By S.Narendra
(Former
Information Adviser to PM, Principal Information Officer
to
Government of India and Spokesperson)
It was supposed to be a 90-minute press
conference of Prime Minister Narsimha Rao. In less than half the allotted
time, media had cleared out of the 1500-seat capacity Vigyan Bhavan. The
Prime Minister, with folded hands and tears in his eyeswalked up to the edge
of the VIP platform, and thanked the media.
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An extraordinary year in recent Indian
history was closing on this June 30, 1992. The government under
P.V.Narasimha Rao was completing one
year in office, with an impressive record. No one could have guessed that an
annus horribilis could be put behind by another annus horribilis. Speaking about the former, it was violent, politically
unstable, economically grave and financially humiliating, with the nation’s
gold reserve pledged to Bank of England. Naturally, the country’s morale was at
its lowest ebb.
When the Union budget was presented in 1992,
the face of the economy had unrecognisably changed, for the better. But it was
not fully out of the woods. The Licence Raj had been unceremoniously flushed
out. Suddenly, a “we-can-do-it, Kinda-do-it” mood had set in. On 2nd April, with the support of the Principal
Secretary to PM, A.N.Verma, I persuaded Rao to agree to hold a first full-fledged
press conference to mark the anniversary, 3 months ahead. It was not easy to
make Rao agree to this, because he was quietly navigating turbulent politics of
not having parliament majority and stiff opposition to economic reforms. Some
in his own party were not in favour of reforms.
A group of industrialists, labelled as Bombay
Club, were against globalizating the economy and opposed to India entering the
World Trade Organisation. Both FM Dr,Manmohan Singh and Commerce Minister P.Chidambaram were pushing
for drastic policy changes. A media-corporate
war on
for getting exclusive rights for
publishing foreign newspapers like the
Time, London Times and Financial Times in India raged on. Pressure was being
put on Rao by India Today, Hindustan Times, Times of
India against any policy change; PTI was upset as Rao had allowed finance
ministry to permit Indian entities to get international financial news directly
from Reuters and others, without PTI mediation. The language media wanted no
foreign media entry.
Harshad
Mehta Scam: Adding to the swirling controversies was
the public sector banks-related stock market scam engineered by the broker Harshad
Mehta. This stock market scam had occurred when the regulation of the stock market ( there was no SEBI) and also that of the banks were right under
the finance ministry and RBI Unfortunately,
Dr.Manmohan Singh had made an unguarded remark that he would not lose sleep
over the stock market prices suddenly zooming.
Anticipating Surprises: I had requested PM to give about 30 minutes to one hour, twice a
week, for preparing him to answer questions on a wide range of subjects. Preparing
a prime minister for a high profile press conference is a tough exercise. The
government of India consists of 70 odd ministries and departments and a prime
minister could not be expected to know everything that happens in several murky
corridors of power. Yet at a press conference, the prime minister was (and is)
expected to answer any and every question, that too with authority. If he
answers ‘I don’t know’ to a question relating to subjects he is not directly
dealing with, an impression is created that the prime minister has no grip over
his government.
Officials passing notes to him or her, or whispering
in his ears during a press conference obviously send wrong signals that the
prime minister’s inadequacy to deal with questions. No press conference can be
strictly restricted to the government’s business. Media loves to drag
everything into politics and political controversies. So, the challenge was to
keep focus on the central message.
Respect for Professional Advice: When a prime minister addresses a press
conference, he is the national political leader and his body language throughout
the session conveys an unsaid message. Body language and stage manners in this
age of visual media assume great importance and therefore, certain DOs and DON’Ts
have to be notified. The PM cannot afford to squirm or be cagey or parry
questions. Many political leader think that they know the fine art and the rocket science of
dealing with media, especially in a press conference situation and do not like
to take professional advice. Fortunately for me, PM Rao sought and respected
professional advice. For instance, he sought inputs for all his major speeches,
and, instructed me to listen to them
during delivery and give him frank feedback.
I designed a plan for the sessions with the
PM by dividing the government into broad sectors and asking my teams working
with ministries/ departments to come up with about 10 topical questions relating each
sector policies and programmes. I wanted them to particularly focus not so much
on achievements but on policy and action gaps, and controversial issues before
each ministry.
It was clear from an analysis of media
reports and commentaries that the reaction to economic reforms and
liberalization was mixed. The stock market scam (involving about RS 8000 crore)
had cast a big shadow on the government’s performance and reforms. The media
and the opposition were accusing the government of going slow in its
investigations. There were hints of involvement of government in the scam. There
were demands for probe by a Joint Parliamentary committee or by a high level
judicial investigation. It did not require any special knowledge to anticipate
that the press conference would begin and end with questions on the scam.
Anything to Hide? In the first one or two
rehearsal sessions, Rao tended to be distracted. But once a session was held
about his own portfolio-ministry of
Industry- and I posed some tough questions for which there were no satisfactory
answers, the prime minister began to appreciate the usefulness of such
sessions. For example, in the session on his ministry, I asked him why he had
kept the foreign direct investment board (FIPB) under himself and not given this responsibility to Dr.Singh.
Rao was taken aback.
