have brought this country '

I came back wrote a report where'isaid

I
ifJ r

- “ ''

_
W.
'
u

--r..
*^.V^
4-* *
‘i; V;'"*, ^V*

^
^thir A

Today, with no disrespect to anybofetliferfe^feSe^^^^^

are no leaders who are Titans.
Most:brc^f ie^d^^kiawT-r^^to^-
say, are pygmies.
'

^There is one-half of the ponulation whirk'i*;

’ P^essea. 1 ney are calledwbmehvThbi^eareparts^^^^^^
lnj,a I
fnA-r where
the literacy rate
of-woni^^t^d|^Js;Spgas;te

oesnot.take pipe in.Kdp/XBfefe iS;lpad.sh^

;'w' j- V
acni \u by.Plectiorr'6htebbbibtrfi;^hf ® :p^3ratteH"^ic.;ph'bP'»er;.&
pa5u1re.it;
'

either
if
 UBS Publishers' Distributors Ltd.
SAnsari Road, New Delhi- 110 002
Bombay Bangalore Madras Calcutta Patna Kanpur London

Copyright © T N. Seshan

First Published1995
1995
First Reprint
Second Reprint 1995

All nghts reseived. No part of this publication may be reproduced or

transmitted m any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical
including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and
retneval system, without permission in writing from the publisher

ISBN 81-7476-027-X

Cover design: UBS Art Studio

Cover photos: Nitin Rai/S unday

Designed &
Typeset at UBSPD in 11 pi. Souvenir
Ptinted at Rajkamai Electnc Press, Delhi
 ft i ^ • -'

kf.pMpl. Mother-
 Gontents

'••i".’:
; ItttrpdOctibri-ArrV r'

' • '" •:'=

a. "That?^iS;lsJcyied‘ •

'. ;v

2; .'Are 'Wp iCbciffbbch^^^ •'

'r,v

,3 . 'A Cqnsjpiracy, -of vSilencb

• .
,i50M
"''
-;;.;C[;WHei^'I^qWie^ge Oulstrips Wisdbfn, ';
''i

'
^ v\;' 'ilfi: ;!;

^ •/' .A,
•
., "y’;
•; : ^ ^ li3S>j;:

fr:;.§v(‘;T.f^e-;Ri||^{GeiHrc}idr’'|^^
'

r:-.'=;'\ : '•'‘^.^•'''‘'^:b't;'’-Ayr4
v.^ ,i
•
':V-V- r-’v'" ;> c-^r
 '
1.

'

more j^ 44,j;^ars ago^on’26 Noyen^^ J1949, '.-^l

; we, i^e;.Pe6pleigfi. |n3ia; ;;adqp^^^ :gaye,,Juntq4;^,^'i

r‘'- > oTirselues'-oilif Constitution. rlauino Hown. fherebo. our soiernh'^'ifV:;'

'V'J </ W' '' » ' * .

hi e 4lab6rhfirici t'heliforms!

p^hapk'-hs'a^wshfui'vfibprisH o?
c ;;'.
.^migglqVforf^de'pehciOT^^^^
-
‘V •weVp.'tOO' taim that “thp;-mnhalith!n
’
. sttiir.ti iVp hf hitr-'-‘arirtohf' ’
a-

7
> ^
 ,

for, the next generation. Social, economic and' political justice

'

has been hogged by the privileged few. Liberty of. thought,

expression, faith and worship, which was supposed to widen
the spiritual and intellectual horizons of the
human sod, has !

become the most handy instmment of exploitation of human

' “

and opportunity's buried under

personality. Equality of status
the garbage heap of dishonesty and corruption. And
fraternity, assuring the dignity of the individual and the *

integrity of the nation,has become a corrifnercial exhibition

reserved only for the Republic Day. \
'
.
.

We have perhaps yet to realise that our over-ripe culture

is in an advanced state of decay. What is good in it is no ,
-

longer alive and has been overtaken by the destructive

element of international trade winds. The metal frame that
we adopted from our erstwhile nolers to sustain us through
the teething times has developed grievous metal fatigue. We
are at the cross-roads and have to choose the straight and
narrow path if we are to achieve our ambitions. ,

If a statement of truth gets a. man dubbed a cynic, call .

rne so. I am not a cynic. I am not an escapist either. Nor do -

r deny the astronomical leaps taken by the country, -

particularly in comparison with those vvho gained freedom >

at the same time in history as India. We .were
corner in 1947. Today we are not drily self-sufficieht in food ; '
'

but are among its exporters’, i And the fact

revolution was achieved by a totally uneducatrid peasantry and
. . -in a god-forsaken underdeveloped, hlhteriandis.a .•

'

:
’
-
be seen and -byevedTWe ''had.,a wretch^ an'
indusfrial.base;^^^^^ composed .of a^6:pri6ducts,' a a .

small number.'pf textile mins, coajfieldsiand prie minds. Today •

'
'

we areThe tenth jargestdndustrialisdd^^m the world, ,

' manufacturing or :a{ least' abembiiri^tarrids^^^^^ from

..
v :
a '^fety piriltd a ,supefsprii6/pifcra'ft;;T which v;

pdrforce', .Undrif alien; aridpelf-seeldng;^^^ ; ,

 ;

Vi_,^V.^v4 ,'4 V ' ti u- V''' V''

’

'I r,-

manpower is .
'
"''
‘Mqae^ned?M|Hy'^n^^
’ '
- '‘ '''''; ; ^
r '

irinep sbren^ oi '.

*’
1_ 'y''' l^i^'.Z. - «4^»'i^<r^ +i««v riol /^Vnlit -flnnf

ivuhich believes to be' correct, that

-S^eSpecffig 'mdttle^ w^
'

by true education
?an<iiJjRefkiil:cntfexerdseV'>nd '-rnak^ nation great' and
istirongl^ in thb't^ today in the age of ,
•

. Mqvsupersfonip'aircrafr'a'^^^^^^^ the age of the bullock-

<:'.y •,’• r';
'•••'
\ ^
of high-tech ,,

j’jbcpnomfdady^cem^^ a :vidon which perhaps died with

':th|";{rebdpm Sighted mind is without fpar and
-'
iJib^ybeddi is :Jidd/higH^ it- is that, haven of freedom, into .

'wiiiclv’we'^bn^ nation. The dignity

- ui uits.vuiuiviuuat vyiiiv.li la at ui^ ii«ait ui ui^ cuaiiuu
‘ •' - *
r-i"- i <?>- % '•“.k/''- v.:!' J.',*'* 1. '
t.

:rbf •fraterhity, anaihdbphai.pridc k indierlable to my dream of

f{^f;^tfonglaPd^ Liberty, Equality andy ;.?^

'l^raternlty/^^Thpv^^ of m livirig democracy ,4-^ are . 4

f dusivcddeals'linless the’iPdividUal oets'his due.: /, ,' y
;;vyy;|>A'0emocfac^^^^ the 'mle ^bf law prevails. V/' -
. y
ig|opl|:.areimledj^y4cb^ the lawsimade by 4.
-

.T^i- -T-, # AAVAvs.. VA A *^A *1.' Lw IL C^i JVJ >.

‘ “*

l^halierigeTH'aL and underhand.- Coercion of

i|^y;j|n^®e||tal^6^d^^ ihtellectualy is a'forra. .
:
'

.•

'
place ihjany^demqcracyi:Frorn\
largest number Of, laWs
"»'ihA\y£3^tirtvi^rii^ lj£L
:% ui iiurnaii are. *.

yBu||he0^Side'Ou|^^ inBianydernbcrai^ today 'is that ;law-.is

' ;
'

than.iri effect;,
 : ;- "

12 .
' '
'A Heariv-Rjll'
j

,
in India and even if, out of some of, these casiesA^^^^
V framed, they under a reVidwj.Austice are, still,
circumstances can only be called a jokd.^ vf-': i;

r A democracy is one in which the true bhoice

: of;,t^^
' people gets reflected in the public^ representatives. We have
.• yet tomake a beginning in that direction. Elections in India-,
continue to yield to the manipulative tactics of the privileged
few whether privileged by sheer dint of, being
iri, power, at

the sacred time of the poll or being pfivileged.tp be able to.

commandeer enough and
financial resources to influence'
- purchase the people’s choice. A third category of the,
privileged professionals who are swarming the holy precincts
; of our legislatures are the musclemen' who first worked for
those who began to depend on them to browbeat, the voters
and then preferred to displace their, erstwhile masters.
Absence of purity in our election process is at the root of ^
=

corruption in India. I dream of, an India' in Which the voter

,

shall be able to assert his true. choiceAnd wall be free and,'

aware enough to identify the appropriate for fhe'helrri; m^
'

;
of affairs. .
-
'-i'"

Public awareness is the key to a; vibrant and diving ;

—
;

democracy awareness of what ails; the; nation, what- are

our ills and what remedies are best under the .prevailing, ,

environment, awareness of what are the rights and obligations

of the citizens and what a faithful exercise of these rights wnll
. contribute towards the generd good andiWelbbeing. of ail.'
And this awareness which has always; been the proud ^

-
- possession of the vibrant Indian psyche ;Has, played .second
. .
fiddle all throiigh our recent post-Independence period. Dur :

system of education is still limited in .approach.

, its

,“Education,’\ said H^!itt;, “iS

,
that Which remains in us .after

, :
,we have forgotten what we learnt: in books.” JEducatiori in
India isAtill only boOldsh and merely. careerAriented. k does
-- riot train fully, grow/n, aware andself-assured^yOung men; and
Women to 'swim- corifidentiytn the: turnultuous;pceah;of,the:
 13 ^

'.cdrrtpetitive and ..pdhflict-ridden; society. Women who

constitute- half are- still by and large
deprived.' "r-/ -’.'"'-'
-
r- -
11-' ,
’^'''-}.
y ; .I'''- ^

pace , .with? the; jwprldy^ ecbnomically sound and self- -

.:sustajningv;.^iilbe only' an India of clay and mud if the

fdundatiohs :are hot huilt On human, character- and. honesty '

'

-in its true sense. ,

'
 *’ ” -'^'*
'•-^ ''’I'''-,t-' V' rr%'*' ‘'‘•*’^1 '

'T 'r"'

f r1iaw;|;jieart ''p!vOjft^i^^)tK^;iis
r2J;ii?:^<3rig:sep!Dfvwpr3sititiHi£is'n^^

'*-‘r? Ket'i^^eri'=l'5i’^^uaustN‘i .94fe;9/? ‘Oriohpf^^

'pn 2JDctober^\rr
i
v
 .

16 A Heart Full of Burden

**
\

go back to Dharma. By Dharma, I do not mean a Dharma

of A religion, B religion or C religion or X sect or Y sect or
Y caste or Z subcaste. Dharma in its ultimate reality is the .

true path. It is in that secular sense that I use the word

Dharma.
On
the midnight of 14-15 August 1947, Pandit Nehni
spoke on the floor of Parliament, “India will awake to .

freedom”. He said several things all of which I am not going

and make life difficult for you and for myself. Among
to quote
"
many things, he said that “we are a free and sovereign
people. I am the first servant of the people". Gandhiji has
shown us the true principles on which to work. Always keep >

the suffering masses in your mind. Industry must progress,

but it should not progress at the cost of increasing inequalities '

by the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few to the

detriment of many. All of us owe a common allegiance to
that which is called India.
Between 1947 and today, what has happened? Have we ~
not progressed? From a cantonment which was the home
of all retired, and people of retiring disposition, has not Pune
become a bustling industrial city, where all kinds of things
are made and sent to the rest of the country, and the world?
Has not the rest of the country progressed? At Independence^
we did not know how to make a pin, but today we can make
not only planes, but rockets which sometimes fall into the
sea, and certainly a satellite with which five metro channels
will be with you any moment. Anybody who says we have

not progressed in the last 46 years is guilty of unnecessary

pessimism, guilty of unnecessarily trying to weaken the minds
and hearts of the younger people. And that is certainly not
my intention. But between 1947 and today. I’ll ask this
question and you no answer, has not much of the
I’ll give
'

rhetoric remained rhetoric? Why has this happened?

The world has developed in an extraordinarily dynamic
'

fashion. Twenty years ago if somebody had said that you will
see several channels on television either -by cable or by dish
 . '
^. ,;

'

you would have considered hiitini page l. SWerai qtlier things

workuig.".-
are happening. Even India’b telephones hdve started
In the world, a country which was considered, if not the fir^; .

at least between We first ' tWo, ds; no

tearing itself par^

apart through itS'cntrails.^^Weh
world which are tearing thernselves^ apart are horn i^erbaijan
to AbkHasia to .Georgia to Uzbelbslah;;: ill Cenhd^
much; of tormented Africa, from Somaliayto Eth^^^^ .

Namibia. In different parts of:the world, 'different;people^^^W^^

pulling each other’s entrails but: Now^' :have;: we,hdjus
ourselves in this country.db' this dyriamic atmosphere of
'

change? I will ask that question, arid leave ihunanswered for

you to thirikabouth.\’ y; '}';^.-v '
^ -

I shall pick up a few things which Panditji said, ori ihiat

fateful night and say a few words which have relevance to
the screen in front of vvhich.ydu'have to -judge a que^bn
about what kind of clectioris .are we. running,-; what- fype of
'

democracy are we running. Pariditji spokf of.-. We" p^^^

people who would be servants' He spoke of;We industrial
people, .who would be servants, or at; least trustees bri behalf-
of; He spoke of a civil service. He spoke of iWe-
the’poor. ,

judicalserwee^Now/starbrig in'1947, wb survived 'for 'a-few v’

years on W® basis of mutual confidence and harrnqriy 'where
,

issues were settled sometimes wiW arguments, .soriietiWes

'
;'

with, acrirnoriy, rarely ever with a- Ibss 'bfi tHe:,sense;ipf ^ -

confidence or an accumulating sense, of despaindBut,' today

when someone. comes and taJfe;.to\me Of WisWptirnisW: at:
lunch break,'! have reasons to pinch my :shirt;arid;‘say i date : i

not.-say anyWing against him.. But( .in WO^deepest recesses,.

^
of my mind, I ask, is.'hc nof an eccentric? ilfrom bemg honest .

servants, Veveij/ category has .becbm0.self4ieekers ^arid:

,

selh ^
seryersrwiWout exception. ; You
a quick ..buck. It .matters riot. ,G^dhiji:-tolW.us;;means.mrO:
da-
impoiWnfcasierids; '.Today means' meaWnoWirig',''^^
aloneT^
rnafien .They ^spolW pf^pi^beiri^fWd^' an^
"
fortwhom, sovereign WrwHornoHd'Weohsfe isj-theW' jia^^
 -' :

18
[
A Heart Full OF Burden '

, /

been a and steady erosion of all the instituUohs and

steadfast
all things which go to make up for freedom' All that we built ' ,

to enshrine freedom has been eroded by a, pjethora :of

decrees, laws, rules, ordinances which serve a few^^ it serves
'

the State, but not the citizens. Today,' it has become .

desperately difficult for the citizens to ,defehd themselves,

against the onslaught of laws, rules and ordinances jVand ;
'

against the overpowering destruction! of individual freedorn

and dignity. . V ! .

The pillars of freedom which we fought for, have. been.

weakened and we have reached a stage, as one historian Scud, >
in which there is palsy at the centre and paralysis at the;
periphery. We make speeches particularly on Gandhi Jayanti^
day of high principles. But the only height 1 can see is the -

height of the rostrum. The rest of the principles are, if I may

suddenly switch to Hindi, ‘Sare ko mithi men mila dia\ ,

Where are our high principles? What are high principles? ,

’

Where do you search.for these high principles? I am not able ;

to see many. This because maybe 1 am blind. There are

is Ir

people less blind who may be seeing these high principles tn

some part or the other of this country’s existence.
Everywhere you look there is a leader. But -there jare; no ;

'

heroes because heroes are not based upon authority, granted

to them. Leadership is not a matter of authority or, privilege.
Leadership, is a .matter of living by high principles. Leadership
is not achieved by the closed end of a suitcase.'. j. ; ,
,
.
.

How many men of these enormous high principies

,
can ?

you remember On 2 October or 14, November or. oh .5

December?;The si^ificance of 5th of December, T- am sure, T ,

many of you do not Imow. Rajaji, Abdul Kalam Azad, .Sir '

TeJ Bahadur Sapru, Dr. Rajehdra Prasad, .Bhimrao Rairiji,

Ambedkar, Alladi Sri Krishnaswami Aiyer, I can go on listing, /
the. names of those heroes. The average Indian does,: not ;;
—
:

'

merely look for a leader.' He lobte for a hero and today a ,

hero'who' is totally invisible because in. the rninds of the

:
:
 S ; ; ;
•
-M'-

'%- »
n' * ^ *•^^V.V, ,:-i.
"" • V Ka- ^‘ *'
'

ay^r^e Indian aJh^isJaih^OTl^lfeca^^

-
high prmcipfes/’^r '":/>'

,
-Leader^ip-^^^:^^ai:S.n^,k'^ss}io^
: ;

a demand forihe' acceptance' df .r^p6nabi|i^,^l!^%rs;^

V/-v'.^AAA’Ar-in'^’i^ii?A5»^IiAiD“r\'i*i fK/brrtcoUroc- -t^sfOlrQ '

tfying'-tQ-.impq^ [disclpiihe^dri '6^^^

,
between 'vvdi;ds priithei one side -and ;de6ds; pn,' the
between -behayip'Cir'^ oh the .prie side/and beliefs andjy^^
oh the other,’ is what is icailed;]^^^^
. ;intcgrii^.;:=rpday;^

ah.. electron 'tnicrpscope? on dif ferent';phrt of -;thh ; ’

Can -use
country andjyqu!^ find Cjiceptioh^lyfeWpepple^dfpers^^ 4,.

, dhtegn|y;';¥ou;talkp^^ fiehih',' you!talh'df v-;

, •talk hf -Sardar^;PathIhyph-taIk:qf;I^
Atribedk^.'.The^ywererhenWho were;Tjtahs,;F^
,
disrespect' to ph'ybbdy there jare leaders ;
but 'jth’er^^^ are. ,
np*. .
v
.

:
Jeaders Who-
td's&yj'arciiDygmiesijv’ia'-"''
^e ^ of our deademii^^a^^^^^^
is
;

masses.
. during the last 46;ycars^ We’fiav^Cpmpletelv^^.re^
. -
e’ducatipriar.isystem^ahdvarrt'yeds^^^^^^ ;

, . 'says,;.ll,,+ ,2i^,u2tis-^
"

? 3v:‘'THere'w.^ .'a; Gah^ijipnvdiis codhtry i.wh6|,by ,iherdy i-SsS

: tJ ; i

‘^^^^’^.Sing.the hamesofSeverybpdy who;y^ ;‘p

' r.
childrempKGddt niad^ ^a-sbciatsea. cliahge. s-
V ounces -

. : v .today's'. CoriaitiohsSiTake' p.dt fcsttnh '4aitp'KoattK j-tat o Ah+i^'kA'r> c l.

- ^ •'jw'’ '-*7 '' ’

-I •2^*-
‘t
^ -7 — T- /-' '
~'t7* ‘V-.

Iniptheivcbimtries^^^^^^
*'
• ;
.'
f.-v .•‘'.;-,fc:r'fe;--''''it >.' :-'« i-’,!'--' S-J ;
.7 ' / r * C ' "N .* >' *f *V - V »"• '' .f' •'j . i V’' -’.iu ••‘o . 1
’
- \ ,
r .r- • * ,'T
20 I
A HfeART Full of Burden

that is, the death rate dropped dramatically when we allegedly

got rid of malaria, small-pox, typhoid and cholera (although
some of them are coming back with a vengeance). The birth
rate did not drop equally fast because to a hungry family the
addition of an extra child involves sharing the same amount
of food. One extra mouth need not necessarily mean getting
extra food. But two extra hands are good enough to pick up
cow-dung at the end of the day.
Look at the matters which contribute to improved quality
of life. As I told you, you can make your own standards as

to what improves the ordinary person’s quality of life —

education, health, nutrition, employment, housing, water. I

would not dare to tell you what ought to go into the quality
of life.

What we must consider is allocation of money.

