Vignettes of six PMs

Prime Ministerial Decision-making in India Neerja Chowdhury ALEPH BOOK COMPANY Rs. 999 Pages 578 In her study of six India prime ministers, this renowned journalist begins with Indira Gandhi until Manmohan Singh, skipping short tenure PMs In her study of India prime ministers renowned journalist Neerja Chowdhury begins with Indira Gandhi and six prime ministers until Manmohan Singh. Notably, she skips five short-tenured prime ministers, despite their regimes having significantly altered Indian politics, as well as the process of prime ministerial decision-making. Yet, she presents an authentic and candid account of complex decisions taken by each of the six chosen PMs — post-resurrection (Indira Gandhi), Shah Bano (Rajiv Gandhi), post-Mandal (V.P. Singh), post-demolition of the Babri Masjid (P.V. Narasimha Rao), testing nuclear devices (Atal Bihari Vajpayee) and Indo-US civil nuclear deal (Manmohan Singh). Beginning with a well-analysed 19-page introduction, raising and underlining crucial issues and processes relating to the office of prime minister, Chowdhury quotes powerful orator Atal Bihari Vajpayee, ‘The higher you go, the more lonely you are.’ This sets the tone of the analysis that depicts prime ministers as mere mortals, attempting to survive amidst competing pressures, striving to triumph politically. In the process, despite a short tenure V.P. Singh changed the politics of the country for all time to come. And she rightly bemoans the current fashion of rubbishing Nehru. Her contextualisation of the office of prime minister linked to a host of institutions is apt. So, if the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is created, not only does the cabinet system decline ceding to the prime ministerial system, the cabinet secretariat that has constitutional sanction also declines relative to the PMO. Chowdhury also underlines the different ways in which the PMO functions. Her analysis also clears recent motivated narratives that Nehru created the PMO to function in an autocratic fashion. Rightly, as Pai Panandiker-Mehra’s (1996) study of cabinet government highlighted, Shastri created a small PMO to help him with L.K. Jha as secretary. This was expanded by Indira Gandhi, who revived and expanded it after Morarji Desai had limited its expanse and worked through the cabinet secretariat. Indira Gandhi’s politics of neutralising the Syndicate is well-captured in this narrative. Despite her claim that she did not believe in any ‘ism’, she espoused socialism — the result was centre-staging the slogan, garibi hatao, in 1971. The 1975 judgment of Justice JML Sinha on the election petition of Raj Narain declaring her election null and void and unseating her from Parliament in June 1975, prompted her to declare a national Emergency on June 25, 1975. But while flagging the role of Sanjay Gandhi, Chowdhury rushes through this section. Her decision to call a General Election in 1977, knowing fully well that she could lose despite assurances of the IB, and her resurrection between 1977 and 1980 were amazing acts of courage. Rajiv Gandhi took over as the prime minister following his mother’s assassination, with President Giani Zail Singh’s backing. Beginning with immense goodwill and the clean slate of a…