mountbatten’s Midnight Visitor. Nehru was furious. On another occasion, he’d taken Lady Mountbatten for a quiet dinner at a Greek restaurant. Once again the following morning’s papers carried photographs of them sitting close to each other. When I was summoned, Nehru asked, ‘Who are you?’ ‘I’m your PRO in London, Sir,’ I replied. ‘You have a strange notion of publicity,’ Nehru said curtly. I thought it best to remain silent.
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Readers' Comments |
Total Comments
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VIPIN KUMAR GUPTA
1 October 2011
09:42 PM
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Respected sir,
1 I read your articles and novels at large. It is a boost to my general knowledge and I realy enjoy reading eveything written by you whichever I could read. I have no sufficient words to glorify a great personality of india like you. I have great respect and love for you. AAP BHARAT KI EK MAHAAN SHAKHSIYAT HAI.Those, who know you , those, who read your articles will remember you and would like you to be remembered for centuries.
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manish
1 June 2011
05:29 PM
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hello sir,
i'm writing this script on Mr sanjay gandhi. and this artical of yours helped me alot...thanks alot
Regards
Manish K
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