The allocations made are poor and from every rupee
which gets allocated, 98 paise is lost in transmission, and
two paise reaches the ultimate poor. I want to mention that
we are reaching a condition where the poor are no longer
willing to sit down and listen to rhetorics, whether it is
2 October, or whether it is 30 January, or whether it is
19 November, or whether it is 15 August, or any other day.
They are ready to try other and less peaceful methods
as means of survival which you can see across the length and
breadth of the country from Kathiawar to Kamrup and from
Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Even the poor quantities of funds
allocated for improving the quality of life are misused as I

mentioned. They do not reach the person for whom it is

meant. We have practised socialistic principles for 46 years
or more. At the end of it, today, 20 per cent of India’s
population takes 52 per cent of its gross national income
and 40 per cent of the population takes 2 per cent of the
national income. Now, if only that 52 per cent of the national
income could be brought down to 50 and redistributed to
this poor 40 per cent, what an extraordinary improvement
in their quality of life would occur! This must be taken into
 account.' I' wahOo summarise';this\ part bf :i^y{^3ternehi, by
-

'

saying thM all systems’ Kiiman; b^steftis,>'' an^^ ;

follow, a:certalri'.cycle;of:bir^'an'd;'e^^^^
'

disease andbeatfe^is Jsynot ^wnttert'in0day^^^

is rWritteh;-:idl;Adi'^SHank^ ’'freaHsesv;Stod';Bh<3ua^^^^

JatG.-. -Bui, whatsis" required/ oh the 'part/pf 'a /wise ’

spcihiy js';
xL. V «
''X A vA'«-h ^+- Ar*'. .tJl IV'/a 'fl^l^^V
‘

the changes take.place ih 'favbur of the^,ri pobi: and

. - . j>. . • '
r
'
- V’ . • ^ ' 4 i fr'* »».*« I
'

you heed is: an,' internal audil'to/find; put ;

whether
of the society, are, being ;ac:hieyed;'ly /nbtb : f '//v'
>%( «' ' i'

.‘
. ‘V« .. 7 t-Jj i ' .. I

It must-be holistic, :^bbve 'all,':if rhubbhe;^

cooperatively admihistdred becauself you'thfn^^ rhie,"

tP.keep to:the.;left pf:&e’:road.,is'gobg7tp/^

byppsting enough,-ppliceben;,even then wouldf
hot obeythatrule- ,/7'v-’'7v;/,;V \.^:X

We want to;bbye 'iiitb/a’tfupH

;- •

with long-term .principles/; aVderhocracy ii^bich '/gives

freedom, wHieh/car'esibr.-fe
quality ob life arid wbch.'dpespptimake.the/ficl^^ 7

the poor ,burderied;.witrimbre; chiIdrcri.7 ;c,';‘;-:';f;K;7A;^

'
' f '"
i j-i/:''- -i-

classes^ prid'iFarnXnbtJah eeiris^!:V

'WV':
'have/giyeri-tb;riianypiaSses'c|?riuripeppleriI:thiri^
:,be^proteGted,7,th^\ntusri'be bhiugM birist' h^heri/
cbmpefe .iri'p^pn'^
3sl:ed ;tb THriy ;ibust/have,fa"ri
vr^eri/^ccbtpar^^w’ corii|brim&
'big>hbw:.ihany,:’whaf;percen;tage^^^
d.hpeheither/the/abiJity^^ih^ritelligefb^

depressed.-suPoresseH'^ 'Xr3'oii’'iivoi/>aiirt>i 4ivx,Xi''.4.i' ^r'

'S i^j^lai^rel
 ; ;
; ,;

22

women’s almost 100; per-cent; ^aFis w^^

literacy is
quality of comparable to that:of cbunWes'rnuct^'n^^^
life is

advanced. Yes, it can lead to certain argumentsM bbidngJtp

Kerala, so I can criticise Kerala with- a certairi degree;;cif.
vehemence, which otherwise would be misunderstood:; But
for God’s sake when a|i this has been done, get btck; to ;a
system which rewards merit and values.- 'that. is,;the
fundamental background against which we- have to judge
India’s derhocracy and its elections. If, we do riot do soi the,, ,

fabric on which you are painting is going to get- torn. The

whole country will get damaged —
in Manipur, in Nagaland,
in Assam, in Bodoland, in Jharkhand in Raipur, through the
PWG areas of Andhra, MP and Maharashtra; through ^e
Naxalite areas as they are called for want of any other name. ,

Going deep down to the South, maybe there are other

areas where other kinds of weapons from other; places: are
now in superabundance. There is an abundarice'.pf ijethal
weapons of special variety.which are being imported into;
Bombay, and sent to different parts ;of the country. Punjab' ^

is just coming out of its long dark night of agony, 'and

Kashmir is still in the middle of its very great; agony ;The I

largest part of this canvas of cloth which is.ioday’s ilridia is>

giving way warp and weft: You may erribroidef itVyou may
at =

applique it, you may put mirror-Work'phdtj.but if the cbm^^

not there, all this mirror work wll be imvvearable.; '

I want to ask the older generation “isjt their intention to

.

leave to the next generation of India ‘a legacy whic^ ,

distinctly poorer than what ;our fathers got us”?- That is. the
,
;

fundamental .questiori 'of dernocracy .today; If that is the

gloorny background tiiat I paint, 1 apobgise, Tdday,f^^^^
somebody says I: have optimism,- 1 also tell him after the .poet,'
“breathes there a man with soul so dead; who never to himself
has my own, ;my’ native land’’.
said, this is 1 also, do so. Th^^
;

half-a-minute jatef -combs before my a boom in Bihar;

wherb voting starts at 7 o’clock in the rnomirig.and at 7.157

;i05 peri cent oif .the ybtes have been cast: want to present
I; .
'.'"this -backgroundio ’y6u;‘::And Wsd;rteji';y^^

dlarigetjy-'nbrv^violeribme^gth^^^
ib'eansV;Whp;aret isb'isaying in ih^ motKpppngiie-;;;^
-which' is Mal^^::TBb'ji:fei^?hc^js^^ron^:^il;nd^gi^^
even
hangeVrfonfpPdy;the,Hun’gef;to^do^^^
'
ov6r-thdr;heads:;Thi&yliMlI take:oy%^^
’
^olPh^'if j^U:don^ cle^'’this.'i-^?k
:
*
v Pa"
,j i.'
' - -t * ^ ' it/* ', "t' 'i*'. j '’i ;

. a UciiJUUiauy, it;icL*LiUijOj ciu^ui^uiiiLgiuiuty, «=*’=>

, change^by cphsehtvLchange: undpr ’the.'''mle’p|iaw^“^ ,:-5!

fundamental .issue' of democracy and ^

mikes and iioud-s'peakers/.'soytliat.ydii .^n/'usP a]^

;
runhin’g';^d noh-rurtning yahsand^bhidPs^

baek:aiid' say'::'.“P6;y6u'temefnber' mc?'i;^

I have come batU^ td^yPU;fox;your': valuable yqtev Pleasb Vote

;e:'An; elepfior^'riHVOT
'.I.' IT ^ x_ _• ^ -^1 !’*
'.''TITl V ' • * .»

,'rn6rp,impp^t;fpf;fhi^tbyn^
iS'lf.-a>?.Cen^'a'ui:,’]pptelVn;;.^ui^
(examples plpsen "hornet 'A^e/'thesd;hipre ,;impprtarit:''pn’ is ' it 'i/' ^

'ni6re'*ni^Ai4^DVSf;tK'af IKX VvX^^ii - :

7lift$^9!^?:ehuhciabpifJf^uesj -ddes-^::^^ ]<

iiptipnV^^ '.'cam^d^ I'pis -^he; ;*/ v

•^P^bP'-xl^i^b'plbcbpp^h-.facf Pr .a'fidiph?/;MQin’ltbddy,‘hppBj5:'5’
24 I
A Heart Full of Burden

democracy. An election the only thing which produces

is

accountability. An election is the only method which

delineates alternative systems of policy and ideas. It evaluates
performances, it enforces accountability,
exposes the ewls
it

of society. “Please vote for me because I am of so and so

religion, I am of so and so caste, I am of so and so language.”
Somebody said if you do not speak that language, or if you
do not profess this caste and religion, we will kill you and
throw your body in the river. That is not an election of any
kind.
In the registerswhich I possess in the Election
Commission today, there are still six national parties, I will

say in the order as they come to my mind. Don’t say Seshan

said this party first, therefore, he
a sympathiser of that
is

party. BJP is there. Congress is there, CPM is there. CPI is

there, Janta Dal is there, Janta Party is there. There are 42
State parties. Republician Party comes to my mind while
talking of Bombay and Maharashtra. So far as I remember,
there arc two groups in that party. But I have nothing to do
with that. Then DMK, AIADMK, Assam Gana
there are
Parishad, Nutan Assam Gana Parishad. have got 42 I

recognised state parties and I have 400 registered but

unrecognised parties.
What kind of behaviour are we getting from the political
parties? When we got freedom we had a civil service. Those
days everyone was proud of the Indian Administrative Service,
of which I myself am an extinguished ex-participant. Today,
IAS stands for saying I Am Sons;, But is it only tire IAS which
has reached this condition? way. You look at the men in
No
uniform. What have we reduced them to? I do not blame
the constable on the beat, the subinspector at the police
station, or inspector of police incharge of the circle. But I
would like to comment on the bigwigs who are occupying
chairs in Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta and Madras. What men
are they? Are they men of steel or are they men of bamboo?
I tell everybody that by the end of my tenure in the Election
 25

Commission. I. Ml :bs .l#t\with'abso,la,tely'.ri friends -in the,

civil semce. kKey .wete-ri'eVenihyifien
in any, case. If you

could sumiparise the conditipovof,-the civil 'cervices today, I ,

-do not; orily;,mean^ffie^P0!ice‘^d: the lAS, 1; mean people in

engineering, ipepple jn.>nTii^icine,'' peopIe in education alhover
which
the- pldce: i^am.^remindediof rny. zoological, lessons, il,

rieyerdearnti;which, has converted these people from people

•
vi;hd were reeled vertehMa into inverts .Whoever .is in
.
powerris willing ;tO';be authoritarian 'and misuse it, least:, of
which is monetary ^corruptioni The rest of it is mpral
corruption... “Hahl This msh .ihust ,'bc mad: He must- have
. .made, his pwm pot of, money in sen/ice.’’ You
can. check: rhy account. through;the.,CBi. , Today ,T would- say
;
.that rmdneta'ry. corruption,.is\ a, far less evil than, moral
, conuprionilwHich has set in.
^.r Six, seven years ,ago . hwas the !Envirpnment Secretary.
;
..Ohee wehad.Td;proB^ export of frogs’ legs. Someone
was .yery .keen tg-;:e^pDrt:a-,.quaritity/^of . 40, tonnes .of' frogs’
..legs. Tou-' can imagine -the '.number -o^^ to, be killed in

. |n<(^cuttaY0yeM td Madras.cd' we. caught

, hifnIin:%.drasY:Th.e‘M^^^
. ^ft&VfP°^®-%-#<M^fster#-\yhd was
vv ofTrivifdhmerir^^^ ;6f: thd 'outstanding- Chief
‘
.
'i'.l^riistCT^pf.trie-poUnt^'feday.VH to
,= - be;serit:-sp^ehpw^4^^^^ Wori-’t-'alI6'wdti The ^Minister,
'

. ; stiT^T^I^^'-^TfO'bTseht^^ \^atVd6,you.khow about

th^ ;it;has: to- be sent

'•
.
f T^^W:C^?cau|e themw^^ Hjn^ well, 1

file mem
26 I
A Heart Full of Burden

Why have we lost the ability to stand up and say this is

right and that is wrong, this is the rule of law, that is not
the rule of law. During the elections you see an enormous
amount of information and disinformation being distributed.
An' election is a time at which the public at large has the
ability to sift between what information and what is
is

disinformation. An election is the time at which intensive

mass awareness is created. This leader said something, that
leader said some other thing. Where is the promised road,
the school, the primary health centre? And even if there is

a health centre there is no doctor, no nurse, no medicine.

An election, as I already said, is a non-violent means of
changing the future. I venture to suggest that this country,
in the last45 years, took elections as one more me/a to be
celebrated. Pune is a place where Bal Gangadhar Tilak said
“freedom is my birth right” and he was the man who made
the Ganesh festival a major event. But election is not
Ganapati Bappa Moriya. Elections are hard business. am a I

religious man, and 1 dare not say anything against Vinayaka.

What has damaged our election system, you might ask. 1

can list several deformities and defects. I am not again stating

this in order of importance lest somebody should say that
“he is definitely against so and so. He is against Indira
Gandhi”. In this connection I would want to refer to
personality cult. We
have created personality cults of big
personalities, medium personalities and small personalities,
but the majority of them possess feet of clay. During the
entire process of the life of an Assembly or Parliament, there
is a breach of trust, there is defection. You can make a law
today/tomorrow. But we have more capability to break the
law. Twenty-one divided by three is not equal to six. To make
it equal to seven we need to produce a particular bottle of

whisky. We do not seem to have a presentation of a clear

alternative. If you come to a four-road crossing, one road
says if you take this road you will go to this direction, if you
take that road, you go to that place. There are many parties
 -.

;’:^7

coanhy today of rf,om;«pc*;p5s^e

in this

defeetive election systo..

We'certainly have an hxtfenieiy
I 'apologjse and
say, is
This election system in many senses,
system which is enhrely
a joke. You have a political
the foundahons of sand;
hierarchical and which is built bn
bottbriir Wb all say there
There arc not even bricks -at the’
samity; zila parishads;,
should be panchayatl raj; panchayat
villages
But if you go into the roots of these bo(dies; iri the
,

name,
and the blocks and -ciistrirts,-%y‘'are; there -more in
'tiie board' in.
they are there on 'board, riot the i^a board but.
front of the office; In much of the last 45; years the real poor
have never been allowed towqtc;. The elections are based ori
the victory of money power and they are based oh corrupt
practices. In Malayalam, 'they say, ;do you Ididw how election,

are run in this' country? Liquor fbrTKe father, .cloth for' the.
'
; ' '
‘;‘''
mother and food
'
for the baby.; '
,

And then, of course, there are bombs and grenades, and

country-made pistols, aridnow. everyday -we.' are advancing,
technologically, from niathine^uns to submachine-guns To
AK47, AK 74 ahd RDX.which the .Maharashtra
be partiOularly fond qf. XJlUrhately/Tiid bpclies which; bught'.
to be rehresentatipnal'have'becbme 'npn-fepreiehtatibnai.^ .
•

Accountability Teems tb’have ..disappeared, ahk the mass

of the Iridian/electorate .db not seem tq;;imbw"hbw tp ;s^^^
,
•

off an, unacceptable representativerand, tp;;.b^^

• ;
w- -77 7":: — which'jfvsrn.
ready ^ be Irtip^chcd; So (dp^ nbt riecd bri^hpfei'But^those
who arosupppsed ^-hebcGourlt^ble, .^are.they accpikitable?h
and 1 again, qUbte'PbntiUs 'Pilate.''Hebsked'"wH^^

W''
sp./Electipns/are sobedause:;the-;law.'.is.;weak.-'^thb^^
ar^,^ucbimW't^bo;^dput;^;K^
28 A Heart Full of Burden

800,000 polling booths and each polling booth has a

minimum of five people. Therefore, have four million people
I

working for the elections, besides the policemen who are

something else again.
Misuse of the system is extraordinarily profitable. I should
not be asked to say more because I may be hauled up for
contempt of an Assembly or Parliament, But if you reach
one of those coveted places, the gains are absolutely
enormous. Manipulation is the order of the day. There is an
abundance of misuse of office. It has spread all over the place,
from the head to the heart, to the kidney to the liver, to the
limbs. Why has this been so? One of the reasons is the non-
participation of the many. “Why should I go to the polling
booth. Today is a holiday, I will go leisurely after lunch.” And
by that time someone would have cast your vote. You may
go and shake your fist at the polling officer and say “but I
have not voted. Look at my finger, there is no mark”. But
he says, “Sir, you are not the voter, the voter has already
come and voted” because somebody was waiting for you not
to turn up.
I venture to suggest to you that if we live for a hundred
years more, let us change the election law and give the voting
right to only the educated. What kind of educated? You drive
on the street of your town, you will see the qualitative
difference between a car driver and a cycle driver, as to who
is more educated. You go to a college. You are educated.
Entering the portals of a college is not education. It is humility
which the sign of education. Knowledge is a sign of
is

education. Duty is a sign of education. At times one thinks,

perhaps our educational system were not entirely what it
if

is today, I would want to say, abolish it. But then tomorrow

the Indian Express would carry the headline, ’’Seshan

condemns education”. But I am not afraid of headlines.
Why are elections bad? You may ask “what are you doing
about it. You only come and talk about these bad things”. If
you opened the newspapers of yesterday, today and
 iTi 'N.i -J^ esiiAn:

tomorrow; 'you wHll see whatU '.am .doin^^

-
I had a
constituency m tiruchirapalliV-.'in Tamil; Hadu in the last

elections, where there .were

,
.only 356 .candidates and the
ballot paper did not look: likel a 'sheet .of, today’s newspaper,
it looked like Today^s 'edition, of a
newspaper. ;^st year we
had% by-electiondn Delhi whehUl krishn^t Aduani resigned
his seat. 1 think it was fought by,iwo hafhis, if I use my
language coirectly^. They were Shatrughan Sinha and Rajesh
Khahna. But there were 105 nam^ on.thathallot paper and
to a slightly unedurated man like me it took #bout five minutes
to firid what 1 wanted to find, as to whom to vote fob
. Qiir electoral .rolls too can have any number, of mistakes.
1 vras orice sent to'Dehra Dun as member of the ONGC to
vdle'.-lt was not an entirely iow-ievel job. T'ne po'&ng officer
said “everything your age. is correct, your name
'is air right, '

,is right. But against yoiir name it is mentioned female. So

how can you wte?” So T had fo come back. You have rolls
whith are extremely defective;. There are names which appear
are names- which don’t appear at all, there
five tirries, ffiere
are dead narhes which arc still alive and there are live names
which are dead. What the percentage of defects in our rolls?
is

This,is?sorhething oh which I would employ a statistician to

,
findCanbnswdnand.we; found a true method yet of
fihdihgibut howhad our rolls are,' And, there- are places in
whlch-the er\tire system of election runs on rigging. All the
books on hlection; which .L have and which add up to a
considerable height are coilectively called .the Rig Veda. It has
happfened- in a .particular city where party members identify
:

a particular -rnuiti^oreyed l residential building and manage

to lock, up -the main' gate ;on;theday ;of:.' the election.’ They ”
among, the. residents who;, want to' ypte for' a
create, fear i.,. ,

-
anybody?V
particyiar party,! -Voterisl^rdik • ^
'

We 'havc.imperson.dtiprj which is .extraordinarily '

'
widespread Then the entire- election’, is ba$ed Upon appeals ,

to wrong.-TeasonslXivbUl'dmdt.'e^^ pn’ffiatv But. appeals

to wrong rea?ohsd_ithe:baslS 6ftour-eM
30
I
A Heart Full of Burden

have got evidence of naked violence during the election.

I

I have got footage after footage on violence.

Somebody
comes on a motorbike, and fires a country gun. Every voter
runs away from the polling booth. End of the election.
Capture the booth. Lack of management of law and order
particularly during elections (I am not complaining against our

poor brethren in uniform because they are the victims of an

enormous amount of injustice), rigging, booth-capturing,
wolence, the absence of physical security before the election,
during the election, after the election are the order of the
day.
we have a book called the Code of Conduct.
Ultimately
In Britain in 1727 under Horace Walpole, they had
introduced the law called the Law of Occasional Conformity.
Actually though the title is misleading, everybody had to be
a protestant what the law said. We have no occasional
is

conformity, we have no conformity to the code of conduct.

If you can get away with it, that is the code of conduct. The

Governor, the Minister, whoever it is, will go and open things,

close things and announce all kinds of goodies, once the
elections are about to start.
When announced an election a month in advance,
I

everybody asked me, “why arc you sitting alone on this chair?
You should get additional persons to work for you”, I am
again reverting to the title of an old English film, Who is
Afraid of Virginia Woo//? As the poet said: “For forms of
government let fools conspire, what ever is best administered
is best”. Ultimately we need to plug all the leaks that are

prevailing in the election system. There are so many leaks

and it is like a baby in acute diarrhoea bordering on dysentery.
What do you give the child? According to Doordarshan, you
give the child oral rehydration therapy. But by oral
rehydration you cannot get rid of the disease. They said, “why
docs the present Election Commissioner have so many
riflemen?” I’m surrounded by them because there is anger
 T. N. Seshan 31

in Assam, in Bengal, in Bihar, and the respected Jyoti Basu

called ‘mad dog', etc., etc. To say something about the
me
honourable Laloo Yadav is a peril. When I asked him “please
do not use government planes for election work”, Yadav
reportedly told India Today. “Does Seshan have any authority
to question me?”
If you want this country to have real elections, for God’s

sake make the Election Commission truly autonomous. For

God’s sake strengthen your election machinery. Make it
possible for the man to vote freely, courageously and without
fear.For God’s sake provide teeth for the implementation
of good behaviour by political parties, whatever the country
considers is good behaviour. So that is why I have said, “on
the of January 1995, nobody will go to a polling booth
first

unless he/she has an identity card, with the photograph on

it.”

Make the elections free and fair. Not one, not three but
101 Election Commissioner cannot rectify the system until
the people decide that you want to have a clean electoral
system. When the learned Attorney-General of India argued
in Parliament about me, and said the Election Commission
is a subsidiary of the government, I would have liked to ask
him respectfully; “Why not appoint a Director-General of
Elections, who will carry out the order of the Under
Secretary? The Chief Election Commissioner is equated to a
Supreme Court judge, They are not prepared to accept it.
But that is a different story.
You post five constables of the Central Reserve Police
Force or the police in each polling station. Please multiply
eight lakhs by five and tell me what number you arrive at. If
you put all the policemen of India together in one basket,
you do not have flO lakh policemen. And for God’s sake if
you can run your election only vnth five of the gentlemen
armed with deadly-looking weapons with their fingers on their
S2 A Heart Full of Burden ,
/ " ‘
r

triggers all why call this a democracy? Give it some

the time,
other name. As much mistakes and misdeeds are being done
in elections as are possible. Shame! It is a matter of shame.
You arc going to run a democracy by putting five armed
policemen per booth of which I have 800,000 today. And
everybody says he wants elections in one day. 1 have no
difficulty in running the election in one day. Can you give

me enough protection? I’m ready to run the election in one,

day throughout the country, but the law and order situation
of the country is such that if I do so then I will have to do
what the Election Commission has been doing for the last
40 years. You look the other way when somebody says that
something wrong has been done.
Everyone wants an election on a single day “because we
do not want the elections at one place to influence the
elections at another place”. I also think in the same vein.
But if you ask the Home Secretary to the Government of
India, he will say, “last time I said please keep it at least four
days apart, because people have to be transported from this
place to that. Please keep a gap of four days between one
election and the other”. I told them the situation in the
country is such that would need a lot of policemen. The
I

Government of India said I have no right to ask for

policemen. That is another drama going on. It reminds me
of another story. There was a beggar who came to the house,
and said, “please give me alms”. There was this newly married
daughter-in-law standing at the door. She went to the beggar
and told him in gentle iones; “Please go away, this is not a
house noted for generosity.” So the beggar reached the gate
and the mother-in-law came to the front door and said, “who
is that going away?” She said there was a beggar. “What did ,

you tell him?” the mother-in-law thundered. “I said, they do

not give alms in this house”. She said to her daughter-in-
law, “who are you to tell the beggai' that we do not give alms.
Call; him back”. The beggar was called back. And she said,
 ' V 'j' ' '

, . ..r / r-
‘
J , *,‘('7. f
« f

ui-iciw ‘
'
\ .-j'' .‘.
7'‘.i.r
'
- '.
' • ' .' ', - -

P.epple psked-;Hie-Wh^i1-:,did-n
- ; .

; jrand)dates jrpm ;'c^t^dhgo But' who' ^ to decide whom to

elimlh^e?- ^mmeihWr;fe^^ a man in Karnataka who

/ had forihi^ia-bai^.^^^^ he was, the leader. He the
.
pfeide'nt- jie.ivas the^se^ he was the treasurer, he was
the:' sole ihehiberr^Ahd,^ was, called ‘Hottepakshah
Those of you who' knew a
- little Kannada, the word means
the pa^ of the stomach. And he stood in every election and
he travelled delibe^tely'a mare and said, , on . a, dop^^

, '^hiujeh !6hi .vdte '^deh do".. He! warited to establish a record

of the ihasdmi^. number.cif defeats 'hie has had. And today
; we have somegentlemah
like that called Kaka Joginder Singh

urf 'Dhdrt{;Pal<Q^ very good to me. But who is

tb.decide, who is a serious candidate and who is not a serious
.

cari'didate?.'lf lean dedcie this, then what is the system of

.democracy made up,6f? -

:

d’ do; not know'whether^Bachi’ Karkaria writes nowadays,

She once wrote, “Scshari is walking around railway stations
cancelling trains. Juslas the 'staUonmaster shows green flags,!

;
Seshan.is;shp\Xiing_!redhags;an “Chief
^Election Cpuhtermariding Cpmrnlssioner ^
scenario in this country? Now
vi^haijs jri'd^ger;is not to ^hat is in danger'
: is the, iritegritylp this country. What is at stake? I am sure
. our friends say. .thatd am a rriessenger pf dpom. . I am'

;
ridt a- m^enier'bf ddprii,',-;T -fact- an dptiihist. But if,,
you ,db; not stop -to the Megrity to unity of this country .

willfeiriain irnd^toilndead of. using, nonw^ peaceful

,pitos:td; too!^e .societal -cPnfli^ of money, of religion,
of :

cade toiubCast®; we am gping;to to,

up settling them by’
':%:^9pS!enf ;knife ;to;to #to
end of the gun.
: :Thep^ch6to(Sj}:security,Plto iC’at stal<e. -

om children? -I have np: ,

'
so I to.;sto|t with,to9 -S^^ audiority,. A sodeb;
 .

