By S.Narendra
(Former Information Adviser to PM, Principal Information Officer
to the government, & Spokesperson)
Personal
equations play a critical role even in a professional setting. This is more so
in semi-political situations such as when I was the Spokesman and Information
Adviser to more than one PM. When there was a political transition, such as the
one that happened in May 1996 when BJP under Atal Behari Vajpayee replaced the
Congress government of P.V.Narasimha Rao, I did not know the new PM personally.
Adding
to my difficulty was the fact that several persons, with party affiliation, including
some media persons, had entered PMO with Vajpayee to look after media affairs.
In their eyes, officials who had worked with the previous governments, which
were mostly Congress party ones, were suspect. No government official,
including myself, had a choice because BJP had not won power at the centre
since Independence. The BJP party functionaries could not understand the
concept of civil service neutrality and official professionalism.
But
their tallest leader, Atal Behari Vajpayee was different by miles. Soon after
Vajpayee was sworn in as PM, I called on him. The great leader received me very
cordially, put me at ease by telling that I should continue to function as
before and said: ‘Hum media ko bahut
samman karte hain’. His foster son- in- law Ranjan Bhattacharya, who was
functioning as his personal assistant, was extraordinarily warm and courteous
and did not seem to share the hang up of party functionaries. He greatly
facilitated my work, especially by giving free access to PM, whenever I needed
to meet him.
To
recall, BJP had emerged in the 1996 elections as the single largest party but
far sort of a majority. The President Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma asked the government and prove its majority
in Parliament within two weeks. The Congress had finished as the second largest
party in Lok Sabha and was trying to forge a coalition with non-BJP ‘secular’
parties such as the left, Janata Dal and other small outfits. The Congress was
not only surprised but upset that the President who originally hailed from the
Congress and was elected to the office with its support had done the
unthinkable act. At that stage of Indian politics (post-Babri Masjid
demolition) BJP had been isolated as a ‘non-secular’ Hindu party and treated as
a political pariah. In essence, politics was in a flux and the prospect of
India having a stable government was uncertain.
It
is customary for a newly sworn- in PM to make a national broadcast, very soon
after assuming office for setting out his vision and agenda for the nation. During
my meeting with Vajpayee, I broached this subject and submitted a draft text. He
instructed me to pass it to Pramod Mahajan, who was very close to him. I
followed the PM’s instructions and did not pursue the broadcast subject.
On
the third day, I was instructed by Pramod Mahajan to bring the official TV team to PM’s office.
It was late evening. When I entered the PM’s office, he was busy discussing
something with his principal secretary, B.N.Tandon. The TV and Radio recording
teams began milling around in the room to set up their equipment. There were
some other familiar faces from the media world who were considered close to
BJP. After some time, the PM spotted me
and generally enquired whether all arrangements for the broadcast were in
place. Without waiting for an answer, Vajpayee asked me: "Aapne speech dekha hai?” and gave me the folder containing
the draft text. I had not seen the final version that had been given to PM, although
I had given my draft to Pramod Mahajan.
On
reading it, I was greatly disappointed with its contents. I submitted my view
that the draft was needlessly combative: it also did not take into account the
delicate political situation in which BJP was looking for allies to score a
parliamentary majority. I frankly told PM that the text did not fit in with his
image as a national leader, whose appeal cut across the political divide. The
text had effectively reduced him to the level of a BJP PM.
Obviously,
Vajpayee had not had the time to go through the text before. He took the file
and spent some time in going through the draft. And then he apologized to the
TV and radio teams and refused to record the broadcast that day, and asked his
political advisers to rework the text. He also ensured that my inputs to be
reflected in the revised version.
On
the thirteenth day in office as PM, Vajpayee resigned as his government was
unable to muster a majority in the Lok Sabha.
 |
| The author sunarendra@gmail.com |
Again,
it is customary for an outgoing PM to broadcast a farewell message. His
political advisers had presented a text to PM for the broadcast. When I took
the TV team for recording his message, he asked me to read the text. It
contained passages attacking political parties and did not showcase the tall
leader's sagacity for reaching out to all sections, including opponents. There
was no healing touch befitting an unstable national political situation that
was bad for the country. After hearing my assessment, Vajpayee asked his
political advisers to issue a press statement from the party office. And there
was no PM's farewell broadcast.
Atal
Behari Vajpayee was one wise leader who did not view professional advice
through party or political prism.
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