The most critical session held related to the
stock market scam. He had called senior PMO officials, finance and commerce
ministers. I had sought PM’s permission to ask the questions in the rudest way
- the same manner the media tends to shoot questions. Often people in positions
of authority who are used to be treated deferentially tend to be offended by
awkward questions. I wanted the PM to get used to some direct attacks.
In the preamble to the Press Conference, I
drew attention to the raging controversy over the Harshad Mehta scam and the
opposition demand in Parliament to hand over the investigation to a Joint
Parliamentary Committee (JPC), and media hinting at PM and ministers’ link with
scam.
Then I shot the question: ’Mr. Prime
Minister; why are you running away from JPC probe? Has the government or any
one in government anything to hide?’.
Some persons in the meeting were upset and
said: “Narendra should not be allowed to ask such questions”.
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| PV Respected professional advise and addressing the media |
Narasimha Rao just smiled and told them: “It
is not Narendra who is asking this question. It is the public that is asking
such questions…I don’t have anything to hide. If anyone else has anything to
hide, I do not know. This is the time I should know”. He then turned to the
ministers present.
The rattled ministers explained that the
finance ministry had set up a probe machinery
in the Banking Department. This was headed by a very senior officials and he
was not only trying to investigate the scam but attempting to get back the
money lost by the banks.
One of them said: “Setting up a JPC or a
judicial enquiry was considered but such a course would delay the investigation.
Such delay could prevent recovery of the money lost. Also, earlier experience
of JPC probes was very disappointing, as they tend to be political witch hunts
with no results”.
PM turned to me and asked: “Narendra, How
will this reply sound? Will your media friends be satisfied?’
I submitted that the reply was a technical
one. Though it was a correct course of action, it lacked credibility. Then I
said: “the media is recalling the Mundhra scandal ( Jayanti Shipping
Corporation in which LIC had invested,
Firoze Gandhi, MP,(Indira’s late husband),
had spear-headed the attack on Nehru government in 1960s) and Justice
M.C. Chagla enquiry (this had led to the downfall of finance minister
T.T.Krishnamachari and his finance secretary H.M.Patel). If Nehru could set up
a high level judicial enquiry, why is this government shying away.
“Sir, we need a political answer, not a
technical one”. I added.
Rao: “Please take it from me. I do not have
anything to hide. If Parliament wants JPC enquiry or a judicial enquiry, the government
will accept that.”
I pressed further with my questions: “Sir:
will you sack any minister and any others if it s found that they are involved in the scam?”
Rao: “If the enquiry finds any one guilty of
involvement, no one, no one,
will be spared.”
(It
was my understanding that once the prime minister showed his intention to
accept JPC, the finance minister gave him his resignation letter. The PM kept
it with him, but never accepted it. Rao’s inclination towards JPC probe also
caused Chidambaram to submit his resignation).
India destined to walk on the razor’s edge:
The preparatory sessions were being held with utmost secrecy. The PM did not
want me to even hint to media that he was thinking of holding a press
conference. I was under strict instructions to issue the media invite only
after his final clearance. As the government was completing its first year, I
had prepared a brief about the government’s achievements which were impressive,
especially the economic turnaround, and set out the challenges before it. Rao
wanted an opening statement to be made at the press conference and he personally
vetted both the documents. To the draft s opening statement, he added: “India
is destined walk on the razor’s edge’.
On the morning of June 29th, he
asked me: “when do you have to issue the media invite”. Time was running out
for me but appreciating his concern, I informed him that the invite must go out by 6 pm. (those were the days when we
did not have the luxury of emails and mobiles and invite had to be hand
delivered to about 600 accredited media persons physically). Around 5 pm, I got
his clearance to send out the invites.
The prime minister was a stickler for
punctuality and he arrived on the dot. I had submitted to PM that no one other than
himself (and myself slightly away from him for conducting the proceedings)
should be on the dais. No official (including his security) should sit behind
him. An exception was made in the case of I &B minister Ajit Panja, who had
called me the previous day and asked me to seek PM’s permission to seat him
with PM during the press conference.
Media
Erupts: As anticipated the media almost erupted in
unison to shoot the first question: “Hershad Mehta scam...government a silent
spectator...Is your family involved... Opposition demand....JPC...Supreme
Court judge probe......Will you sack
......RBI..involved....Dr.Manmohan Singh said.....
The prime minister calmly said : “”I will
answer all your questions on the scam. I am not running away, nor my
government, from any kind of enquiry. If parliament wants JPC, the government
will accept it. Neither me nor my family
is involved....’
“Sir,Sir..... Mr Prime Minister..Harshad
Mehta....Finance Minister. said..Publc Sector banks...Communist party
has....Advani has ..... “
I tried to intervene to bring some order into
the deliberations.
Rao interrupted me: “Narendra, I have not
finished my reply yet.” And he continued “Let me tell you. Please take it in a
box. Neither me, nor my family is involved. If any of my ministers, any one is involved;
they will not be spared.”
Most of the media persons rushed out of
Vigyan Bhavan to file their stories.
Later, the PM remarked to me: “Narendra, your
rehearsals made me know my own government departments much better than before”.