,
m which you may get SS^feiaritJhart^S^’Srmgi
not adm>?sipn/whe%nj)qu afe ;h&
g^
^rd. sideward.'pr yoiidiSca^^^
'

;
lal*s, sKlaWis,
or.whateverlakhsybuean^Sord/'tt^^
with authoniyds- growing
to appoint, whcre;fe»eh;tfe;&^^^^
constable on
itraffic;duty;carihofe:enf6ree;hi5’ai^^^^^

unhS^*'
CoiTuption and money power
are laiangdyer ereiwherM i
There is a developing loss,
of'faith irirthe\-m4!Siri0i^gi&;,}it;^^^^
redressal of gnevance:.
"Sornethihg; wrong- haslbeOT-tidnSS
gd ^ihe pourt?;api4]a:i bdlo;tHe|Hi@l
Station. Where do I oo?
Is thsm ^

St all of thern. What is the external: rhariif^tatidn^of ai thl^"'^

It IS socie^vioknce:imen d society,cari^^
?^5^^?"Sere;it'erti>k'5h.vfe^
K^ u
Kashmir in 1989 td-find out. u>hat

^ indulged in greater
'

inbknce. I saw/a rooffi'wtt

xitac
as 1
less +V
than ten feet by, temfedt, wher,d''t^^^
even women ^e sta^np;^e:wail^Awi^ ma^^^^^
-TL
^ plonks,; which;
.any;hufdber ,6hiioiek;> bad
.

^t^pei^re >x
in unnter i^hed rninus^

SO when na^tufe-cpm^
oo? F
^PP^^Sfi teaskr Ifyq.u live in
in that I-
° society i^ bpdnd to ;'b^^
,
“U/h
vyny do we have elections?”
do we

" ' *•'* y V..

Communities Thic ic ^
ecPhbVnir. L Kr - w iP.nly; waysyou>can ^.era‘^dicateVv
SuSs ^|i^eiitHi|C
hsay anvthinn^^
I C ^ ^!'®’^^:^^Sin^t^pn^hvaiues^^^
 caste, gubcaste//sub‘sitb;caste;;a^^ „rnbr6,' But 'the

fundamental robts';o{‘tHfe Ib&'-isjh"^ character — the.

character which we inheritedirdm Garidhiji,' Sardar Patel "^d
. Nehru. Nb,-.=We -did ndt jhfierit it orily from- these people, we
inherited tt. frbrh “Sri 'Rarh^ Sri -Krishna,, or -wb inherited it,
.

frprn the Par^ripunishan,'whatever religion you believe in;,-,

'

' There is at present ahj^-pervadirig loss of self-corifidcrice.^,:

School .^dents, college students corne' and' persuade ^nie to
,

-be their guest. '‘Sir,.you‘are vety good at spealdng in .front'

of the rnike. Tell us what is t'o.beldone.^’ But have no answer I’

to give to' the poor .child who saye what is to be done to

rectify, thiST.State 'oit^ has become our national'
.chaifecter.: to firid .faiJt , With^everybody else. ,
Newspapers will

find fault ’^fh eyeiybbdy Ciidl seridce people say the Ministeri
is riot right; arid those Wbrkm under him arc not-correct..
But you pbintone fingcr at ariyone, three fingers are. being'
pointed at- you. /v, '.'r;:.
r ,
.. .

: ,
Fdr.Gbd’s ^e/jet; us begin by building up character.. You:
rnust be thinldng, ;“Ohj this fellow having failed in running
'
good electioris has now become a ,
preacher. He, . is going to ;

start, some, jdrid of >Seshari;,'rriissloiiJ” same,. I would.;

.
jeiteirite tliat.''juriles's^'we
•'

:,:cduri^.{ye,-w^^ '^eadfly "towardsrthe 'pa of; disaster.

Not. the path .whicKGandhiji showed, which Panditjibhpwed,',
•
whidi,Safdari'Pateiish'oWedi:yWhi'ch'beVeVar
. ;
showed; As .an adkb'societyfj with ,5000 -years of- culture'
behirid'usi: today we decorate .ourselves' with .the trappings
Pf ri- safari Suit' .arid’ forget^ .there is rip.'

ability .torask^e question, 'what-tt is' Which usas a society?..

- Until' ar^t^I^e m^pfekhe^bility^tb^lcd^^ to;

V' ,
®^ch 'and eveiyorie' of us,\,it. .matters not rio^mc; Whether you' ,

'
'
't. "'ll ' '*1 1 I

•:IX
f :4?ri,;bfteri acci^ed;as;,^ha^^ -so''hrid-sb’s'''rriari; Sesh'ari'

y i^o^oa^elg;sJriian^'tof^:^b:riia^ :S»Dd\rhiilibtri
 '

36 j
A Heart Full of Burden

people and 550 million voters. 1 wnll tell you my own story.
When Mr. Chandrasekhar became the Prime Minister he first
said, “you are going to be my Secretary. You are going to
be Cabinet Secretary”. So, for two-three days there' were
arguments between Chandrasekhaiji and Rajiyji “what shall —
we do with Seshan?” And somebody said, “m^e him Cabinet
Secretary again.” Somebody else said,“make him Principal
Secretary to the Prime Minister”. Somebody else said, “m^e
him both.” So, daily Rajiv Gandhiji early in the morning would
call me and say, “Don’t go back to the post of a Cabinet

Secretary once again. It is not good for your self-respect. You

only become the Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary”. He
would call me in the evening and say “Nab/n Seshan,—
Principal Secretary bqnne se faida nahm^ Cabinet Secretary
hi banna chahii;e So after hearing this story unnecessarily
for three-four days I finally met Rajiv Gandhi and told him,
“Sir, there is a fouidh group. There is ‘A’, There is ‘B’. There

is ‘AB.’ A is Cabinet Secretary, ‘B’ is Principal Secretary to

the Prime Minister. If you combine the two then it’s ‘AB’”.
As far as I am concerned my blood group is ‘O'. So he said
“Why is this topic of blood group coming in the middle of
this discussion.” I said ‘O’ is for out. But the scenario turned
out to be somewhat different.
Coming back to our discussion, until the people of this"

country are fully awake, this country has no future. Yes,

freedom and democracy will thrive on a soil of private

conviction of the morally right. Last time in the Parliamentary

election for 500 were 9000 candidates. Average
seats there
18 plus. There is no dearth of candidates. No. Ultimately
democracy will thrive in this country only on the basis of
character and the voters saying enough means enough. If you
do not want to have a banana republic (or^your next
generation, then please get up and ask yourself a question:
“where shall the truth come from?” I will close with a
quotation from the Bible which says: “And of what shall it
profit a man if he gain the whole world, but lose his soul”.
 ;

Ai:fe Wei Cbtkrdaches?

, v^^',Te.)»e,a^'non'-^cVfi^Ti3 sDdet9?jH iVje

,
question js^at' least
"trektineni; for
^afnpnachie^^
ftiis^^'ftia't' from,
then you .haVe to
we
.'ft &

."become an'a't^eving ''society.' We have been told, through ’ -

\
; .generatiqhs ;of^8xi^ehce;; that the most surviving animal' is ; '
.

:;the';; oMihary.s;Hbuschbld -kitchen.:' cockroach

, Are. .

. v:,'cockroaches?,;fY9u can' s^^ cockroach. Five, minutes’'-'' '

'

suddenly, turns itself

y lattyi^h'ehtyou tKintyit- i It
.Y'l Upside dowft,.^d. ’runs' away. -Fean .telFyouBll Idhds- oftthings
'.aftouty^hO'ahatOmy of aVcoc^ myself, fs .
1.' 1 Jt.f : n.tr .T '
>"

. ;;;HmdU’C5iistehce,' ;by;OT pfea^-, Fake' my apology

, io' ,

ad^ceJ;‘;^eo'iF4ay Jdihdu.'F ^

-St}eecH.,mqde iai\thd' Iniilafi, -Institute 'of Managem.ent‘‘.-Ahme'da6ad, on

,-f26;yqn'ua^;-J9^$.y
5 ' -
‘
 38 \
AHEAlh’:F^ OF ^

. ^ worship only Rama or Krishna or whatever else. J mean ;ihe V '

f
; ; ethos which is common to all of us. In fact, in my :3ictionaiy, >•:

. Hindutwa means not building atemple here, of destroying a

mosque there. It means tlie ethos,- the culture, the. gene, thef- :,

blood which runs, in the veins of aU/of'untqgether;

does not matter whether you are frorh; Punjab^ dr frdm Tamil ^ '

Nadu or whether you are from. Kerala .or;:ffom Bengal. Eacii ,=

of us has his own language and his bwh cultumrhangdyef^ r

When you watch athletics', yoU 'wiU see that in ..the 1000 1
,

metres run, athletes run very well in,.the first 900. of 950 ,

metres, but the last 50 metres is what the* Wester ner cdlis^^j
the “mind to kill”. You may tlien askj “id it desirable ford,
’

somebody to have a killing trait?” If it is accepted that at. lead.;'

business will thrive only on the basis of a' killing mentality, of. '

a killer’s mentality, is it absent in us? How dd' we. ehgmeer f

it? How do they transmit a classropm? J asked the faculty
it in ’

members at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad,";:

a question: of every hundred boys or girls .who entef the .

institute on day one, what percentage is excellent- products?

The evaluation system leaves ine cold. It is' as 'godd df
bad as any other evaluation system and It. doesn’t really; ; ,

produce a judgement on who is excellent. Somebody is hdllpW;^^^.;;/

inside but is very expressive Outside. Somebody Has a; pretty;

face or a good moustache and, therefore, 'becomef a more If

impressive personality. He becomes a Rambo. Nowfthat iS;
not what I call excellence.' In fact, does this' course
institute have a niche in’ it to’ask.jtHe questipn^^^^^y^^
excellence? What constitutes excellence?,' Fof; example, if I

may shift to Sanskrit,' Karif'akushqlidi is''^

do one’s work,bettep .The rnottb of the^:
technical ability to
Indian Administrative Service isjffYbgdA.Kqfm
Kaushalam’ Skill in action.is the ultimate in achievement. It
could probably be one yardstick by. .which; you' ifeasUre
excellence. Are there any other, yardsticks?
,
may have; .; % ;

extremely good skills, but yoU aX?. qj^tremely .poor- in,;;

fundamental values. You haye no ^^lue ^sterndt ail.
 "Co v'^’* !/ -rOCC 0 /.'O

. ; Are ^1 oiir ethicsOlative?;;Yo{i-;e^'*c^^ jejative^

;

ethics as they currency hay^ih in: tHeOnited Stat^f

- - iftiey- ^ /

arc having relative:'ethics gh.-whetfier abprtipn -is a-gd6d^h,ing'.‘ ^

or a bad thing, ,\^fether col6ur 'hatred is ,.a';gopd,'thingO'3/^

bad'-thingv of whete tprhire'.is a-^pod' thing ;pr ,,a

Wh^; this torture' becomes.-Bcccptebie'^ when -diis -aboriiorif;

becomes accei^tabic, ,
when this 'colour-,, convict becomes' ;

acceptable or an absolute valudin^vyhich you, say, l -cotne f

is it

hell or high water, I am a Rornah:Gatholic’'; .SO|hdbody has,:^^

said that abortion is.incotTect^iJherefore/'abohion
incorrect, A .woman, gets pregnant, as 'a, result of the brutal. .

assault bn her feminity; She conceives. Dpes'.she Have a right

to, terminate the..product of her humiliatipn .pr is it that it is

not acceptable to have .that life terrninated?;^ ,

^
Is there any inherent ^'aluePjs itright to ask the. question,;',
why. are we not successful despite all' that we possess? .'Do/'
you think we even change into an.achievang- society?. Is ’

this achievement going; to be baSed .on, amoral valyes^of a V

sykem oftydluCs which is fundamenfaliy. amoral: it is .okay, to'./
kill somebody, to: get ^ seat it is.okay. to Hrtye somebody, ta;/

pass an exam it is okay to. cheat.. How much of. hoine,/

exercises dp you cheat 6ri,“ howi 'much -.pf; piagiarispjfilihe|'.v
place; from; textb.obks '.'pr;.s'prnc;pfbffes'of’s;nb^ whicb’^OttHi
have^stacked, atyay.' '1 ,s.ee' ah- eriyeldping glppiri; all pvef .the'; >
place;

,
. . Evetyrsingle'.majcjf pr miripr
admis^on inflndia is, Based/'
bn cotfuptidn.' That .is the cpriditidn bfydur educatiori.,-trhBf ;;
is, the-cbiiditipri- of, ybur .health; There are States' in
'tyhicH- -

.copying. is being acBvely'enCphragbdy.Npvw'how.md^^^ wotild/t;

.
youjlike to -go; ariddet;a,;do,cf6r inject'.yptyJeavb' alphefcut
yqu-;ohenf 'oh' the b.a^s ;of,a degree.rbBtai'ned-- by-, copying.'
: Engineers;.Build;.bridges dhd '.buildih'gfeiwhich-'kebpiara
fepeatediyffthe-sarn'e cah'be ,said-,of;1avtyersi. .judgesiflAS'/i
dfficcrs;ppiiticians,‘tc’achcrf^fstudents:1;hay^^
; bst' fctyry|ai^;^fedr^ ^afe-fpoi;b!dh5s <idhtt^
-

whicb,ds;ntade/uif:pf3ry^<Sdria5-Eam/tiot^^
Rajasthan desert. I am looking for;, dryness 'WhjclV
impregnated with corruption. Why, ard .question ^papers
.

leaked? Why do only children who take tuition from.lhe:dasd

teacher pass? Why is valuation bogus? 'A: child Vconies and
weeps deplorably to the mother or the father' saying, .‘‘these
are not my cannot be”. And to .get your answer
marks. It

paper revalued, it needs sifhaarish^ What -price this

education? Admission? Examination?' What happens' in the
civil services? Can you get anything done without ‘speed
money’? Can you get anything done in the processes of, lavv
without ‘speed money’? Two lawyers will agree on- both sides
and they will apply for adjournment. One. would say, “Your
Lordship, am having a stomach ache, let’s have this; next
I

week, or a week after” and he is going to tell his client, ‘'Main

itna lara, aap key /iye Una lara. Please produce Rs. 10,000
which is my fees.”
Justice in this country has comprehensively collapsed. Bp
it hands of police or at the hands of lawyers.';Ih any
at the
case whether it is a small, case, medium case/ large .case,. it
wouldn’t be heard for years. By then ;you. have died,; yow
son has died, your grandson alone is availablei justice
anybody? Law anybody? Electricity anybody? 'Telephone
anybody? If you dial a number there is a Prossrcorthection/
You can hear abuses and romantic talk's on the efos^
connection —
you can hear ail lends ofthihgs. But you can’t,
get Ahmedabad or any other place. We have ‘satellite;,
.

telephone lines’ but can’t get one suburb of Ahmedabad from,;

another. If you ask the Telephone Department,' ‘‘what, is &e
percentage of successful, telephone call?” they.,y/ii! say-
99.999. That is the pei-centage of., bails; satisfac|ppjy;
completed as if you and dp not teow.th.e Teality/bf ft^
.1

situation.-
There is not much' to talk about .bus ;transp.d^^^^^
transport and the airlines which published a firne-table for lh^
sole purpose of enabling.you to deter^he LOw,m^y,;hpurs
 ' ,

ite':yo(i'^re, T^ng H’-r^%%s^#erfe used to be. a time when .

)e had a Ministet cMldd ;L^;Bahadar.

SHastrirwho resigned

tecause ’one tr^ri' jumped :off .ihe;tradt.. Today

a train Jumping
-

df the track is -a daily odGurrencd.-^B^^^

somebody else' will'
ayV'“but the pM did not-askime^^^^^ That is why I am
tot Vesi^ingl’’-.-What price- morality in this country? What
>riO€ responsibility in this
.
country? What passes tor
[eniOcracy? Js it= based; upon the quicksands of non-moral

‘respondbiiity? You can, find '^ .ekcuse for 'anything which

las; happened rin this place -and declare, “this is not my

espOhsibilUy. I have, not-been directly accused” Then what .

Lind, of derrioefacy are you' talking about? What kind of

ountry are-you talking about? Sore' jehan se achha
iindust'an harnoral; ^ .

you .may accuse me'bf causing despair. But look at the

onuption and technology. Across the length and
in ’^iericc
treadth.of the counf^ people who pass for managers are ^
iot'nianager's, p'edple;Who .pass for are not . ,

dentists, people who pass for lawyers arc not lawyers,

)cople ‘who, pass, for adminidrators are not 'admihistratorS.
rhere.is. no point fn HidingTHe.JnJury inside the bbdy :,from. '

he ddctof.,Boptors;cart' t.tm^^ 'don’t; expose the'

yodnd;df expose .the jtch?pr the .infection. 'So I'.am, exposing
he'|hfekiph,at the' moment alitoydr-the cduhtry. i want you.
0 ^kthfiIgues^idp.^‘'Dd,wc heed to clean up . this country?”
You afe urfilingly
>eiri2:.ex'ppsed fo'actidfies.wfiich’ you don’t know how to deal
/
Ad ;dcai the private,; sector 'where,- industry 'was ,
’

pmpletply.pfote'cted.' EVen’Ka/ahm^a'p vmsprot^^ {I have •

igapj: tus^A usc.-it as a youngster); ,

ire -Uf-itV'arilrirs'/ffN 'Ko' -.i-

'
How
'-If''.-.' ‘f
'

M,,the 'phly' refrigerator. ?

42 '

.|
:
AHeartvFull

Their lordships said from the suprematv/. df a; High Court '

bench or a Supreme Court bench, that the oriiy. thing Aat ^

doesn’t make noise in an Indian car is the horn. was said

It
'

years ago about the Hindustan car. When you talk of •

excellence, what price quality? What price quality under

internationally cut-throat competitive circumstances? Will you
still soaps in a protected market? The best organisational
sell

behaviour you could have taught any group .of management

students 10 years ago was to distinguish between the
preferences of senior civil servants, between black label, and
blue label. I am talking the harsh truth? But I' am .trained to
speak the harsh truth.
It’s so agonising. You are so near, yet you are so far. For .

years together you had third-rate people, fourth-rate people

as Chief Ministers, Prime Ministers. Along came somebody
called Rajiv Gandhi. Everybody fell for his face until he got
sucked into the system from which he never came out. In
December 1986, he made a speech in Bombay at the AICC
session on power-brokers. Four months later the power-
brokers had sucked him in. -All the charisma was destructed'
in Sriperambudur in the fleeting rriight of an explosive. Where
and how do we create heroes? How does the system throw y
up heroes? Heroes in management, heroes in spqrts, herpes ;
.

in business, heroes in administration, heroes in politics?.”':

Would somebody in the Institute of Managbmentj
Ahmedabad, please set time and effort apart to tell me hdw /
to create excellence. In particular, how to create excellence
, r

in managers. We produce managers who. are by and large,;?

excellent. How does it matter? They are just- like: Alicd in :

Wonderland; they change the rules to suit the rnanagers. Are :

you producing managers who are of world class excellence?

Are you producing managers for a changing.' ambience, for .

a changing atrnosphere, a changing rnehau/, in which,an the

old rules, in terms of managerneht have tdhe rcvH_tteh?/y:
^^

Why is ii that India cannot produce a single .wprl.d cla^

:

Olympic gold medallist- in any branch of athletics?, <^.n t:;. y W%

 . ;

; it' produce a Nobel udnner' of the level of Hargpvind

Prize- '

i^urana, who was awarded' not. because he was. an

Indian- ,

but because he was in the States. Rabindranath Tagore

had
certainly, nothing to do with oiir education
system or Institute
of Management' whether at Ahmedabad, or Calcutta, or' .

an^here else: He produced poetry despite all other ;things.

What is it that will produce excellence in this country?
,

-.What' is it that we should do to clean up this mess? ;

Everybody agrees that one’s life is in a mess. Gas is a-

mess, bus is a mess, ,car is a mess, admission
a mess, phone is

is a mess, even copying is a mess. Copying is a mess because

- if the teacher finds out you have copied, the director will give

him a chit saying “you ought to have been more tactful”.

IsnT, that true? If -
IIM Ahmedabad is . excellent, what are you
dding .td preserve this island of excellence? If it is true that
you are .excellent, what medicine are you applying, are you
applying radiation therapy or are you applying something else
by which once people enter this area they all turn into Shud
Vanaspati. The moment they go out they turn into milauat
hi milouat. These are the questions which bother us.
Every member of. Parliament or an Assembly without
exception utters p lie before he takes' the oath by sa^ng, “I .

‘
have kept my eiectipn expenses within the law” What does .

the law say? The Jaw says ‘ordinarily resident’. So shall I apply .

relative yalu^ to say diat lndia should.ndt lose an outstanding.

Finance Minister: dr .shall I apply fundamental values that
anybddy' who breaks the law isrthe breaker of the law be he
ever; so great. Where will you deal, with this .kind of mental
agony?, -Ip. everyone of us, in every, part of 4ife, there will be
certain -fimdamental- values which .you.. ‘rub’ but if it sbovjs
up'iessthan 24 carats, then what do you do? :

:
^
-TheToundation’ of our natioh is broken. A society or
'

cdmrnur^ty-hased'on.as much injustice as we are in is unlikely .

.
-

'
tg suece'ed:;;dnjustice not jrt the court of law. Injustice in ’

the. ,

: serise Ihat ^ere ista which you can convey, a sense"

no.court ’

,bt sr|?f- ,Vdu #ll-be going around, head lowered, shoulders -

 .

stooped speaking out the dictunfi,;“Karega>'^

get a gas cylinder until your wife' tfeeat^s to .thrd^^^^
chapati pan at your face. Then you go arid :pay;sprhe|bd'dy
^

Rs. 85 plus Rs. 25 for early delivery.^And glveiydu;,

10 kilos instead of the 14 kilos arid yop: can’t asl5 queHibris.' ,;

Corruption has become so widespread iri this cduritn/ that I ;•

challenge anyone of you to say this area is clean r

foot of land is available frotn which we can' exparid the dryT
area. We can start expanding the dry area in the test: of the.
country from Kashmir to Kanyakurriari, from KafliiavaA tp'^ .

Kamrup. .
^

I was reading a poster today. It said, Hindi main kadrn:

karna aasan hai. Shura to kijiye. Why pat .if on my car '
\

number plate? When I am hit by a car t would not be able

.
;

to read the car number. Everybody in ihis country except a -

small number of Hindi pundits has been, rendered illiterate

because we can’t read the number on, the car; riuriiberiplates.. ;:

What does your laW say about the use: of/Hlndi^^^a^

language? It says when Hindi is'used; as the official language^ ;
;

the numerals used should be of the iriterri.atiOriaI.fdrnni.’of:the :,;

indian numerals. And'wherii get the. pin.’cbde’pf ypur

Director’s letter^ that is in Devnagari numerals; J haye. rib; v

problem. You have all kinds of mass;cprririiuriicafiondrisiiffites^

talking of subliminal transfer of irifofrriatiori;

do your transfer of information? hy MfV,;is it ;%

Is ,it •

TV or will you do it with the- ATN? But ultimately,’,]anguagcy

is the means of correspondence of-corrimunicatiorii thbughtS' :

and ideas. We have a gentlernari rrientioned;m ;a' South jridiari

story who sat on a branch' of a, tree- arid .was. putting
bottom :pf the branch. Why are you doirigihe .sarii.eihin^^^
my language? How does it matter if ;one communirates .iri;
Hindi or English or Gujarati; or in any:; btheri l.angu^^^
Ultimately, we must, learn to talk to;, each : other,' Tod^

are cutting the branches of our trees whi}c:sittlriy brt the same S;

branches.; The bmriches, along with all of;us?twill ,-prie; day

.

falldown.' ; b,
 '

ei'Studehts’

ciirdri^: GWirig-'^tini^yS^' tKis ^of;Aat^party:^ Elections in

-L linlyd^siUelvare^^
’; of parties, spending,
>^-Rs;.20;lalis|'jksl)/^O_-l^ somebody
’.
- ;^,accused;nie!6fSlaving the children.

: 3 .6f .to^ay"^e'ilgh^^^ 18 Whep they are

’i'-:;'Viye =merhbersP^^^^ at 18?”'ll vyant to toine back to.

'; •• :^thO: basic. pbi^iahd,: that always in a state of agony

. - because ydur’eiected;representatiyes;rcpresent nothing. What
tdo\they;;represoht;- whorn do the other than
^^:..;themselves?, ShM^ degrees of. my agony?
;“ r^;^i^:foads am stations are bad. The political
';:"'ij5arti'eSYare?;piaying^ on4ne cricket field. The ciuil
,'‘?
5
'^brv^t-has'^’a.;broken backbone.. Today each Indian civil

>f^'sefyantf; fro Chief ^cretary down, to the thanedar.^ ii

t'^Ke wan^^^ backds' broken- repeatedly. “Under

';/;^iucbVcirGums^^^ irnproye the civil service of
f.IrJdia!?”'Pieasego'and getThe best bithopaedic surgeon and

^point ah accusing finger ]

:^;;^'at^{i‘^i|^yy|yOu^^ .them”. ‘‘Why^' -

how did we break

r^f r>th:eni?-Tt 'is{fHe;'=MinisterYwho' to ;No, When -the
i^f^jp^inistervrasbreaki servant,. .you
;^^';Vwere^siSftg:l^y!:p^ .servant learnt from
;5.^|a^berspn'-'^^^ up for ;lhe .'truth to be first a
thenTnally,
servant.' 'Who will

|^!5^rne^hat:>®nj^'gei^Tn
was, but.I was
_ pit j -ij j, *, 'U . ,/ ' .V j -
-
yt n' - . f'
'
*
 . ; . '

46
'I
A Heart Full OF Burden . .. ..

protected. How many people will stand up to protect a civil

]

servant doing an honest job today? In which part of India?

So do I hold too many accusing fingers? Does it hurt? Does
make you angry?
it '
. .
i

The cleaning up process must start from Panchayati Raj

which we had 3000 years ago. Panditji started a Panchayati
. Raj Movement in the late fifties. Within less than 10 years,
,

it had been comprehensively snuffed out fay a corrupt political

set-up aided and abetted by the civil service who saw their,
rights of control going away. Another Panchayati Raj is
beginning today. The result is obvious. What will it end up
in? It will end up in small VIP suitcases. It unll end up in
vomitting liquor on the floor of Parliament. It will end up by
people being purchased. “So why don’t you give us a law by
which people who cross floors can be declared no longer
MPs?” Don’t ask me, I am an umpire. Give me a new offside
rule and I will blow the whistle for you. But don't ask me
why there is no law. You get the law passed. You ask for it.
You insist on it. Because no amount of pontification by me
will produce one iota of result unless you rise upr But don’t

rise up and burn buses and smash glasses. Rise up and* tell-
the people who matter, “this we won’t agree -with.’’, >

Protecting democracy! Who if? The Chief

will protect .

Election Commissioner? The Election Commission of India

with or without two extra Commissioners? Or maybe with ^

another hundred extra Commissioners? A hundred Election

Commissioners would not give this to you, I am not saying
,
this because I am the 101st. There can be a hundred more'

\ laws. Somebody wU get up and say, “Sir, Why can’t we have,

proportional representation by the single transferable vote” „

or “why can’t, we have a list system? .Germany has a list

system”. I’ll repeat what I say everywhere. Models look good.- ,.

But only on .the catwalk.';'

In the whole of human history there has been ho greater

. ! :jokG than the Indian election account ejfpenses limit.; -&tra
;

expenses incurred by others* on rhy behalf .should not be

 T. N. Sesiian 47

,
qu^stioh^d/EverybDdy'else, brother is spending, my sister
iny.

is spending, my father;is spending, rhy

enemy is spending, I
. spent only Rs. 2522, Evei^ single rnembcr of Parliament is
,

allowed to enteb its portals after- uttering a, technological

inexactitude.:{as'CliUrchill would have said, on the floor of
Parliament, in order that somebody would not say he used
,

the word ‘lies’ which is unparliamentary). But Churchill told

Parliament that right honourable members’ opinion is a
,

technological inexactitude. Every single member of Parliament

walks in with reverence. -Some put theh* hands on the steps
and put them on their heads. But inside they give me an
accounts, statement which is, the world’s greatest joke.
i What iS;the' fundamental source of corruption in India?
1 Human,greed, certainly. But much more than human greed,
the .thing which has iristitutionalised corruption in India, like
nothing else' has, is money power which goes to the elections
of this country, which then takes you to the seat of power
and authbrrty where you can dispense life and death to
hundreds arid thousands and millions of people. “So what,
are you doing about it?” Don’t ask me. Either you give me
the whistle or you find somebody else to do if for you. You
, have not- given" itie the whistle' Today there is a section in
'
the law which says that money spent by others need not be
taken into account, while bills, or statement of
account. Gah you ban company donations to pailies? Have
you thought of a ^eater joke than this?
•You .wilt now realise that what passes for democracy is
m.ot.d^qcrdcy;: hot -have any of the elements of
It does'
dern’ocracy. -There is np.wiU ofjthe pe There is, no rule
i.'by.^fbf^lI 'Of the,pepple. There is no rule by consent! There
;;.is no adrninistetion of justice,
much less is there any equality
, pi people ai'e concerned.
cis all.

cairhim ‘dalam’, PWG

brf Haxqlite- or :som^^ in different -parts of the,
pf faith iatfiat
which
f— fl^hibbracyj,.\^e..don.^t‘,kriow what we.-fought for.
 ; ;? ;

48 A EfeART Full 7"

I '-Vvf'

But we are not getting what we foughf-for. I accuse you of; > ,

having engineered the kind of democracy whichis a; shM^;7 :

which is rubbish, which is useless, and which hb longer gives; ”

any kind of satisfaction to anybody. .

The only protection for democracy in this coimtry Khpt;:

a much better Chief Election Commissioner, it doesn’trheed '

several more of them. The country can afford to ;have:7 ';/

panchayat of Election Commissioners. It doesn’tmeed mbre;-
laws, because a new law will never be implernented' and by/;;
chance if it becomes effective it will be altered overnight' -

don’t you abolish Articles 324 to 329 of the Constitution;':

and appoint a Director-General of Elections who will report 'i
;,

to the Under Secretary, Election Department? People in this,;;

country must understand that those in power never leave;;
power whether they are here by election or by appointment..,;;
Have you ever heard of anybody relinquishing power :after
Shri Rama? Shri Rama is the only last known instance pf • •

somebody relinquishing power voluntarily. Because his father;;;

gave a boon to his modier, or his father’s second wife because; ;,
she put her finger into the axle of his chariot when he vraS:
'

about to lose the battle. That is why in Valmiki’s Ramayana ;

when Rama goes to take leave of his mother, she says: ;; ;

Yat palayasi dharmam tvam , - 7-',

Daityena niyamena cha

Sa uai Raghava sdrdoola ;

Dharman Twaam abhirakshatu .

;

I want mention
to this to you with pain, with grief, that the.

average man and woman of our country has failed India

completely.
Three hundred years ago we were a great country. ,;
Hopefully 20 years from now we will again be a great;;,
country. It is not going to become great by sitting and saying; ;
Rama did this, Krishna did this or Chola did that. .Give r,;:
yourself a pat on your back saying my great grandfather^s^d
 I ii
.
^
^ , ,, .-I -..V-,;
> S"-’.'-"'- 'A J;: ‘
<r

i'-., •!--
;/
’
J
^ * 'j
il.'iv.i - -- .
’•
''» ' •
’
V •? '[ i a'- **, " -I * V '»»»•>
‘
J'
’ ‘

-f''
'
5
'
y» ~ " ' '

has'got'!^iaces^th^,S^O;;m^es

or ;ypu ;lion!it '^U •'

icivt> V'JULUiUij ywiu, * .vuiv^

at. you, ’4Hr?4' ;fingefs;ajrfe||)pihtirig a

raff6cfiyefy^ji^{3onsifk^or?^e;|fa^

to j/6u’4’f]gd5ld-p((|e^p|ratii^^^^ nqf>^

haye’',aTO'crQyM-^iiDies^iss',-ri^^^ X^y^'^A
- i'(. ,-: -v.i',...'-, ^^h^-.-•^•.V<..>•k.’•;^ic^..:^';•.>,:•--•^--u -‘i -=.f.
.' 'Lr .1 .• . •
Commissioners as I am. If the'iXeWspapers
believed, they are going tO;befequated;4n every way^^^
Chief Election Cpmmissionen Be that as iErnaycl ^
-S
'
>

I have had the good jortuncf ofyxeadihg

extensively .the debates in the ^Cdnstitueht ;^sSeihbly^
introducing the portions constituting the Eledipn .C^^^
by incorporating Articles 324',to 329dntc>::the^Gphsti^^^^
I won’t expatiate upon it except to say .tliat .wha|tiie;fo

fathers had in mind was an Election Commission -whicH^wasK ;

independent of the entire, executive,VhuEjccrta^^^^

independent of the benign protective cohtfdi,'‘protectivcmbt;il
only of itself but the rights of everybody el^e against ap abii^e^^^
of such extraordinary powers as ^are;:vesteddn•^:tb^
Commission. Then it said that theHcctionlCdmmis^ibh-sh^^^^
be responsible for the superintendence,, direction :^d contr6l |''
of the elections in India — elecrions to the State jfegisldto

elections to the two Houses of .ParHament;; ;

eleGh(^^^

office of the Vice-President of India;- election td; the.'

the President of India. -
Before go into the comparatively limited ^qu^tidri of
1

Model Code of Conduct and some of the. pth'er- things

have brought an arrOw to my chest,, I wanhto teUiyod.aboutl
what has happened- to Indian elections iri;a'ji[iariner ih-^
they look,, from HirvacHan Sad^. If you are sitting ph .a Hignj;
Court bench or looking at it with the rbbes pf a^aw^Ch
sure it- will look different'.. If 'you are ldPldng,at;itlfroni''t^^
pen of a pressman, it, . f arh sure, ywlldopk xiid^
the point of view of an ordinary persPri
•
;
j,'- ih, will; givej^
•

another kind of angle or .view. /Butdoplgng 'ati'if

Election Commission’s poirtt^ohvieWj'no', t can’t say Ejectiofi;:;
Commission’s point of view,?; but im -viewdmthf
Election Commission L. wantdo .^entiPri to ybu; tlrattb®-;
elections in .Indian todni; are a rnmrirehensiuerirtke; .1

;How can i mpti-say ,this?TOT’t;iCappajlihgythatdheJCm^

Hectiori-Cornmissionerdf tndia sh6ujdb’r^e.:ihe'cpi^gb^^
 ,

^3

did not sayithis l'wpuld not

Haye;beeh worthy
say thi^? ft -I

tnM. .'Today have'.'.'5^0'^iilion,voters inThe

voters’
of. any
hopulatidh of
list.— 55;.croVes. of thern, ^with'- a. total
apprbxinlately 90 crpres.
"
A
populationi-^hibh in a'.d. 2001,
the demo^raphbrs.have told IK without d6iT)t, will cross, a
billion people. •And there. wili be a voters’ iffet bf approximately

.60 per .
.cbrit," which is always' a reasonable number. Our
population'is growing' at the. rate of two-and-a-half
per cent

per year and if you erect a demographic pyramid-.

you uall
notice that, the numbei- of children below tlie age of 18 is
growing, further and further, iargef and larger. Voters’ lists
.

are :fuH-.,Qf.holeS. TTbere are' dead people still on the -rolls. There
,

are live pepple pot on • the^ rolls. There; are people who are
bn by accident, by mistake. There
thetrolIsTn''rnany. places
.are 'people whb/ are ,'onj^ in mariy places by deliberate

desi^' ahd 'efioriv. T^rere arerpatte' of. India in which people

are/deliberatelyornittod from the rolls, There is one part of
••
lhclia>!where they sby 'anybody who lives in a multisforeyed
:

•
biulding'is Ip'sb Aiplo and, therefore, his name
nbbou^
ought ndt to be bri; the rpllsc-You'd6n’i>need too much time
to guess in which: part of the^countrythis is done. But I, shall
,

. not;, naihe 'that ..State. Today

aTevision conducted in
after
‘
i993i whatfWp'call^n intensive rewsion of. house-to-house
,
enjimeratipny: weCatewloseT-^to .tdbching\U^^ 800,000 ^
.‘-eight ;!^ spoiling %66dls''-^ the, country. In many
baseiS'tiie^.'arelp^tcd.^dd dblibetate view to prevent those.'
,'whp^fe from coihing to vote.
-.The;,;R0rtg'i.bdbths"bt^ collusion

T ihe.civrfl service, executive

•
®;r^^ 9nsjWl]icH,TOT oriy "difficult: but impossible
.-;fQt:^'e,WeaK'^d.^e-pop'rtb:get'lhtb’the'ppfl •;
-

ihisrriot reasonable, The

*a total' voter turn-

ohimpersonatofs;
v -‘-Without- tueaniM
54 I
A Heart Full of Burden

cast aspersions on anybody, those two impersonation cases

of 1989 under processing.
are still

While the elections are going on, all kinds of evil

methodologies are resorted to. Not yesterday or day before
yesterday, the delimitation of constituencies was a matter of
bargain in order to make sure that this community or that
community, tliis caste or that caste has a decisive majority
in the number of voters in that constituency.
I shall not go

back into the working of the Delimitation Commission which

has not sat since the last 20 years; Parliament by law has
laid down that until the population figures of a.d. 2001 were
be no further delimitation. This is said to
available there will
be in support of the family welfare or family planning
programme, that no delimitation would be done again till a.d.
2000. That is the rule or law in the Statute Book at the
moment. I have read it along with some of you in the
newspapers that Parliament is in the process of altering it to
the1991 census. It also says Parliament is in the process of
amending the law to make sure that there is a rotation of
seats reserved for sclieduled castes and tribes so that the same
constituency does not continue as a reserved seat for the next
20 years, 30 years or 40 years.
If you look at the newspapers, while an election is on,
you will see a strange spectacle of somebody saying seat
number ‘A’ is decisively of so and so caste majority
constituency. Seat number ‘B’ is decisively so and so caste
majority constituency. Seat number and so^
‘C’ is of so
majority. Then the parties set up candidates in order to make
sure that maximum allowance, maximum gain can be made
of the fact that the giyen constituency has a majority of voters
from- a given caste or community, or religion whatever you
call it. Casteless, classless, secular state anybody? So that is
the delimitation, that is the constituency. Speeches are made
as if some of the laws in the Statute Book of India did not
exist at all. Somebody stands up in the capital of India and
says people of the following persuasion will be stabbed and
 :;trei^erid6u^ t6ris|iiracyip|^le|^pe.';’^^
'- iKvey4?^'d -'l3j^lievS_sfiiip6p^;is,^\^atal^ ^
‘sa^«Vtf‘/-v'/ir^-ndi rwr^-a4->s“w i .j^/-vYn^rt»-s^ .r-T‘ '

?.‘
)>'‘4'*'“t

\nlfnfi7*JAfe^PV3nnSt*«iiiSS^^K^tA71Sk^'^lilnrt^risr^w^Vh'rt^^ ^
;wr ciu^iu^.v^iiQL. auiu*-. HOt
IlUl^v;

: . bb,mb's;,^^ounir.^^'^|Me^;j|uftsv'W/ia^^^
•>Ther!e3!^|Cl%§^^^t|^:in'/|iTi|^dii.n^
^wefi:ihayi-nbylffeach^Mb'']jo1ii”Hg:^iibb
'*
rvi' «;, ''/'?> .'"? «iT/' ’-Ti-V y-’j' '%'« y-r. -
' Vi-j ’'J.''

Cli^’)feeliStelvysb'fferGdl;fram"^?(frslG&^^^
56 A Heart Full of Burden

What kind of abuse is not used during an election?

Somebody referred to the question of financial limits of
expenditure, I them down. The rule relating to
did not play
the limit 50,000 approximately for
of expenditure being Rs.
an Assembly seat and somewhere between 1.5 and 2 lakhs
for a Parliament seat is made by Government and it was fixed
when petrol was selling at Rs. 6 or 7 to a litre compared to
Rs. 18 per litre last year and Rs. 20 a litre today. It was laid
down when everything cost one-third of what it is today.
Plenty of applications from every single distinguished
predecessor of mine, Peri Shastri, Trivedi, Shakhder have
been filed to say “please change this rule”. But it has fallen

on deaf ears. In the meantime, Parliament so very kindly

amended Section 77 of the Representation of the People Act
and said, “expenditures incurred by friends and parties need
not be taken into account”.
What can the Election Commission do about it? It makes
sure that election account expense statement submitted, is in
the form prescribed. Wliat is written inside does not concern
him (CEC). If he knows that today there is a sitting member
of Parliament has spent eight crores compared to the
who ,

two lakhs prescribed as the ceiling, the Chief Election -

Commissioner can proceed to learn to blow the shehnai. He

call nothing else.' I am willing to stick my>neck* out and
say V;at every single member or every single legislature in
India wallrs into the august building after telling a lie that i
spent Rs. 250 on my nomination and Rs. 213 on all the
other things put together. But you conducted at least a ^

hundred public meetings? How did you put upThe dais and .

how you put up the mike and in some cases how did''.-
did ^

you bring the audience? The audience is also slightly

expensive. When inflation was single digit, it used to be
Rs. 5 per head, now that rate has become Rs. 50. 1 know in
Delhi the compulsory audience v/hich is obtained costs
Rs. 50 perhead. Also there is the compulsory non-paying
'

use of the buses of the State ’transport. ^

 How many posters did you print? The other, day, wanted I

to print posters for an entertainment show, for my sdhha or

association, and each twb-cbiour':poster will
I was told 'that

cost Rs. 20. :True, if you' have .to print tlierh* in thousands
and thousands, you would probably get a coricession: Even
-

then. paper. is paper, print is print. You can’t get two-dolpur ,

posters for less then Rs. 10 per poster. In a constituepcy I

saw at least 50,000 posters. -If- each, costs Rs. 10 and then
include the cost of sending it to the villages and have -

somebody put gum on the rear side arid paste it on some

unsuspectirig -individual’s wall or- the PWD engineei?’ office’s

name plate or wherever you .put Jt, how much docs the total
expenditure, come to? Everybody iri-the country knpws that
on an -election day every, single adult in that area given is

either a bottle bh now, in triodermtechnology, a polythene

bag of liquor. In every constituency women are treated to a
.

piece of textile. In mariy'coristitucncies the. younger people -

who don’t have votes arc fed good wholesome food.

The other day, there was a by-election in which every
single woman voter, half a, million of them, for a Parliament-;
seat was,:given a noth, i.C;;,..a riose ring. Shall we say for the-i-V':

sake =bf argument that it was-iriade of 200 mg, riot even :

.
1 gram. was not22-carat*gold,. it was -not 20-carat gold,
It -
'

-
maybeitwas i4-c^t'\faecause as a student of, physics I.Imbw. .

that if you make -it l2-caraf'the gold will break^,;So it canript

bc; below 1.4'caraL So will, you please calculate. the cost of-
half ;a millibn natris of 20,0 mg each of 14-carat gold? What
price’ is truth in this
. country? You amend the law to say that
,
the Election Commission :Shall only go into making sure that
- the form 'is: all, right., It-!is‘the-.\^tteri- law of the country today. .
-

I ammbt, pulling something, but of

my head and presenting it
, -

. to you; It’smll, written, in. the .Representation of the People

Acte-;;’?,: r-'i-. ^ ?
o y." today, eldctibris ,ihlridia;-y?^ridl have said this through,
;

'.yythe
;

leiigfe oithe^epOnhy —
are based on cash,
y.'- .crimirtallj^^^^ ,
58 A Heart Fuix of Burden

What did the previous Chief Election Commissioners do?

They were gentlemen.
“What are you?" You decide for yourself whether am a I

‘Khalnayak’? Whether I am an ‘Alseshan’ (Alsatian)? whether

I am a ‘mad dog’? These are names given to me by hon’ble
Chief Ministers running across the length and breadth of this

country. One Chief Minister called me ‘insane lunatic’, I went

tohim and said, "Sir, is this really true? Are there sane lunatics
and insane non-lunatics?” Aap Jts nam se pukarna chahate
ho pukaro, hamein koi itraj nahin hai. There is nothing
more comprehensively dishonest an exercise in this country
than the basis on which we elect.
Why are elections so expensive? Everybody will say<

“because the poorest people must be able to come and

represent the people in Parliament and the Assemblies."
Which poor person, which honest person, which person
known community, of character, of
for integrity in the
honesty, of compassion, how many of them have reached
the Houses of law-making in the last 20 years? If my answer
is the same as yours and your answer is
the same as mine,

why is this so? There was a time when you needed cash,
before you needed corruption. Sometimes we needed the
assistance of criminals for doing these works of collecting.
you, I
After some time the criminals said, "why do 1 assist
the
can go and sit myself.” So they have. I didn t say this,
national newspapers of India said that out of 425
members
in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly 180 were
history-sheeters. 1

survey on that. I think the record-holder is

one
did a little

MLA in Uttar Pradesh with 21 FIRs under Section 302. Who

am I to Assemblies should be run, how Parliament
tell how
will summon
should be run? They will get angry with me, they
me for contempt of privilege or whatever else, but is it
ordinary voter or tax-payer to ask
whether
an
permissible for
the microphones in the UP As.scmbly building
intended to be thrown at each other. In
December 1993
when the Assembly met for fte first time, 75 out of 80
mikes
 were puil^’ out ;of_ their stands and thrown at each other.
Several; rneriibers came out, not like a Bombay film shooting
where tomato.juice does the business for blood, but witli real
blood streaming- down their faces. They were bleeding, for
the cduntryl'V^'af;kind of democracy are you talking about?
^ They say. "Seshan is a nigger in the woodpile who has ,

arriyed and is asking inconvenient questiofts." I pleaded, with

you, don’t- put me in this chair, I will be an inconvenient
liability. You did not agree. Now they say you have removed

7.5 lakh Bangladeshis from the roads in Assam. Therefore,

they arc angry. When the Chief- Minister of a State was using
the official helicopter for electioneering work, 1 asked him,
“is .diis fair?TAt.which he.asked.me “kis haisieth se"?,
.
'
The Chief Minister of Andhra said the election was not
“between rhe and-Renuka Chowdhry-, it was between me and
Seshan. Mr; Seshan referred every petition from every Tom,
Dick and Hany .for ianswer,,’’ A gentlemen by the name of
, hi. T: Rama Rao vis The* President of the'Telugu Desam,
:
National President of the National Front;
, Would you prefer
callhimTorn, Dick or Harry?
to.
V '
- -

My i
-tald, pi happine^ is- inexhaustible^ But t want to

-p^tidn;:sprnethingyi,,,havc -pahin^ counting .Ralls: where

committed civilperyahts have bbuhted votis saying. ‘67, 68,
6,9, 4pb:,I;have-seen;it,arid hcard-(it rhy otwi eyes and
.ear^'37,^38,;;39,v60’;>H,Bife other: day, we found a
balHhboxlv^thTOOVvotes'hed.^^ a rubber band. How did
lf>Sdlh?;Must..behy .some kind of yadu; I In- one constituency
:iri‘^hahiC)0;percehbofpollihg^s^ at 7.15 a.m.
.^Thi^yp$ -8Q0;ybte&had been polled between 7 a.m. and
r 7rlO,a:rh.:injyet;'ahbthBr constituen^^^^
Bihar, in a strong
.:room ,\yhcre,thc- boxes 'were, 'kept pending for counting, the
-GoiiectohbumTreturhing, officer ^ppehed the room without
.f^llipS/auybQdy/eithbbmevor th^ Commission or the
local ;ppliticai, pa^ey,vWhat,.did,lV2
I wouldn’t know.
-
dO.-inSide?
.

hai?” He said there

’

3uHib;:'man,w|io iwas-valso,’ locked up inside

 '

60 A Heart Fuii- of Burden ‘

along with the boxes and he was scratching.ithe.

doorto' b
let out. I am not giving you apocryphal
stories; ;lTiese ate
writtendown. I have got documentation. Is there one single
way in which we don’t damage our elections? .“So TH?
Seshan introduced the Model Code”? It is a widely held view.
I greatly regret to say it is not true. Xhey put out a new edition
in 1991. 1 was an innocent fellow in the. office for ten days.
They said, “please sign it, the new
being issued”. So
issue is

I put my signature to it. That is my total contribution' toThe:

Model Code. Please remember, the Model Code was hot done .

by me. It was not done by Peri Shastri, it was hot done by

Trivedi. I think Shakhdar’s stand is that it was issued affe'r
elaborate meetings with all the parties. The Model Code is

the Model Code. It doesn’t have a statutory backing, but that

is obvious, isn’t had statutory backing rules, we won’t
it? If it

call it a Mode! Code, we would have said, section so-and-so

of the RP Act or it is in so-and-so of the Article of the

.

Constitution or whatever else is appropriate, to quote.

The Model Code has six or seven parts. I will tell, you
the headings of the parts, not the whole of the order. General,
conduct. Don’t go and abuse somebody’s grandfather and
his heritage. Don’t use corrupt Ddn’t ush somebody,
practices.

else’s land or building or wall without his permission. Don’t

create obstructions to other people’s rneetings/Do unto.otlier
people’s meetings as you would have them do urito.you; Hold
meetings in the followingways. Hold processions in the.-
following ways. In the polling booth, .plea^ doh t enter-^
without a valid pass. If you were to send obseniefs,- please,
assist them. Please don’t take away all the roOm’s ihdhq d^k-
bungalow. Please don’t announce all doan wite-pffs, after,
election is announced. Don’t misuse -goyerhment aircraft; ;

Don’t combine election work with official Work.;- DoriJ; i^ye .

^

advertisements at the cost of the public exchequer to say what

your party in power has done. Don’t sanction ;^ntsbndvwl^t'
not unless it is on humanitarian ground. Ministers arid pffiprs
shall not announce financial grants, shall; not -lay foundation
 -

stones, shall not make any promise of construction of new'

facilities, shall not make ad hoc appointments. Ministers shall

not enter a polling station of a 'place of counting except in

tlieir capacity as a candidate or an authorised agent.
This is the Model Code of Conduct. There is no more to
it, no less to it. I still don’t know why everybody is saying
that Seshan has newly founded the Model Code. Jt is like \

the nev^spapers, writing “government. has found a new

method of multimember commission”.' It is in the original
Constitution of India. Till 1989 nobody found it necessary,
to use this.' In 1989, the theri Prime Minister decided that
the Election Commission was.so heavily overworked that he
needed to sendlwo persons to assist Peri Shastry in the’ form ^'

of S.S. Dhanoa and Seigel.', i

“Wliere were you?” .

I was Cabinet Secretary.

‘
. .

*
“What did "you do?” I did nothing; 1 Imew nothing till I
saw it in the newspapers with you.
The less said about- it the better. They were appointed
.

after Parliament had thrown -out the Panchayati Raj

Constitution Amendment Bill, for which purpose, the,' -

additional members were being sent to the Election ^ i

Commission. So the next Goverriment cam.e oh the 2nd of

December, 1989. By'February-March they^,to}d these ^

gentlemen, “please gphome and live happily ever after”. One

of them 'took it to the Supreme Court. Buf the Supreme
. Court passed the judgement, ..whichr I should' not quote
because it will be too long. But’ it only said the Chief Elebtion ]

Con^issioner is not pnmu$_^ inter pares.

The' new Government passed the Panchayati Raj
Constitution Amendment Bill 73 'or 74 end they appointed
^ State Election Corrimissiohl, India is now going to have 26-' ^
. V Election" Commission^.
'
One plus 25i Each State is goiiig to
'

havejfs own Election Commission. I shall not comment on/'

therri bUtside my turf, J have gone on record
becausejf 'Is

" ' -during thelast two' or three years that on an average I don’t

\
 ;

62

have more than 10 minutes’ work a dayl -if

somebody in some place who will tell me that, the: Election
Commission is not sending a reply, the’Electibh Corhrhis'sion
isnot responding to the State Government’s request for this
or that to be approved, the Election ;,Conimission' is not
pursuing its cases vigorously enough, in* the, coiut; if you find :

fault with me for anything at all/1 shalhaccejDt it. '^Nobody

has been able to find that and yet,\ihei^;f6und;it :nece^^^
,
to strengthen the Election Commissioh ;by|seriding two
additional members, two extra membersynohthatthey are ,

extra commissioners. But they are Cornmisiiohersl; /did they

'

are extra to the Chief Election Comniissioner: V^

And what did they do on 1st October? The matter is sub-
judice, and so I will be careful in what I say. An ordinance is

passed to amend, do you know which '-section? The

Constitution says, if you read Articles 324’ lo 329, -
-
,

“Parliament may by law lay down the procedure to conduct

election’’,. Parliament may by law lay down- the.. terms ^and ',

conditions of service of the Chief Election 'Comrhissioner and ,

other Election Cornmissioners. There isrnothing elseinjthe -'

,

Constitution which says Parliament may by law lay down; how . .

the Commission runs itself. So in the Act relating tp.-thelerms;

and conditions of service of the Chief Election Commi^ion^^^ ,,

and the other Election Commissioners, ;an';prdihahcq B •

passed, of which Sections 1 to ,8 say.these^gentlerneyiyil

'
also draw Rs, 9000, these -genticmen vwU also}' liye-'ior^^

years, these gentlemen will also have: the status ;of;,a;Sup^ '
:

Court judge, etc. Section 9 V again Tri: cohirhori;gai'deh'' ^

language, states that-functioning of the, Gbmmissidh, shall be, ^

governed according to the next - section. The : hextvspctid^^

says, the work of the Commission rshall, be divid^^^pd

the ;
•

.
,
procedure ‘shall be -adopted -by a unan{mpus;deqisipy
Commission..}All decisions, shall -be/fakGh'By vcbnscnsus and; v , ;

if there is ho Gonsehsus, it shall be dohe:bj;:rhajghly,.'.po yo,u;; . ,

^

y :: know where thi^ appears?.lt-appe 4ryin' the law fela^ .

thfe ;ternis ‘:and conditions oT service bf- &d}Chief Elecfion v

,.
.
 '

63

Commissioner, and the oilier, Election jCommissioners. If. I

have gone to the Suprerne Court tb quei^ion the vires of this
law I hope there wili-be somebody who':says’that I am not
entirely bereft .of either wt^om or legal advice., The matter
is before thfeir lordships^ their lordships have refemcd this to

the. Constitution. Bench, and saying anything more at the

-moment tyouIci.be.' utterly impertinent. and I shall be guilty of
the most aboriimablc offence. I shall speak no more.
Why have you treated these two Commissioners
,

’
.shabbily?” .

;
public, had filed a writ. They, were
hriowlddge, -I,

appOihted'bh^lst of- October. They landed in office the day

-:i'‘wds-in^uhe^O>n-"a.^private'.!^^^ of the staff were

. ,
ho}dirig-'a'%,ebfihg .tod^^ in' the Lattur
earthquake’:' That’ye'^, dav/ tfiesc two gentlemen arrived very
"^TOb.Ojicaliyrye^ a^ told, “please cut
ydi^'I^veishcift cofne Backet Suf I said; “the Constitution

;, q)rb>^c3eyfof;'^'ktra:'Co^^^^ does it matter, why

: shbuidT^'doTne:bach?.;'-lalso sa^^^ lhem:all the respect
.lancf icdurfo^ ,that; id a long story short
.we..haye?sgent'Ghl;/;jf?d^^8^1ak^^^^^^ thb rooms of
,- ;jmpsedwo^peg^^^^ to grudge-it! They have
x^jalioSsp^T^anOthef 'Rst^^fl^is-o two' staff cars
xfo^'iiei^fc^f'Cohr^,; they.^^^ I called for a
•';fj^tihfgfm^ffofmy'fo not informal in the sense
/: thatdtXi^'srdonefoE forrnal in the
.,.'dense'dhat:thefe-;was^ is a -onedine. letter
;frbnr;'me/sayms' 11th of

•;r;%^'Ond:of;my'^^ih|Uislib^^^ Ihe’roorh
.;.'';an’d'|drlhe';nqxt;45':;minu^^
;;,;;w'ordi^^iwh!cir^i'd^ , Ghaii
^ i ^bpltafegbq^ajSish'h^Urm^ rhinutes/ 'My
wheri
64 A Heart Full of Burden ; -Z

is over”. Did I tape No, it is contrary to my-ethics to call;,:

it?

a colleague to my room and tape him withbut his knpw)iedgc. ,

Newspaper after newspaper remarked, “Seshan refuses

to allot work to other Commissioners”. You passed a law .

”
which says the allocation of work and the procedures should
be determined unanimously by the Commission. So I wrote
to them. TTie only reply I got was, “let us meet every morning
at 11 o’clock”. I can present it before any court of competent . .

jurisdiction. Is that allocation of work or a procedure? I would .

like somebody to tell me. ,

,

Somebody told me, “you arc working against national ,

i

integrity”. What he meant was integration. But it is a different ;

matter that his English let him down. I don’t know what the .

founding fathers of the Constitution decided. Was this role

to be played by the Rajya Sabha with regard to the running

of the country? have read the Constitution and the
I

Representation of the People Act very carefully. It says, no

one may represent a State in the Rajya Sabha unless, he is /
.

an elector in that State. Why is this important that he

'
-

represent the State? I found at least one Article which, is

fundamental to the genesis of the whole picture, where Article .

1 of the Constitution states that India shall be a Unibh of

States. India that is Bharat shall not be divided into, States:,
Article 249 gives authority to take away the,fiinctigh? of the ,

State under the Sixth Schedule into the hands of, the Centfol ;

Government and Parliament for one year at a • .

Lok Sabha votes, but the Rajya Sabha votes.. .Would it",1^^^

correct for rne to point out to you that under the ,Cdh|titutidh^;, ^ ,

any function of the State Government 'friaV be .takeh oyer by,

the Central Government if a resolution, is passed in the Rajya
Sabha. If you pass that resolution in thO;Egk Sabha which is
:

the house of the people, it doj^n’t help. It mu^t be p^s^ed-,

•

in the Rajya Sabha. /;: ;

^ i;

I am an extinguished bureaucrat. I
khow.^hg law-
do you want to chase this up?’; .Because, hpni ppid to chase
this up. -I have found a i50 thihps wrong. with
‘
’
eiectio'^: From yolete’TollsKd'Qm^
-
id :iye'^s ago, -
1 hM iHe'^oc^i the Prime.
Ministeri;on ah-o6ca^tifc}lf^^^^ foF. want of
'
#drk; ;t^:thete's,oip 4King. vuiilehy^^
.
'.So,;rriy'’suc£i<e|s6r;, "doesn't fool: went on;

’V So
I "sentihem on 10 February 1992,. '.As of May 1994,1 don’t
have. an acknowiedgernent./Yoathay at^least say, “we reject
'
^apyouF'pfdposals,^ they are- gaga," they -.are .rubbish”. The
thenvPririie'-j^ihiste Houses of Parliamerit in'

. ^ PeG.emfevl988; jhe;,j3^^ issue identity cards to

,

'
r'dp.d^bters l^^^ it permissible to

’De'Gembaf 1/989;; -pe.de'fhb’er: 1 990 ,

December 1991 to
'•.•''-llecembbrl 992 '-• •'.
»
?-''-'>'b'':^^

'^'
.hyfOh it W,c6 ‘st, 3 300,'cfores-ixip i
Say. “We can’t
afford:
/'
•' '•" -•'.'
' '
"
*-:v' j

.
v' ,';puf -iyhat w,efe you-doing sir^rsince' December 1988 -when

:won’t
' '

^’genpffetbgiapheds i.:',

l-;’'^yl“HoW“;i0lf^ , ‘. ;r v-; ; ,

: :
'
ivWbeh. the^. apply Ipr 'a, passport they, apply, a' methodi
' I
' '
-shall uselhe'sbme.met^^^

> : But^letjus findjme;S'Qluti6h lady doesn’t"

'
bprtelp.;my--Kdus^^ pni|ie:^ay .pfihei^electio^ arid say,'
•yj.’ •
“Sir,;
•:.'i,.do^bu;lrhpw:tpday4:ybted%ix;iite
*
v' i wJ* '
't-i ^ * ..i _
'
**'.
.. . Vlr\ tr ^ t....

;Sorne little-
'

^
there: .' -
' ^

QTfback^-' ..bythe
 Y
V

66 A Heart Full of Burner;;;';;.,':

Commission has executive powers. It sometirrics pa^kdS'pf ^

the characteristics of judicial power, sorrietimest^^ after th

characteristics of legislative powers. I did hot.iay.soi^^B^
Supreme Court said so, if what:J do is irregiil^r, whail dd
if’ ;
-

is whimsical, if what I doneed to

is impertinent,-] be chopped i

and sent home as unfit for this purpose.- But |or .God’s!;sake
don’t throw the baby out with the ,:baW water^
Constitution of India today is . standing, atm fragile rndment;’^
and the methodology of democratic' selection of pepple td:j>
if

represent us continues in the pattern in which does,' at. the,!^ .

risk of being grossly misunderstood, .1 would like to say theS

time when this country will become a USSR or Yugoslavia is

not more than 10 or 15 years away. Because the ordihan;?,:?

man has lost hope that he would get restitution of that which j/;

is his rightful due, by rightful methodology;. Is it tme pr-ndtV"

that on hundreds of occasions/ little children come arid say
“I got 90 per cent marks but I couldn’t get-'a seat?” ] \veM^
to pay my electricity bill today, the bill was'Rs/ 80, the clerk'"-

at the counter said, “unless, you give me -Rs. 100 I shall hot:-
give you the receipt”. Once I was at Coirnbatore addressing'’
a deemed university of 4,000 college girls; Teh;Co]iege girls,.;;, ,

came to me and said, “all ten of us have learrif rnotpndn^g. :

We can do a perfect eight, within the barricades Pr obstacles

erected, in reverse gear. We went tol the .motprY^^
inspector’s office. He said it would cpst'Rs: 25 for th^’ jcencp/ ;,"
Rs. 250 for himself. Without that pverytimefhe .^il'.fail hf
And he has failed them three times,/WHat Is Ihe restituh
available to these people? When.'I ;speak;bf
mention that rny respect for the judicialdnshtutiphs ?6f,.,^
is unparalleled. I shall nohutter a\single;Word:;rne^
never Because I have lived arid .wb’rked under 36 years.
will. ,

of the most severe discipliri'e'of my, v.h

Today I have found it-neCessary' tpfenforce; tfe

Code, to tell them/hotTo :deface= other, pe^^^^
without their approval The result .fs;that,-bec^^
'
am. .SpIriS,-;
 r

to Madras, this afternoon my Deputy irorn

Madras rang up '

to say 150 people, are whitewashing the walls in Mylapore

reldntlesslyJ I said ther^ arc people who arc: sick; who are
tired after a day’s work, there are childreri studying, “there :

are adults doing the work. So don’t ti'se mikes from moving
vehicles after 7 p.m. and don’t use them from static locations
10 p.m. In every city there is a City Police Act and there
after
is a Commissioner of Police. Yet nobody feels the need to

:adhere to the laws. Meetings will go on till 10 o’clock,

1 o’clock, 2 o’clock, 3 o’clock. What happens to the poor
people Jiving in the surroundings of the place? What happens
to, the Ministers who relentlessly use government facilities?

Tihe Hon’blc Uiiiori Minister. for Personnel went to Mizoram

during the last elections in November using the Defence
^Ministry’s Fixed Wings and helicopters of. Indian Air Force
‘

to di'kuss the personnel policies of theGovernment of India

;in Wllass. after village of Mizoram. And mind you, they are

all on certified official duty. The personnel policies of India

were determined in the, villages of Mizoram because the

Minister ,was there on official work. The- Hon’ble Onion
'

Miniver, of ..Steel was criss-crossing the country in an aircraft

—
,

belonging to; SAIL, to Tata Iron and Steel, Company a

private sector CQrnpany, Indian .Iron and Steel Company —
,
a company in {iiretty gnm condition., If the fence eats the crop a
who will save the, crop? ... ,
;
.

. .1 had a long and, mhning battle with the Government for. *

over one year on what Article 324 (6) of the Constitution

, .

said: It states the President and the Government of the State ,

/'

,
.shall on request frqrn the Election Commission make available
,
as may be necessary Jor the conduct of the elections.
staff .. ' -

;
fhe Government said, “no, you, don’t have ;that power. We
,
.
v
..will tell you Low rnany policemen you
need and you can’t -

ask fok‘inpre”,,.We hadiong correspondence on this issue.

-As the; Bible ^d,. “Before the cock crows twice tfiowshalf
.''^r
\.^eny meihhce":'-W^^ ihe,/‘No.T have •
 68
j
A Heart FiJix OF Bijbben '
-
;v^

slight differences of opinion on the subject”. That. matter, isV

pending before their lordships of the Supreme Court. Jri
December, 1988 Parliament passed a law to put two sections;
one in the 50 Act and One in the 51 Act, one is called 13 -

CC and the other number is probably 28 AA or something.

And they said the staff connected with the elections shall be
deemed as being on deputation Commissionto the Election
and shall be subjected to the superintendence, control and
discipline of the Election Commission, I have with me fee
speeches made, the statement of objects and reasons With
which the Bill was introduced by the Government of that date
whose colour was not different from that of today. I have a ,

speech made by the Hon’ble Union Minister of Law Shri.

Shankaranand and the speech made by the then and now
Union Minister of State for Law. In simple monosyllabic
words it says, “we want to give the power of punishment to
the Election Commission”. The right Hon’ble Attorney-
General stands in Parliament on 4 August 1993 and says,
“we want to make a distinction between discipline and
disciplinary procedure”. The Attorney 'General of India can
afford to split hairs, hope you won’t consider it as
I can’t, I

a serious offence committed on the propriety of the Attorney-

General’s statement on the floor Of Parliament. I have.'
submitted this to the Supreme Court for a decision; Their ,

lordships have referred it to the Constitution Bench. For me

more would be totally wrong and shall not
to say anything 1,

open my mouth any more. Whatever decision they Hand

. down, I shall carry it out in letter and in spirit.

We have passed other orders. But I can’t' take irito:

account the issue of election expenses. The usual explanation

of every party’s account position is that “this gentleman is
iny friend, he sent me' million posters,' he gave me alf fee
daru. Tl^e third nian is also a friend who, gave, me all the .

saris for distribution.” 1 can’t take it into accbufit and, please^

, tell the couritry,'that ,so-and-sd candidate distributed ':80, 000
saris. You can, then calculate whether *it .is: Janata Cldtli .
 WMM
; ,* '^1 ^

Schema saii or
what is price oha;]itr%:of;daW:'ah$hoW"ipa^
distributed. ‘1 /am ;gqmg'’;'tp‘.'piii3lisH;-^hem
Pariiamerit;chah§es' the'la\^;4‘ihaue,
else withdt: ,>/' .'
v/"/ fly I

'
calieddt'ajdkcijnra- . _ _
-
“dither 'abolish this joke or bharige ’it/ Bi^.'

it dori’t make/ exceptioris':”/r..Then;I:' wept ^

*. 1. _ X_ ^ Ar-^^rt'/T

upon,. Section r

ioT.ani
Rs. ',500 pfp^^ed ‘that he -spend, teh; rupees wthtidf pnoVi^ -.;'

'sanchpharid,th6riyget:eX;Jppst-|ac^ is;in'.tpda;^;S-'.;’.

Indian Penal’ Code' ih.Sech9n'-i;71^..,,l-dpkVaC

,'

T ^inrl crMr4i/c> ei+'atir f/-v'

uri;< 'v .
't-yv,.'
.
-c
'
• y-^y' 't'

'I i*

on ZD_May.;we. have appomted.-^ornniissionerf;oT;,incpm

tax and Goilectors.of,Customs',as;Expdnditbrc;Pbs,erye^^^^
mH.' i-TnA' V »-4*»rtCC - Vst-i A’f iivrt : .

this is.-^d^coIbucppsteV/:Hpw'hidCh';’wdUld,'' it'c^^^

'

three';dojouh'.,p9M'et\-ijpW:iin'uch^dpes.^^^^

see
-- - - -y/r^asiri’d?;/!'
Parliarnehtary rcPnstituen.cy V Sprnebbdy /said/dhej'hppdslte^^^^
party rwiir deliberately^ a^;:, poster. 'in'-.'rny/_faypur -pin- '/•

sdmejbpdy-.eise’fr wall/and. get'rne-'mtPAfbiihle/^^^^^^

,
ih;;Hyderabad 'Sdl/s^d he ,my";%;es;7make;;swd ;

, doe^ thisl;:,r think/We'haydp'yeiy ;fertlle>mihdd^^

' ,
.I-t^i'qdote/yoU'a^hoysyd.jud^
‘in cpurts./Op.thq expenditurb/ppihppnefml^^^^^

exiSUhg iav§;^;dpcs/hpbmea^Ure-,fup'/tp>eM^^
ipirif
1^. ;i^w^bps^f]fer|;. {rPrn''^^ip
escape, fputcJt,The :pibsOTpffoh?pf;;%fcei{iri^^^^
 , ..

70
I
A Heart Full of Burden

by a candidate an eye-wash. And there is no practical check

is

on election expenses. Even fig leaves cannot hide the reality^

I want to mention to you before closing my raridbni ,

rumblings that the Model Code is not something which I

enacted. There which ordinary comrnonsense

is nothing in it

would not accept as being something for a fair and even

game. You can’t find a single clause in the Model Code of
Conduct to which any right-thinking person would say, “no
no. This was unnecessary”. I learn that Parliament is going
to make it into a law. Why not? If Parliament makes it into'

a law, my
problem as to whether a particular gesture is a
Model Code violation or not would probably disappear.
Therefore, my task would be made lighter. People ask me,
“who is your master?” I don’t know. TTe Constitution does
not tell me. In Section 14 of the Representation of the People
Act, it says, “the President shall, on the dates specified by
the Election Commission, issue the notification”. So Hoes it

make me superior to the President of India? Rubbish. I ahi

answerable to the 550 million people of India and in anothef
sense to the 900 million people of India. "Should I desire
to please them I could not then be thine servant" is whkt
"
the Bible says. ; ; .

Today have an outstanding achieverrient of being

I

universally hated by all the political parties. It is 'Orily a ,

question of degree. If equality of hatred is a .tcst of my

impartiality, I will pass with flying colours. This was a, country,

whose was not measured by 25 States and six .Union

heritage .

Territories and one Capital Territory, This was not a coiintry

of one language. Today, officially this country ;has 11
languages along with English and Mind!. But in reality it has
4,000 languages. It has 3;000 castes. There are places with
500. inches of rain, there are places with one centimetre; 61;
rain; There are places of all kinds of vicissitudes and vagaries.
We have learnt to live together a thousand years because, like ;

your, great grandfather and my great grandfather,' I also say,

 { q.:-^P<^ng§:Cha;^rifUpe::;^itm;ijf^ ;.' ^

J'^’V
•-

' .
- ' ^Narmad^iSfnSfii^^^Kc^i/
x!'
.
.
kr-Jalhmm^ptr0dB^10[i^ ^

,; . ihtelljgentlrnah ‘Iwjiere. isjS^a^^id?” So

'

' i '’sai9,;. "‘(Gd;'ip/Pi;ai?a3.*’<’Sd^

- 'riO;idnger'm;ihd|a”v^9urgebgrapHy/is;;j^^^^
> La,da,kh“^d Ladafe-isjsfiinywtii; ^ w% ^-niyiih^ V;
I fi-i* * 'i<H , *^ ’4-1-i<i?»’4-,.T '
r*l^ kWAi'fv>''.’/S«‘. +^SD.^r^ri^hoar^ --n^ -til if;: - •;

',
the, thr4e^|3rdnged'>4riye^"pni:|iie;'fpffihed^^
’
taught iiTie '^pre di^^^I^t^inglel^e^^ {safi'ishtiuta)/ ';C

'Bp\4,dpes-;dne,'4;^CTibe(pne’s
i N;iik4;“a :mbhkey/"you \haye a
Indiai -^rce-pVdjwprl'hlppdd.-jBut’’"^^^
 .

72
I
A Heart Full of Burden

Is one square foot of dry ground left in this country

there
where there is no corruption? There is a beautiful Word in
Hindi and Sanskrit —
brashtachar. You canT have a more
comprehensive word to describe it than the word
brashtachar. What kind of mockery have we reduced our
country to? ff i may ask, what is the Lucknow Lawyers’ Forum
doing about this? Is that question uncomfortable? It’s intended
to be!
There was a time when somebody became the master
of a whole new political weapon, because he was throwf out
of a railway compartment. There was a gentleman who was
born with silver and gold all over him. He was called to some
temple, who chucked off the opportunity and went to jail time
after time after time. If you read the panoply of India’s great
leaders of Independence, 90 per cent of them are lawyers.
How many lawyers are there in the panoply of people who
are standing up and fighting for that which is right today?
And if the answer is uncomfortable, I will give you one lesson.
Never inwte Seshan for a speech.
‘

i will hold a mirror to your face and if that mirror shows

the scars and warts in your face, do not ascribe it to the fact
that Seshan is rude. Seshan is a Khalnayak. May I ask the
Lucknow Lawyers’ Forum, in the last five years of its
existence how many good causes has it stood for and said
that right is right irrespective of consequences? On how many
occasions has the Forum stood up and said, "tliis officer is

an honest officer. He is being harassed. Let Us back him.” I

do not want to say so but the backbone of the Executive has
been broken by lalach, by threat, by harassment. In Italy it
was the lawyers and judges who between them found the
Mafia and struck at it. Pray, what has the Lucknow Lawyers'
Forum done? Did you not find a single civil servant who acted
well but was being harassed? Did you stand up to support ,

him? Did you find a single worthless civil servant who needed ^

to be hounded to the ends of the earth? Did you assist in

hounding him? Ifd point an accusing finger, it is not because ^
 , ,

,'!i%'iibtG^ous-;fdr:, shall not'

even^ask Vou:fcr a eug fea.;i^a4tei|;ybu’'.fe

hurts: If reniindime' of ffiehigrcdnfcretb poster
’

on th4\bpr4eH6f^Bu?rha/^tbih-Nagai^d;whjdi”^ay^
^ ’ ^ X'^ Jj
1 - _ ^ *'''
^^'
< '
it •£ M •.M/c •

y0u gb‘ hombVM/tfienliqf

1; :gdt 'a;Seat ;oh Ihie behdi?: We;ha^e; got '’our' own. benches
» T Y - ^
‘

'l f ^ < i. ’
_7 *•
J ^ ^ 1. J _1'- „

'
-t . 1- ^

aski'rnay dfbeWech^ma^ hbeg, is one ,

IrAiinf .i-f. t‘« t/^***?* ^

*
'i/'Hectibh.^omihisdonersyv^l come afhdiggir'TiN:‘Sesh'an -

: is: a’ Idibw what a S)hpdiTfik'etu. is? Ifs'-a- :•

:star--,wlth a” long tailh And' to'iu^- the slanguage'.' of :Orhat ;i.

Kh^am:>b;<‘'{,;-uSlV".YYYv’b r

.tVt<Sco U.tHb'hi{cJ:Wrtaba=tt^'fSloiaor\-'CSLv^w'S'
'
•'
r.> . J'L'.'i

3;SY:T^lhR,iin!§fl^att4^ds^^^

.
Yy-'
74 A Heart Full of Burden

On 12 December 1996, T.N. Seshan will be comprehensively

ex-Chief Election Commissioner. Unless God intervenes at
an earlier occasion.
Our country is not made up of individuals. It is made out
of a virasat. But we probably have failed to keep our virasat
together. Is our virasat in MTV? Is our virasat in Khalnoyak?
Is our virasat from you know what else
in ‘baby’ as distinct
(sexy)? I am
a great believer in the Indian movie system. I
want to plead with you. 1 want to beg of you. I want to beg
particularly of the lawyers. Please be the conscience of this
country. You make the Model Code into a law. Probably,
definitionis detrimental to the width of applicability. It is like

the old principle in physics called the Heisenberg principle

of uncertainty, the more you define the more you cannot
define. The sum total of definiteness and indefiniteness
multiplied together in the laws of physics is the figure which,
if I may use my
knowledge of physics, is 6.54 x 10 to the
power of — 26. That is you put 6.54 and below that you put
1 followed by 26 zeroes. That is the uncertainty. If you try
to capture that element more tightly, or the electron or the
particle more, it starts exhibiting wave motion. Let me not
go into physics.
"You have been painting a picture of pessimism. Why
don’t you tell us something about optimism?” If I did not
possess optimism, Ho you think, would still be here? If did
I I

not possess extraordinary optimism to think that if India fails

the world will fail, if India survives the world will survive. Not
because you and I are Indians and I am a jingoistic. How can
this culture ever be allowed to die? So that is a question which
I wanted to pose to the Lucknow Lawyers’ Forum.

We came to listen to you on Model Code. You talked

about everything else except Model Code? If you want a
capital *M’ and a capital ‘C’ and the book printed by the
Election Commission, I can send you enough copies, you can
read them. But the fundamentality of the Model Code of India
is; this countiy cannot be managed by the laws of
engineering
 .

15

except by democracy. You can’t tun this: country by a unitary

authority^ What are the fundamentals of. a democracy?. The.
right to dissent is jundamentel to, my existence. Equality before
and the rule of law is fundamental to my existence. This
law,
man is a VIP ^d that man is a’VDP. A VIP justice and VOP
justice by which my fatlier is attacked or my .sister is assaulted.
The. question whether can file an HR is dependent upon
I

my relationship with the Daroga. That I venture to say is not

democracy. So I repeat after Rabindranath, Tagore:

Where the! mind is vyithout fear and the head is

*
-held high; :

^; ' W^ , ,

'
. V^ere the world has been not broken up into
fragments by narrow domestic walls;
'
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless sti'iving stretches its arms towards
perfection- ' V '
,

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its

way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is lead forward by thee into ever-
-vwdening. thought and action —
;
"
V!' 'Intd'thbt .heaven of freedorh, my Father, let my
, co'imt^' awake. '
; >

"jf, ;^du{db;this’td,d^^ in 10 years’ time and 15 years’ time

you ‘w^i,';have vvh'a^ 'Bhagwad Gita described when
Bhagwan shewed: his' Uishwq roop: If at the middle of the
'day,'-a ',|hdus^4 suns .sh^ in the sky
.tdgefeefj yQU’Can-im of brightness. That is
?i^)dpbmisrnr:%^pe^si^^^^^ what shall I do with Section
''
.

missionary asking hundreds

. pfi ppopley V^ Build the character of the
6f 'tfii§,^^ will help us, even if you
:-pa^:thqysands'"d^^^^ •
 5 ; ,

or my r ^ ^'

^
' -'-7
J
r
.-.M ' "'V‘ . ’ .

and the .citizeris of Mysore,, let me first^introduco ;

•' . I l.'L' i rtoo xij _ -Ij.'
'

family,. in a middle class .tovw'ih, Kerala; called^^P^^^ 1 ;^.,

a Pal^hat Brahmin
- who; represents, one ;, of.
;

.^species of . human vbeing;which produces/,fdur.,:k^^^^

'

Brahmins .— '060)55,' civil servants arid niu'sicians; Aft^

a yer^‘ uneventful arid .somewhat;, bopltwp/m t^

Education, J; ended up .gettmg- a Master^^^ .

from ;th,e Madras' iri 1 52 ; r,taug6t physips",;=

^
in,;.^e same Gpilege fdnthree yeaia, frpm^^

Speecli ivade tb students of-Puget Sound'Oniikhity'/at-Mysdrjei oh -iSF^truaiy ':

;
 , .

> ‘S7

,'SewGe — Iftdia’s premier cWil service. From 1955 1990, tb

slightly, under 36 years^ 1 was;.b;civil sempnt,- a- permanent

.civilservant qcajpying^eveiy:.possib!e level, have'unusual
experiences, to my;riebib:i ha\/e ruri buses, j have .done,ajarge
'riurnbef of prOg^anirndi./for rural development.- 1 worked in

Indib!s' AtOniicVEnergy^ Programme, Space in .-India’s .

Pr.ogrammbirinindia> Oil -Develppment; Programme' and-

•
more.recentiy. j have, been %^e|aip Incharge of, Brivironment, ;

the first civO servant at ihe.,.fop4^^^ and :

Forests, Departrrient', for fdut yi^s. From the defence of the .

•envirdnment;‘v,I moved ;to -the':, enyirpnment of 'd I

;

.worked there form^yearheforeil reached: the highest level of

I- was, a. member
,;:civirsehace which rs’Secretaiy.tpithe C^
-

{pf;4he;4?fahrij'ngr!Gommiss^ .Science' and :

'^echriqjpgy arid .Telecdirimuhicatipns at the •

>'h:>resent' job, ;mucb.td-the;ihisfprtdne\.6f many men. , ,

jHat rs my brief ba^^^ As'you:^©^^ have noticed

;.frorn;my dafe';'oi- biilh, I ;am:,siightly past 60 and going bn-

-j'. ->Ly^ant to- start by telling oiir- foreign colleagues, that India
:;is,h cpunby: of extraordinary diversity. Geographic^ly it is as
?,diyerse: as, ihe\facf4hat{,t^^^ in .north-east of

; India, i-3^.';.Gherfapuri^^ annual rainfall is , 500 .

incheb-flfriS;..a, .different mater has been so

thafithe pld^
idehuded.::pf 4bfests.,that4heyfbave acute, drinhing water
'Problem riow; Fhteybave cut thb' tree's so relentl^sly that all
;cthe.‘y>atenthat, falls, th.ere .runs Off. .We have floods and deluges -

a tef they, haye-teute. drinking wate^^^ the'

;ye^;:They,alsb:.hayG?b ^desert-in. the western in
tKaja^ab’f WherG:-the aririualCraihfalf:5s^^ two inches -

:.-^d;itis,;^ gpbd:a:de!^rt .astany deseit ariywhere'in the world. ,

fOupyeietatipn,:?yaSi if notus,- as good ,as ip any tropical part'.. - i

|bhlhy*wori,d.j;.^TheVbeauty'',ab^ from the',

^i^hiMayan bupdrhsi be,, mc''Hiih where -1

ebfe miles-u^^ (if.is prily there - •

|pif|layq;ihe 'snpw'lepparri;' Ote ofthe endarigered

 ;

78 '1 A Heart Full of Burden f

species in the world today),, we have the-;iitb'st divdr4e trdpic^

forest of the world. ‘

think there are only two parts iri .Ae ^forId‘wH'ere:fo^

I .

biodiversity is larger than that which ds in, Hibse iare C'

the Indonesian islands in Central Asia iahd the. ^dzonian d
region. India has an enormous amouhtbfjbiological djycrti^^^^
Of this land about 140 million hectareS-bre put tOjagncuItuTe .

of which again 30 million hectares are put -tp/agncyture tyd

a year, so' the total annual gross croppedare^ is ^aboutd
million hectares. About 75 million hectare^ ’drp/saldrto ;bnf.;:
forest. I will tell you why I said; “said to be for^t’’,—-; becau^^^
not all covered by trees. Some pf^tHem -ardd'
of this area is

called forests but they have no growth on them. The'^feblance' ;

of other areas goes in lands and buildings and opmpietely

’

inaccessible areas,A few million hectares are' under dlleg^.--;

occupation partly by Pakistan and partly by China; am.aire'i,^ -I

you have been alreadyrtold ifiat our dispute i^th Pakistanis /

questioned. In our dispute;^th China :^e’ are moving,
an agreement and a* period; of great 'anirnus i's%en^^^^
,

definitely coming down; Theyare still occupying, sbme;part$

of my tountry..
The pppudation of India in ;1947
and as ofyerterday:morning:whcri' l;xVas passin thrOugh^et";
^
biggest hospital ill lndia:cdHcd the i^ India insbbJteH
Sciences, in Delhi, where a board 'ahhounc^.^etP^^^ .

population,- it show,ed the, ’figure of 390 .SlUpApi^^

death rate has fallen; steeply' during the\|^3fc40^
happensdn-every 'cbuntiy;;;We/haye ;eradi(^^:;tuber^psfe^^
V^e have -largely ‘eradicated-.
coining- back with a,- vdhge'ancc bepau 5e:.;^by>a^^
: ’

immune to DDT., We. Ha ve sptind/.of

.

6updeat|i;iate‘h^'^ep"^^Iy%n^it|s:inJbp:0^^
18 t6:T§;per;mill0.Crifortunately^;!Sfe^6f^^^
db\m egt^ly fak;Tn::all de^Iopin^ boUn^e’l bfrtli's^brl^;;#;^;:.
yoU;- stUdyiv-bnginally;'bbthV||te;'bif& |and
.high,',-bhd/th'4^ibfbre^^'.th8'n^^^ ^rateijs?
 ' ..
,

Beshan^^? m:

as development takes' place, tKe^de'atl;i.\rate?s^^^^

suddenly, but the birth mte 'takes jpuch';!^

Urwr^r«r(-Vi ^riAc
ratecgd#<u}3:::m
’
1^1 513 S-
in this intermediate peribd lhe;^ ( '

growth rate, is *
sligHtlj?' more than- one '.^i^tralia ’a -t^,;
"
beyond45'millibh;peqple;iX';'^o';
You'-may asklVvhat is Ihdia 'doing about' controlling
-

population? Kam sure, you mu^' have" heard abbdt the^^

in which the Chinese are contrbllihg the population;' We wish
them They said hob'ddy c^vhaye more than One child;;.
luck.

We know what js done.' to i.the' second 'chiW .b

,
tJpri’t ;

CQmrrieht^ upbh'ltd^Our way is jbpr: w^ Way'is' ffieip

‘

^
way : dn a' dempcrabyT.iy/here theyrulersVh'ave 'to 'be back tat
:
;
.
;

least ohce,;ih.=five'ye^S'' ifn'pfmprei;^^^^^^^

rdaUyt’use; strong meffipdstjdf/.cbntro^ pbpulatioh.' The,

only two' bases bf 'in eoritrOl ;

whs in Jrelahdswhehjhep/.facebtt^ farhine and in'

Japari btiririg th'e tirne'tof 19^5^0 T955- when-bvety^^^^ ,

‘
woman dn.ffib reproductive age had 'to ’undergo five tO.rSixt^

abortioris/per/calendar yeah{They^^b^ bdwft, their-birth

rate, to half between; 1945 .(ana ,'.195^^ ^methods- are(
not necessarily aTOyaBe |b';us^(As such dl^ populaboh grbwl^
'
is oneiiof the bigge^,prpblerhs';we ;f^^^ like' the. chickent

t :iand, thet'eggt queste How, :(^bes (bhe( bon^^ tpo‘pulatibn?(>

Because vdffiput cpntrbiToTpppblahpn,}dev^^
take placet The,ay|uiabie4ncr^ses\ahd(beh^
gro^h , rates we *
.get. divide^ .
ampr^^ dargerr,;
•
hurnbers;pf p,ep|3ieV..^'fcereai;grpv^'\^^
^becpm^h:Hniis^pJ^pmetim& '^Oitwl^fv^ ;t

PPPy|atiPn.go'doym?.ram(su,re;ypuhb
'
•
'HS':'hayeV{ipne;T^
d refesion;;^ysis;yoii ^d^c^(thsb(^
yyry (pbsitive effect;'bh-jthe: decrease^
-
p^
' tiiehrheipfTridepehdeneetbuf- ihfah^^
u’*'' ; /'•
rtrtWV.’ -i. .....
 . ;-

80 A Heart Full of Burd^

150 plus per thousand live births. In'somejp^^di india

has gone down to 50 and 40. , V;,
'

We have found several other related fadors.:'Female

literacy is one of the most positive coeffidehts. 'There are.
parts of India where female literacy is the highest If you ^epd ,
’;
;

a few days in Kerala, you will find female literacy thefels at:
, ,'.;

its highest and the population growth is now down

to a^out

1.8 per cent. Behind female literacy, in a poor countiVi ttefe

is the fact that we have found by regression- analysis, ;and ;,
actual information that if the girl child has ^
untorn^^skirt,;': T ;

that will reduce population ratel Because no 0rl vnll go tb

-
,?

school with a torn skirt but a boy will go to school .\dth ;.a
torn shirt. But there are other factors which help .ip,;,
development, like electricity, the availability, of roads, to a.,.:

village, the and the avaijability:

availability of drinking water,

of a primary health centre where the most,

elementary
.of complex
diseases can be looked into. Not to speak ;
<
,

diseases!
Nowthe question which arises is ~-: W^ich.
comes fird, ..^^
democratic^
development or population control? ;As far; as, a
the only aris^er
country like India is concerned, I arh afraid,

doing economics, me lamous equciuui*

else:;We;Cannp^^^--
savings equal to investment or something
is
:^^

in^^ia is f p^pe^^
save enough. The average saving wodo
of the gross national product.. ... T ?>/':

use the grossmatiw .

I will come back to the way

we.
contnbuteycr^e|^^
product and sawngs to which America
by arming Pakistan. America has
cpntnhuted Ih^^^ m
giwng Uander
40 years to our general happiness' by
,

frigates to Pakistan for ona dollar. Thg

tanJts..^ou r
y
16 s, they have.supplied Pal^stan.iShertp^
.

.Pakistan, We domt^,
welcome to contiiiue. your friendship with
We, Ippk
look upon these things with anger.
Asian
happiness, this attitede is part, of .the,
.
:

sociaam-aSbasis ptthcy,.
.Independence was backed. by Fabiari
 thought. When ih 1928.theJridiari National. Gongr^^ met
in .Lahorei the^most important speaker at- that conference
was a gentleman called Jawaharlal Nehru. He laid down that
India vwil follow the path of Fabian socialism- We adopted
' -

the. path of planned development

. behVeen roughly 1950. and ,

1990. if ga\>e us some good rresults, some bad results.

Socialism and planhed development were good in parts. :

At the turn of Independence -in 1947, we had Just come

.

^ out of the, fact that. British killed .three million of my

countrymen by :a famine in- Bengal when, they were busy
fi'ghtihg Hitler. iri'Eiirope arid Jap-ah in the East, Three million

people died on the streets of Calcutta because of sheer

.

starvatipn.j Again.' we hold-ho'dhgeragainstthe British rule.

. We -Still continue ito be rhembers of the Gommonwealth, we

^ still consider .He'r 'Majesty The Queer! of ^England as Head of

Our Commonwealth. But between, 1947, 1965 and 1975,

we were beggars begging for .food. It was America who
„• -supplied us a large quantity of PL-48G wheat. We were a
, . ,

beggarly/cpuntry importing food right, left and centre 'and '

; -we literally lived from shipto mouth,.- If the ship did, not arrive .*

in Bomba^,' Cochin, or Madras in time, some of us who ,

managed disfrict administration

. had - difficulty .in providing 5

. Wheat, to the ration shops. I am mentioning this, to tell .yOu ,

.where we have chariged in the last 20-30 years. . ;

.

.
' Today Vve are a .gentle exporter of grain. Last year, despite
.
,

the fact that the monsoon was not satisfactory, we harvested"

.
,
185 I pm not talking of other
million tonnes of foodgrains.
^
.major-crops like'cbtfqn and oilseeds and sugarcane. We are
; ^^'sp a gentle exporter of dairy, products. 1 think we are the
prtly.icpuntiy in the world which ipakes' qhimsa cheese. ’

;
:Anypne;wh6 wants cheese made without animal rennet can"
,
'

'

^pmlndia.
,
j vi ,irin,1947-, drne of Independence, the only industrial
;> /*;
. a^tfhHiaihad was 'adew textile
.
making backing cloth
eptton, into yarn. to, weave it into the •
,
-

.pQssibfefextiie: to lease out pur’ ;

82 A Heart Full of Burden

forests for building railroads in India and for building ships

inGlasgow. So the Indian forest policy was entirely oriented
towards supplying timber for the ship-building yards of
Glasgow. At that time of Independence we had a small
amount of textile work, a small amount of mining work. Other
than this, there was hardly any industry. Yes, Tatas built the
first steel plant way back in 1918. We learnt the art of making

steel but we never learnt the art of making steel plants: Even
today, we are a very poor producer of steel.
Between 1947 and now we have progressed enormously -

in industry. The progress is unbelievable. I still remember

when I was working in the Department of Space, when we
were making the first Indian satellite, American laboratories
used to make fun of Indian national communication satellite

by giving it an American acronym and calling INCEST. I

it

remember going to NASA laboratories in Goddard and seeing

in several places cartoon sketches of Indian national satellites.

Today, we make our own satellites. We have our own satellites

orbiting the earth — out own national satellite of which
everything is Indian except the high-quality electronics. It is

not worth making a small quantity of that electronic

component in this country. We make satellites, rockets, ships,
aircrafts and a whole lot of other things.
We certainly have some of the most advanced computing
ability in the country. We cannot afford to make computer
hardware because the numbers required here are still
hopelessly small. But we have parallel array processors with
a speed of the best in the world. Over the years our progress*
has been phenomenal but is it good enough? Has the
standard of life gone up? No, it has not gone up. There are
social factors which have attracted people into the cities more
and more, because the per capita availability of land for those
who are engaged in agriculture may be less than half a
hectare. If you take a family of five persons the total
possession of land they have will not be even one hectare.
So the agricultural position is now subcritical. It is not
 adequate for the purposes M'susteinirig even one’s own.
family, either- in terrhs. of ?fopd. availability or -in terms- of-
economic sustenanceror in lerms of even employment
throughout the year. ;
> ; . '

:
"
;
,
'
^ '

. When 1 -left /the none

Planning' Commission which I left . .

too soon, the total number of people totally unemployed in

the country was 40 million. And there was an enormous
amount of disguised underemployment. This number may-
also be equal to 40 million, people or more.
v:, Because of an enormous increase in our population our '

pyramid is.a hopel^sly flat pyramid. Ahtlie base, the number

. of children of school-going' age is 400 fnillidn. Such numbers-^
.may frighten you but f canriot help ^..^5 is. so because of
, . the enormity of this country. So somebody now might ask,
.“why don’t-you reach universal literaq; as quicldy as possible?”
’
'

The problem is one of finding resources. An Indian teacher

is one of the most poorly paid, teachers in the world. The
pupil-teacher ratio has become worse between 194? -and '

'
1987. At the -timepf Independence, the teacher-pupil ratio .

;
was one/to 40^ Today it is one to 80,., Our teaching .

institutions suffer^ grossly; frorn lack, of resources’

•

. Unfortunately, pur, planning has;:been distorted and we have- ,

-I paid more attention to.' higher, education; In order to satisfy

. the demands of sunrise industries in California, we produce ;

boys from' the Indian Institute of Technology and they f

-promptly go away to the US.-on. whatever visa they can
,
wangle out of the American Consulate.; Our best doctom go, \ ;
'
U$:;/This'ismpt;a icqmplaiht agairist America; Isam
,-to.fhe ;

.. only sayrigThat we have an enormous loss of- brain power. . .

'

<: V The Indian. ,enyironment,y the-; physical environment; -is- .

,
degrading'mot at an alarhimg. rate: but- at an appalling rater; ,

dp/thepncieritUfays whefi';the population was small, the.-' V

. ypagers go to, the'fpire^ arid do whatever picldng;ups|r r
"
'.fey cdujd 'do.tp find fu^-resodrees. Now the damage dpne,;; ^;.}

,
ToPurTor^ts ppUmfely;^ueHo;^|jfe.;b
is
'
V .rdbihg, but'fe -fementlyou.'^ beeo'mes' aj y y):
 ' ,

84 A Heart Full of Burden

road for environmental destruction. The average humber'pf

trees destroyed in India is ten million per day between >suni1se:-
and sunrise. People cut trees ruthlessly — certainly Tor
furniture, certainly for industry, certainly for packing. More .',

than anything else, it is for primary energy. The envirdnm^t;;

in urban areas is deteriorating at an appalling rate because'
housing is at such a tremendous premium. Housing is jush ,

not available for love or money and people live in pipes.: We

have water supply schemes for which huge pipes are bought ^

five years in advance. They are allowed to remain on the

roads and many people take residence in those pipes. And ^ ^

see pipe dreams inside those pipes. -

\
You will notice one thing at least; that we are not
ashamed of our poverty. We are trying to get out of it. But
nobody has, ever got out of this disease by hiding the fact !•

under the carpet. You have to lay it out in the open.

The amount of freedom of .expression, my country' '

possesses is unbelievable. Not only for me, I am in ah/ ,

extremely secure position, even people who are not in seedre;';;

positions can speak the tiuth about India. without fear pr -

favour, without let or hindrance! UTiether the President pf'

the United States accepts it can assure you that for
or not; I !

somebody. living in this part of the world, our human .rights,

'
are pretty good. *
' •
. • ./
I haveyou at the outset that we are"a 'diverse counti^. /
told
How are we diverse, what way are we diverse? TrOm'^^^
highest rain to the lowest rain to np rain.’ From temperatures
which in Srinagar go down, to minus .50,degrees/Ge!^
night- in December or January to parts of India''
temperatures in summer register 50 degrees G^sius! J
told you there are variatipns:of weather, there: are,yariahohs^^^^
of temperatures, variations of .reHgidns, jndia liasJKe
largest: population of Muslims; in .die wrld 'afe^indonesia.j^^
India has more; Muslims thbn Pakistan has/'Muslifns are^fl^hl,:
;of! our! flesh and biodd, of qur own blobd:/But:there
-

'occasions when .HindiiP: and Miislirris ‘decide To,

 ; v '

fun at each other’s expehseV Qne'rtihdu^geritlernan g^

puts a piece of pork in front- of: a mosque fin'd all heU .brefiks
loose. A
Muslim, brother, comes" and puts a qDiece qf;^.

front of one of the rtemples and .all helhbreaks loose there,,

also, They kill a *niimber pf pebple' and' later bver^ihgds
. , ;

happily-forgotten and we get ;bn’ to‘:busih'ess 'as usual;‘,»^e .

have vei^ ethereal judgements on these things, wKich’are so ;

;

peculiar that they become very difficult for a;non-,Oriental

mind to appreciate; There is no religion in the world of which .

a sample- is not available in'dndia;- v; •,

rV- ,.Vr.

Iri:Iridia we have the wbfship’ping.jSnsj Buddhists;; Sik^

. -
,
•

Christians, -MgslirnSj^Hiridus'^ ,f^hdus are not a Homogeneous

groiip' bf peopled There are Hindus, who think that the only,., v.

Way ;to rprbpitiatera'^^ or a Goddess is by ciitting a';'-

^'heighbbur’s child; If that- is hot .possible then .probably he
' '
'

wbuld'cut a gdfit God. There- are

in order; to. -propitiate his
also Hindus^fldrhnbtdfilkihg of Jairis who do this), who kebp
apiece of cloth’ inTrorit of the nibuth so that an urisuspectihg!
ins’ectdbes hot go ihi For him^^^^ idea of non-violence is sb ,

'

.all-peryapvef Once I’.inet a .saint whpth f respected.

a man whplbeli'eyed ;sp -ihuchiin h that he would f

eat ;nothihg- that .gernunateS;,-^ used to/ be'a' ;

'iawHcpmaTOiKedwlthyosurt; There aredd^

and' vfifiatidris. rdb'hbhbast.dsperslbhs'foh -Wei^erh 'mihdS;' f
.'They'rhhve .g!weh;Tps^gpodr:th|hgs;;.riWe/ bwe -

'
/ciyilizatiohs;: a/greaf :deail;/nbf :to|speak’S^^ha ;
;
W,ordswprth,l .ByrbhV./KeatsJi/ShB^^^^ : pnd Xerinysohf But
;
'

/.disfihctibh’/behveen/hmdameritaiyiews^^
/.hayejfuhhg -Gods.-'t, saw./a^-Qbd/the; odter/'dayH^^^

. '-hKi!nc:rtr>hro<5' t bac ’kWriVoli’i rti'fforwU+v rS?iv.' ‘A '£f» j /I’K l ilf ;

 .

86 I
A Heart Full of Burden

birth?” Man is only a human

being. So man is the only animal
who derives knowledge from his ancestors probably much
more than animals do. Man is the only animal who:can think,
what the purpose of his life is. -5 . .
'

Hinduism does not ask for a particular type of worship.

Some philosophers say you have 330 million Gods. So how
can this be one religion? An American once wrote that we.r ;

are an unachieving society because we do. not have

unequivocal singular views which say this is God. Today you :
.

call yourself a Hindu and pray eastwards or you call yourself

a Muslim and pray westwards. I am not calling this Hindutwa:

I am calling it Bharatatwam or Indianism. The fundamental

of Indianism is tolerance. If you want to find your God facing ,

east, please feel free. If you want to find your God facing
west, please feel free. In Hinduism any object you see :

becomes worthy of worshipping. My grandmother every ,

morning offered a spoonful of milk to a plant. It was her way

of saying, thank you God, thank you Nature. The single
largest lesson India taught the world is tolerance and today-;
the world is desperately short of tolerance. Everyone, today
has got an AK-47 or a submachine-gun. And by the time
the American lobby decides whether the arms lobby is rhbre
powerful than the anti-arms lobby, there will be men who iri
the morning wnll get into a small school and kill five or ten
children just for the fun of it. I am sorry, I am not looking
down upon you. My heart bleeds whether it happens in

Washington, New York or Los Angeles. .

-
.

The fundamental lesson of Hinduism is that you cm

worship in any way you like. This is the only country where ,

you can say, “I do^ not believe there is a God’\ Feel .free. \ .

You can make your own explanation on whatever happeris

or does/not happen until you reach a point at which you,
say “probably there is a power greater than all that vie have i

\ understood”. ,
' ^ ‘V
.HoW .do you ’
rationalise many
of the practices in ,/v

/ Hinduism? How do you rationalise black magic, astrology? ;

 NiTSESHAN '
'87
’
X/i’ !3j}‘

Incidentally I.raay idfl^J/bugn various things. I ain

an astrologer ^Sp;:^y dg4 fe^^ in alj .thisZ,W#» yoii

don’t;beiieye4t,lhen ,ydu.go y,ou^^ let rac go my way.

If'^ou iecl ypyr/Godds and Madina, feel-free. If

you-y/adt day, please ieel free.

Vdu;g5:'tO;’'^dfch,-and-f^^^ you want free. If

,to; bombard, ydi^ own ears with ;punlr rap feel.free. If you j

want to appreciate 'Indian, .dassical .rriusie, feel free. The

.
,

fimdambhtai thing, pf-Whicb we have lost sight- of is that every,

and' every wornan has alright to five his or; her own,
.

Way.-sp fohg ias he';or-?^hc does, r50t UnnecessaPly cross your

path.^'.Thatds^pf^^^^ HinduisTn.: Vou,'won’t
find-if4rt;-"a :mi]iioh:,tern^^ ternples in India
which,, shpWjjdds; and; G ,in sexual poses. So what?
Eve^/man and Xydm The -modern ;ideP is

tbjBelfeyp4f^afdridiahai§ohe;,prade. .fr^ was never prudei

Itjis 'an ppehibpUrit^;.;.Lprig 'before W literature began to.
be^ id^eddn here.. It is this
'
” ^'4'
2yariety tiT^biSifh^a;{'r'M-";;'C4;^‘-'^b;r^^
'^4
•; VYcf^p.Wsmany,-!^ in. India? Yo.u take- s
Hs.;. 5)^^ Youb^il find deven
languagbsTn ,add^ .to^^giish;and;Hihdi, .The total number
pf;;la'nguagds:jh4n|ia;isr^3T|^ official ,riurnbef. In ,

fpality Iridia has several h\m .

•, >
1
ub^emaye dl pPssible'kidds of- races: Aryans,, Dravidians,
:MPiigPl|;-^dlbw,}brPuhi;,dpep^^^^ brown. •-

:w^;;Pr^ix%pters;pr-'ther^ af P people
anVnpffaiking of
'^f6dd4warf?m:.fhe-cbmmi&i^^^^

!^9W^tbWSdi^ty;,pf4ts';dw4feih/i:'QmihU
^%«4hdrdp<M 30Cf t3.c;wtieh
 '

88
I
A Heart Full OF Burden . .

Maurya — a great king — who not only ruled what is now

India, but also what is Afghanistan today. He went up to
Hindu-Kush and beyond. Then came Alexander the Great.
Then came X and came Y. Our history is written for us hot
by ourselves but by the British and who will tell us what is
wrong with its history.* Notudthstanding their problems, the
Britishers gave us the revival of, liberal democracy. The
Britishers gave us our legal system on the basis of which we
today have the Indian Penal Code, the Indian Griminal .

Procedure Code and the Indian Civil Procedure Code, The

British also gave us the railways, the telegraph and they gave
us the system of government supported on three pillars. Our
system of administration, our system of governance is based
on these three pillars —
the Executive, the Judiciary, and, the.
Legislature. They gave us the English language which is one
of the keys to the rest of the world’s brain, the rest of the -

world’s capabilities. Today we, of course, want the keys to

so many languages —
Japanese, Russian, German, French.
‘

But the gave us the keys to the Western languages of'

British
the world. I will not inflict any more of my knowledge of
history on you because my knowledge of history is highly
circumscribed, >.

But I want to mention to you only one point in passing. .

And that is, India is the only country in the world which won .
^

itsIndependence entirely by non-violent means. Some of Us ,

feel that we got our freedom too easily. Just as someone

“freedom is my birthright”, Mahatma Gandhi went to the sea, ... .

picked up a handful of ordinary, salt and said, “this salt is.my - ,

birthright”. He was not fighting for the salt, he was fightirig .

for fundamental rights of the people. Our greatest weapon •

was the civil disobedience. The best way of resisting the mo^t .

^
wildest dictatorships is through civil ,
disobedience. Gandhyl :
.v-L

was put in Jail 14 times in India. Pandit Nehru was in .Jail for ;
;;

a total of 26 years. Even then one must admit that the Bri^tish: ' >

gave us a whole lot of good things including the present ^ ^

democratic system, At the same time i want to mention, ^

 was
'
do\^/ns ,wjth;ail ;typ|!syd|,;desppfs^ ;

jieopk iyl^dS, ruled into million' .

' dragmentsyTT^'e' gi^t‘'adyantage^m^^ was that ^there

'
Je4s/wlT<^^ruiing,,himt-^ -/-‘Vfyi/yyv^' ’ ^' '»'• ' •'
.< C >'-.. «'>*.' ’
* ».* Sr ’•'i « .•vr '
* ' ' ' " . ^ * ’
.
‘
«1
is all-

peniasive. In India "today,-; ijf^ydu ;Wan’t.:€lectricity, yog have

.gditd'the .Government,; if ;yqu;v(^ gas^you have .

- gQ';to';tK^. ,Gdyemmerit^>i|^ .
want tb get inth a ;b’as you
.'
have go, to .^e'.Gdyernm^ ;a Gondpm you have

,-^;factpni,i^h jndia 'waV.avddvernment facto^^ tiU a-.year'ago.

J 1. .I,,,,.
WS Said
'•we/
’::meVh^ahy ',eouniries^df theiworld^^^ have now learnt .that
'
^y.,;K was;npt
it US the value's

.';^thah;^he'h;;|hb?cdmman econom|--wefe,.
;‘bg&j^e^i-|by;h’rb'ureadcmcy'yk^^^
y:endd4>;:up?.|n\aH^^^^^ was ript-''baleH'.,Qn -

y;i^n'^i^,;‘^diTe^fd^yity^a's}hpt:^ba's^^^^^
;.;bas6d;'p>nrriv^ardjng-hafdiW(p^^^
'
^|iiqymeh|/,Spj^^ -
/ \ -

•
'-iltwce ffie .^eritifWi hrt'niiVhtrhhf
n.'an.
'^f1®^h9,h.;tblie^.p}ace'\W'e'’setjbpi^6Oi006’’p.61lihg^^^
.j- average 'Ss/;250”o^iiIiqhhhev§pe^ hind we

:itiOQ'^hdfdatdsri^dfihd;^he;;eGh’^iffiehcv wherel^
 90 AI&ajrtFuixof^ =
I

360 candidates and the ballot paper looked like not

just a
sheet of newspaper but a full edition of a, newspaper.
We
are stretching democracy to the hilt. There is a very
,
large,
percentage of people who can’t even read the name of the
candidate, so each candidate has to be given a symbol.
Some
party has got a lotus as a symbol some party has got a hand
as a symbol, some party has got a hammer and sickle as a
symbol. Somebody has got a wheel, somebody has got a
wheel within a wheel. All kinds of syrhbols are avmlable;. ,

We employ 3:5 million people other than policemen in

order to run an election. For a country of this complexity,
we have achieved 60 to 70 per cent polling. We have done
this,with ten elections to the Lok Sabha the House of —
the People. India’s voting population is 550 million and the
number of seats is 540. And it docs not require a
mathematical genius to tell you that, the average number of
voters for a Parliamentary seat is a million people; It is an
unbelieveable experience to participate in Indian elections.
Nothing like this will you ever see anywhere else .iri the world.
.

Today,' as the Chief Election.Commissioner-of Iridia you

'
may ask, "who am I answerable to? I am answerable .fo the.
550 million people. ~

'
Whatever the national papers and media may .
say, 'my ,

only masters are the people of India. The founding fathers

of India’s Constitution created the most outstanding of ,

. endangered species in human beings called the Chief Election .

Commissioner. Today I ani subject to attacks from all :>

. directions because I am going to clean up the graffiti, on the

”
wall. 'j, •

, f
kinds of
you open the newspapers you
If
will find, all .

names by which i am referred to,, larh called the mad dog, !.,

arn caUed the mad biill,;J,am called, an Alspam ImHindi I

have been called a Kha/naybfc which'thpans

arviHain^.i^^

in The last
movie. I have been called all kirids of .names
•
. , . ,

12 months. Biit the game is tpnlean tip thb electiQn;K?^®g.^ -r

Today, Indfe’s'elecdbns.^;vfe^^
'

-
 'm

*;
. Yes, our election’ jsystenV’ is" rbemg. dQtnaged. b^; various
metlbpds.and yDU'jake,ypur:iastdoBa;r',,an,d bet on it.,We'bave
frivolous candidates,’ bad rpils'^iig^ngv fe
all:.ldnds:pf',Wsdeibeanbur practices pa%' electionsrYet, i

;wpuld like yoaipgd badr a tellydur friends that India has

-'.a' demdrafiC; electoral 5ydbmi Them ds no electoral system
.

fahy\^here bisd '^nthe^wprId,ofd^^ Pomplexity or even ,

^haif of the corriparable coihplcxiiy. Itis such an extraordinary

achievement:* Despite all the 'problem's, India: has one of the
ireest'electioris ihlhe .wprid.-There is so inuch freedom that
they .can. Write a hbh'-truth'':a^^ appear as absolute
tfufii.’ i .vldijJd,;say'',^ the measure of

h Whafis deinocracy?, Dcriidcfacy is^rple by consensus. In

rdiffeteht translations; Greek yi/diild "say it isjtile by the people
and 'Abi^a'm ;Lihco^ ,us in the nineteenth
centUr^ that de'iddcraey Is^^g^ people, for the
:?dePple) by ihepepplp;;j?^d.^^^^^ people we'.have
a democracy in India which is government of some people,
.

tdr;;spme pedpk, .by s^

;
'

Ultimateiy;- the world

; coming back t6^dne,0on<ddslpri^ 1s?phlldsdphical,.\yW^^^^
COThOt' bdlstudiPd in a ppM^ {science, class, v/iiicd cah’f be
'

':'^tOdied:in;a,specificire^oh,?be<a^^^
ofiaracter: is;igdjnd 'out{or .wih'dPw at: the rate of
;
^ifons of metres her day ^

'

ds^ing^oLl^verjijfes^
'

7;'

/’ ® ,

.solution is
split; Armstrong to

.Sehdem^ isaid;;:;Jbut" isun’C, But'the

;^d^ -yef^ Hbtdherel^' ;

|?^!||hateiy oPmingdoy&o
^

l^^'^^4^.5?!iii?h'^sdpm,jl^u& biggepahd
iSJ^^r-Ppople, .haVei,s^d';:|his,-$efore.but,iet/me,.,r^^ '
 ':

"p2:_ -
_
A'HEART;FuiLL'OF‘'BURD^;’;;'f

India is now rapidly recognising that you can acquire far 'fnore
/iqibwledge- with” far less wisdom. You ^are teaching
^ybur
Children all kindi of technical tKingk—. bits and Cytes,' flips
and but you arenot teaching your childrehtundamenfeV
flops, ,

'
dthical values which -are not' comparable. The fundamental
values^ of human existence are not ^relative ethics. Example
; of 'relative ethics :wouW be whether abortion, is .a good thing
or not, or whetlier euthanasia is a goodtthing or a bad thing,
you' have; ethics about whether lt is.’alright to -call a^'b^^^^

;nigger.These are relative ethics. But^the fundamental ethics

bitwth, compassion and humility have gone out. ,
.-1

What has happened in India is that we have fallen ,

between two stools, Wp have forgotten our ancient culture. _

Now we have only the rnodern culture of. rock and rap and ,
.

cnack and smack and heroin. Today, we jbaye to decide

whether-we^should' cracK mprdbecwse; crack tias'.fc
. like' cumehey, '.that; bad would bribe .out .

.thegdodyrithout any ’effort, ;^dd,ay^/like the

'IndiarieidsteriGe, tndian iporaUtydlridianj^^^^ Indart' ethics ^

are getting,
1»i - ^ L ‘
lYi.*
H*;^rnaliyeiyydiyed
>
'i-i ^4- ••
^ 44‘,,

.the .suppbrtdr'.'of' that.'

'

not?The fundamehtai 'dueshpn is ‘to gehfe

what is happening ;tb. basid Burnan yaidds?;;The .fundamep^ ,

value of democracies
much'v^sky e
mariy mikes,;, you.' thip,w;at;. each^ol^ .tfie- Assernblyvirt

Lucknow. THe.rfnemhers had .a cop tGsTa|rtp thrb^; ^

more ni^ber''6fmjkes'%LeaeH;.-oflieri^ffi^^
adarge ndmber ;GT;membGrs-oame:;oitA-;^^
•

bleeding :fdhlridiaK;T^^
dGmdcmcy:df;lpierari_ce.e_.,.^^,^._,_,^.^_ . ..

•T’eoplG;Th^nlt'^(^ri'^.anit^;TifsL;:cain^^
 , , ' ! ;

one7bf;th^i^gifid" came
ili\er,e-'ls- a;;Basilica .of

iSt^’Thorhas.'in' I^adias wherevfie:^^^^^ -. Jews ^came. to , ,

'
-.'..1 'lilA'C-ji:. . ‘'TKo'ftro-’iiirtrcWruriovc
our
i of we ';

‘:;Sfe't6o;|)US^'tfghting amo^ 5s the basis of ,

l;;:buh',p(|iMcs.lljie world ablargejs_\^^ opportunity : .

; to -‘plunge ob' this" eountry to ;tear . it apart. ' And .'we are ,

fsonieiimes.ndt aware of this darigef. -I hope some day; we

'wpiiid Realise ihandi^^dean^up Pur 'coiih^^^ ; . ,

y';;- Vi .would suthmariSe hy;^ saying, ; Gurs; i^^^^^ a. .country of

,

^ ehdnhdus'diyefsity: jt Jsa history!; Here ,

.

JiS;‘^alcountty ;pf^ ;wh6, wants to ^-

;
kccdfding !;td ^computer /^experts, aS/cdiPparahty as ,

wrong with •

^u^'f.B.ut^tyhk isityndamentaf^^^^ its past, which

t^lfrV^'jaiiswer?^^^ the;,;bqdy?rN6, -Isiit- '&e -

Jj;
illL.~+Vio 1^1 me '
’+In*rt

|int|l]ect?js'iit^Hb;habitpf/be5ngic^^
jjsdficre|an^y’;;V^iOT^s^m .tynd^ehtal dhan^ih^i^

Sf|^tten;m^;’ptyipsophy:alsp'& 'the;queik|5n- ' 4.'

^fwho" ^gJySb^^y^e’^ou /different; froni j^rhe?/|^ieh’an 'average ,

.'

'

sfindi^ ;pf^ses::fii|;i3ahds^md-;f not’ saying:". '

^

|“^6a;n^5ngtJJM^ite/^^3'§^ld^u4/W^
?;i’4

d|^i|ia|}g|haf ii® n^ffer^4;:J‘;

5|fd^/^^fwHipKjisJnside/rhe,;wHipfc^
of 1he Bible* And I amr.willtrig td -sai^dbal it is^.b^

one candle trom tHe odginaldisht' ^^d parse ;

No religion taught, any -groupt.pf people 'to, be'd

;
:

towards the rest of the people; The" fdndamehtal .e^^ ?

world today is that- knowledge ibbutsbipping. vwsd^

 .

; ilf t’ls 'my=c6hyic^ it or not,” that until ‘

..

y, We ftectify; this decayed, de^maged, dilapidated/

'.anli'iuhiess'

./ •
empire caUed Indi^ d^ocracy all that you, may do, whether
•
it is^for milk oritis for oil; is.pa^ a 'pictufe on water > .
'

,
.‘ ./'It is a' misf.brtuneyof the .^i^ing; generation that most
people have-hq concept of what India is all about when they '
.

;'%e^ abput.lndia/^ you'permit rne .to spend aleW

' ’

/ ;minUtes telling ryou about' that.wW India comprises -

'25 States,- -siXr'lIniqn; .'territories •and-'ayNatibnai: Capital

.
.'i
' .

P jTerntqp/ of peihirlndiaieapouhl^'o party^B, party ' / ;

y
party 'D with .assorted parties ;throWn 'in -.at the States.
' ,

fty!today;^ey teaditile yourig.-people;of'thisc6unti3; the histbry- y:'.!

j^/ohlpdrc^.in- bad'';E^ and say Ashoka.^'duggedy Wells ari^ ,•

(if- SpedcHymh'de dt the. f^atldrial Dairy Development' Boar'd, Andn'd, on '7 Mdrtih ' '
96
I
A Heart Full op Burben

‘builded’ hospitals. Is that Indian history? They have tried to

make us learn and say that the Chalukyas fought with
somebody else and the Kakatiyas fought someone else and
Cheras and Cholas fought u4th somebody else. Is that histoiy?
I venture to submit to you that is not Indian
history. The
Britishwrote the history of India for us, which made us
wonder whether India was a country worthy of its name. A
country with 33 crore Gods. What kind of religion is it? In
my religion there is only one God, This India you talk about
is a woman of extraordinary diversity. Why a woman, why

not a man? Because no man is capable of this amount of

diversity. How many languages are there in India? Today,
according to the Government, we have a total of 13 or 15
languages. No Sir. India has got 800 languages and scripts.
Mark my word for it. This comes from the Central Institute

of Indian Languages, Hyderabad. Not all of them have scripts.

Not all of them have large numbers who speak it. Even when
you talk about Hindi, Hindi is not a unitary language. This
Hindi you talk about is not a single Hindi you have —
Bhojpuri, you have Vaishali, you have Maithali, all kinds of
Hindis all together pass for Hindi. >

How many religions are there in India? Where is a religion

in the world which is not available in India? Certainly there

is Hinduism, there is Islam, there is Christianity, tht’^e is

Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism. Jews are available in this

country, Parsis are available in this country, animists are

available in this country. My religion^was not based upon idols
and symbols. It was based upon a far more fundamental truth
which long ago, 3000 years ago, when you were still living
in caves, my forefathers taught me the fundamental of tiuft
and said truth is so the Vedas said: it is
difficult to define. As
not this, it is not that. Ultimate tmth can be defined only by
this negation. Is Hinduism a single-point religion?
Equivocal?
^
No. You are free to find your God the way you choose to.

You can find your God standing on a single leg in front of

the Varanasi river. You find it by killing a goat, dropping its
 ' ". ,

‘rfl'Ni-iSiiesHAN;;

'§16od^^nlrQnt/6f^it - in %nt of a river

'

^or, moriihs4^,d'yeafs'iDg'etfier:-ob|e'nprig'4oiaf;S^ ' .

=

this^arid- 3TiUcK-,mrir6yWds.v^irid|^si:ririBe^ ^ ,

''
'.^2^ 'm .
af '
CfNtnrt£>VlOJ^\t-

cOrisGidtisri^ss;' Not' trie, icorisdousriesst of'-somefo

hbt;-awake^fasieep;-or;gorieiri^^^ fallen- unconscious'.;
- '"
'
^i-ichan/^o tiThirK rnii

ancestorsisaiain' term of Priigntmam Brahynot-. That is the .

>

fundamental whichdijearntVJfdidmot'^ee nJy God„-merely';in. .

.Ifi^is (brithatcyoirtlipught'. rhy;;R^gbli ,

was
;my;;;'{Di8ture'f>vasf three'dirnensiohal
scriiptufe’' Was; iGbrifej^p/^riorie r-bf these .tvas -.my Gbd .t iThen
why. dblyph worship ithiS?’l%|^spi^^^
JL'llirtAlr. -ftrti ir, ' v^i4rtfr^rT*al-ll^ ,Ko/'V\hr*>o I
31X1

ribh|icldrig:;yodi;hath:OT^ pf cardboard 'and.-

h0,trifefe;pri^,:phiibsbp^^^^^ to ,teii you is

j-'s’t 1 jJy4»SL^+' 'T '%^’*ySir% +* 4-v-\ *+ysll . . * t(-v» t
’
"•

it:;morG,- IS

fnjriecc^^ri-I^adihaiph'ih^ffiiehem (^itymah^ ,
': .Vi:

;tb;;m^.'(ItrdpeS'-ribt;:mhttbr4oirhbi'^TO , !
-

'iri'Vseyeri;>Mghhlslx^^ GodVin'isdying'iBIP:;,-
:Be|ause)hiphpfiM.mele xeUgtohsrthefe;^ ahdV.' ' V'.

;|ubcaste^>|ilhefeafej^ 'pastes'rh-thisfcbunfry 'HOw-many-, : V

rt^ing^tpVddpiH^;.^he^^fe^^^ ok Tbrikale.’,
:{Ihefbj^yVc^ffercncchej^d^tHeseft#^ , ' -

t ltT^lf‘irJS>'r'W*alf>--Vv*^<«»'>*>s '
j "i-i .-li.’yi'J! . 1 r'Vri.l ....iX.. ^
 98 A'HeART Fui£;pF']feuRD^'

was Sahishnuta: tolferance/. Arid

today the world, is;,

desperately short bf that one comrhbdity. You talk of the great '

American dream: 16 kinds of mill«, 60 kinds of chocolates,;

16,000 kinds of cars. “Are you jealous' of it?” No. Jealousy
is something which you, do not have at the age of 60, when

^you have, silver in the hair... I do not even .have, silver in the
.
.

hair, I have Sahara in the hair, gold in the tooth, lead in the
;

legs., I am envy or jealousy, yet anybody, clufi

not, talking of.
:

go and pickup a machine-gun', walk into a school -and -^ilk

20 children for no reason at all. Because probably he
fought with his ivife or he carne out of a distorted famikl'-oli
husband and wife in perpetual quarrel. It is better to be^lpng
be a child in a family wffhere
to a single parent family, than to
there is distorted relationship between the husband
wife. Likewise in India somebody superimposed his y^titute’!;'
said“women cannot read Vedas”; It is .convenient ^criptsi'^^t
some rubbish by saying that women cannot read th‘^wheri ;vp
Where is it written that women' cannot read the Vedi%31his!:->1
There are only four blbpd’ groups^ with two varjatighs^;^;
There is A, there is -B there, is AB arid p/j and there:is:RH
;
, ;;

positive and RH .negative.. When you say -this you Kaye::

described all the possible varieties of hurri^ blood; Thenvwhhv
is this trying to tell trie, “You are Sridav, I am QBp'tLa^^

BBC, and CBC”. Kerala arid neighbouring stafesiareTighto^

over whose cashewnut it is. In Karnataka, and Tatiffl "Nadu,;
they are trying to find out whose river Cauybty .is. Cayy^
has the dirtiest bit of water and still my grandmbther. sbid,'=^
“please bring all the.waters into, this counriy’hrWe .have lg^^
Sindhu to the Zulfiqars and Benazirs long ago :v;H^dw'riiariyf;:
ways which can you wear a single piece .of six.;yards .b
in ,

textile, around the bbdy.,of a beauriful.wom^?df 'be^^^.;';

fashionable for South Indian children; to w^k around in the v,

Gujarati way ohwearing a sari. Then ybuhave.apgbrgi ivay
.

of wearing a; sari, you Have the jBengali way of '^earing- a ^

sari of which the fundarnehtal is that fhe bunchidlkeys.ra^^ >

be at the.end of ...the ,sarl, so that the daughterrinJau? will

 '

take, away from youl' What haye we nqt done to split this
it

counhv into little bits ahd (pieces ih the; name of water, in’
the name of language and in the name of' Religion?:'
'

Today India is backwardj India is.hiingry,' 25 per cent of

the 'people are living in slums. Bombay’s population has
crossed ten million.. Fifty per cent df'it is living in jhuggis or .

jopa fpattis. Delhi is inching towards ten million out of which

45.per cent is living in slums, brought in by some outstanding
political leaders’. Shall I mention you the name? Why
should' I? •;

This India of mine,’ this India of yours,’ this. India of ours

,
-

was'argreat; country lo'ng^^^^ the Britisher- had’ found his

.'-^irthing-jenny ‘(through^ which^^^ doth. Long before
^•{thafj we.'Used to - make textiles which' ran through a ring in
v|grder.;to .make’.thb world’smost beautiful muslin. India
^exported all kinds, of -spices to the West. It exported
'

i: .imovyledge.! What' iS thisTU-abic numeral? The Arabs took it

;ifrorh;U3 during the- course of trade, sent it to the’ West and

the.WestdddaycaUs’ it the .Arabic numeral. That is why. the : .

Indian Constitution' (one. of the -yvorld’s most secular

cOristitutibns) 'says^that. when Hindi is psed as’ an. official
‘

'
lahguage'the hurheral td’he'nsed is the international form of’

the -Indian- niimerd:’(Why should they be so apologetic about

-Today, all oiir linguistic- harlots must put

number, the; bus
, buiiroute, number Jonly in Devnagri numerals. They must have
car p!ate,:humbers> in,. Devnagri because thby> forget that the
fundamental; purpose’ of danguage. is commuhication. Does -

lariybody'iit^'back;^^^^ question,- ‘-what- is 'the purpose-

'

'Of,dahgudge?.’Ms it,,t6’4ivide?ls1t to prevcnis'omebbdy talking

,
to •sorneb6dy?uWehay'e an' apocryphal story; of a SardaijiP;hd ‘
’.

.
;w^si‘as]#d.-by;a mu-?' (which when
translated :;meant^j^ the^Sardarjl knew Taniil); The- ;

.'''•'B<m|ablgbt|^^;ian^ andm ‘Punjabi ,tera bap.\ What-'-

’
,;^%d^p^ib;amprgvemehfe in' 'education-^ince ’
1
' ^?d?P®ndence!'-^cbim :had,^13 .universities;- "today ( I
 :

has more than 200 universities; There. are- speciaiisi^^^^

universities like agricultural universities/' hohicbltutd
universities, animal husbandry univcrslties//The?:e are ceritt^
universities, there are affiliated universities, there :are‘cieemed
^
universities, there are nndecmed universities; 'thete ;brev;
universities without Vice-Chancellors and Vice-Chanfce|prs/,-
without universities. In Tamil, Nadu, We have a Mveriltyj:;:^
which has had no Vice-Ghancellor: for the last six- mqhfhlT'^
In Kerala, they have a university where'a-yice-Cfmcelior
cannot because the students said “we' have had;ehbiigh;<^^\
enter,
of you, do not come in”. And yet the,state,of.educatiqh;ihS‘
this country is such that it needs one order of.; the. Supreme /'?
Court a day to regulate medical, college- admissions, t^at/i-
price education? -

Can one stop talking about the diversity of this country? -V

Just think of the v'arietyJn dresses.- Just a plain- dhoti, can he b.
worn in 18 different ways. The AndHra way?:of-weanng;.it,-'/;
the Tamilian way of wearing .it, the -Kerala' \^y of wearingV -

it, the Gujarati way of ,weanng it,\-,the Maharashtra jWa?^, of

wearing it, the Bengali way of
mentioning to you about the diversity, of this country-^
wearirig:1t'.-: The rcasoir/l ^
somebody does not say, “isn’t it.time to have dictatorship?”^^
No way. Our country can’t have dictatofshipv/The
in its wisdom showed in 1977; as -most pepple/were ;aifr%'d/.^^^
of saying in 1975, that “we dori-t want dictatorship.’V^^e/
would much rather, breathe the free air ratherldian.?get4h'#^
benefits of somebody putting- up a poster; at/Delhi airpo^v:;;
'

saying ‘Progress Is, a^orie-way street, keep mb,^g:;-pp wW

was done in 1975. Keep moving- intb'the .Muslfm/pa^^
the country with bullTdozers? /•;:'/ • .b 1// ,
,/

I don’t want you to get. into, doubt at

. * >' . \ .-f'
'
'
. tl' /’ ,'.l 'Ji ^ i'
’• y- '

three opinions,: So'hav/-bah' these \pebple,;bb;^byi2 rned';hy?/^

one -man’s opinion?,, it,- is .likeri'keejp/lb/the lbft’ hil^'r'-^
Comrnissiprier of Police Js tr^ng-;to,?erifQrbb jnfhe ;sa*eafe;0|/
: .
~.!
'rAn^iidi “Arid :
riri'^^rt'e'=b'4MVes-,i^^^^ dd);the'''lelt:- -jThi's
'

iiav>'dnt-hT}"rfi?mrSrr?!'rti •
., - '•

iJid^Vight to/-,
',:6rie:ia'w-|br‘ sordel?6dy-and ,

''‘•''WiQr’iSmebodyr|isri;^'YourM^
yf;|!awsbriarigei:WitH;fed%yiP5”?;!n^^
'

• 4;:tridJ'ab(/.vTHbre?was;'a?'Hing>in‘(^ and
'bell

Vi^idVariybbd^'.whbxis ''dissali^ied;‘witH' -jusficfe cari/cornd and

'

5-.,,nrig-i(tAAilri':'gnri;;day^^^^ -.was siffirfg' iri-'the 'courty^d--

.V'Wrieri;he:beard:;tiie:be}l/.:He/i^^ <

;^'fjv^a^riirigin§’iit.;;SiricejtH'e abiUty, to taUs. tocows,

\p:i h’eb'sk6<dvo*y?hat^iisithee^”/:Thc;coiv;5aid ,ran -

^^,^|;6yerf:myidb!f';land^ >tbe- king.- said, .‘‘cut

I
U'“

^.^'idfldempcrac^' carries bn^AvMAR^ of -

^^.^^tnef'^burifrylis-iri'fay^ very clear

'

j/;,!^itKab;wMa{ ,,^e;‘nfeed ;,is^benign-"diGtatbr>^-ButfWhere,;s .w&i’

'
j/^‘;i3uyjhiniA:isdte'ciyailable4n^iGori
'cr''i;ririy0pra;;Kpunf2urt :;fie'iayailabIfe)on 'vMount ^ ^
Is
’

be
;;'^arai|able;:fc’?Cho\^ringhee?/We',cadriof^^ dictatori-'-.

.absolutely, bomeboay correcteq me

(V\the}p|bertday:ahd[^a1d<‘pbwefAbh^
ui Wd*« •4'>^ ^yOf***^ .I. - -. »-v ' 'f '•'f.r. ,-» .V
 1 02
||
A Heart Fpll of Burden

French Constitution, the German Constitution, Every

Constitution put together the Constitution of India. You
is

have added one more schedule about defection. There is one

more law which says twenty divided by three is not less than
seven. Does it sound familiar? Twenty divided by three is not
less than seven suitcases perhaps. .
'

The Constitution of India, the like of which the rest of

the world has not seen, was amended 73 times in the course -

of the last 45 years. The 73rd amendment was passed'"'

recently. I suspect that today’s newspaper says it is going to
be amended for the 74th time in order to clip my wings
because I am a bird. One day the Government realised
somebody can misuse the Constitution. So somebody went
and passed a law saying that the President can return a .

proposal of the Cabinet once. After the nightmare of .1975

to 1977, the Constitution was amended to say that' the
President cannot say no to a signature, if it is sent back to -,

him once again by the Cabinet. “Oh, Seshan why do you >

bother about these Rajya Sabha merribers and their ordinarily

residence status”? 1 said, “What wrong have I done?” “Seshan
tries to find a new law." What The Jaw says nobody
rubbish.
'

can be a candidate for the Rajya Sabha unless he is' 35 years

*

of age, he is of sound mind, etc., and an elector in that State.

Today they are talking of amending" the Constitution to take
this law away. have no problem, Whatever rule the
I

Federation of Football Associations lays down, I will blow the

whistle according to that rule. But .do, not blame me for
-

blowing the whistle according to your rules. am not saying :I

this is my rule. How many of you haUe read the Constitution

of India of which the first Article does. not say that India will'
be divided into states. It said India shall be a Union of States.
Which came first, the hen or the egg? l .

The Rajya Sabha alone has got extraordinary powers.'

May I you the simplest of examples? If the Rajya Sabha

give
passes a resolutiori, and says this subject is transferred from
;the State list to the' Union list^ it is valid, for one year. If the ^
 ;

Si^HAN- 103

:
koic Sabha’ passes itV"that,:changG. is''not ,V^^^ The Rajya
;
:Sabha is the.brily^Sabha v^hich'-has th^
"a resolution- sayingiprohibition would be-tal^en oiit 6f the State

list, and put'ifitb the- coricurreht list fist Only

-
the.Ra^a; Sabha eah pass-it. That Is why the founding fathers
passed, priaw and, -said that Rajya. Sabha niembers are the
.

: tepresehlatiyes bf .the States. And how dP you find they are

representatives of the State?, They must be electors in the

'State. : So,tnewhere else, they wrote in the 1950
Representatioh of. the People, Act, in order to be a
' .

representative, one sTiould be an elector und in order to be

elector '-heishould be '21; years of age. No, mow we have
Tprogfessed widiThe rest, mf the world; so we made it 18 years
;
’pi a'ge;^'?you stiputd notvb.e.ol unsound iplnci,you must not
be' disqualified under =anyr-iaw,-.to you must be an
ffbrdihaniy fesident thete/,And you go and say I am ordinarily
'-a.vresidenf in the .outhouse, of die sarpauch of the village, .

where there Is no p of furniture, whei'® there is not even

'fa.threedcg stool; If the honourable Foreran Minister of India
. j’s elected from sdrne village of .Haryana
.
, ,
he is an ordinarily
: -fresideiif because, he has taken the pufhousp of the sarpanch
-i oh tenffthbugh'he’-has sta^ied there even for one day
fsihcebefegisfered’ himself —,neid^ -nor after. They
^’,^id:-“ManmOhari;Sirigh.is.a'gpod; Minister Wiy are youafter ^

exempted frotn the requirements

•him?’V$’0 gppd'i^inisters OTe
,
of the law?;’horig,,befpre f even dreamt pf coming into this
'

’^^dip^ManmohamSingh' Was.ipy-ibenefact^ par excellence!

f Tlbmsedsto ;trbaf ih^ or even a; son,
(^t^withi:su<^Tender?afleGUq^ i-arh’-phly.tryifiS to say that^there
\\ismnedaw.'' Th’atJaw mUkPe -enforcedron'everybody, -without!
^ fear,brfaV6up'' -'/f
•^r,tj?!ThptGi^^e'th'ciP^ an'di the State Legislatures to,

,v;|hake44^ys-!!Wha^^^ bfPariiamenfdd^we have? Would it

on. the '

VTldpr*bfy,Pah|a^ Didn't.'>ve see ^ •

'

:0.fPf?®l?9!^^~^Pteteng2impbrted^ the. wrong

 . , ' ,

: . butfon when the vote of confidence was taken on the floor

V - -
of the Lok Sabha on 28 August 1993? Or, is it that those '

; , ; ,
who. are doing wrong things are not doing wrong but those
.
^who speak about it are wrong people? In 1991,-1 had 200 •
.

;= election deaths during the elections in UP, In November 1993 ,,

there -Were two deaths on an

day in Itah and they
election,
'

•
-were not connected with the elections. But since -they took ;
•

place on an election day they said ‘election murders 2’; ~ >

And yet at the end of it our friends in newspapers tell rhe

that out of 425 members in UP Assembly, about 180; have- \
criminal records.Of these one member has 18 HRs not A —
one or two but 18 FIRs for murder against him.
There is a Legislature and then there is a Judiciary and
there an Exeuctive.
is

What a stage this country has passed to in terms ;of its

Executive! Was this the country which produced H.M, Patel?
Was this the country which produced Chintaman Deshmukh? •

I keep saying that the Indian Civil Service was neither Indian'
-
.

nor civil nor service. What is the Indian Administrative

Service, except saying: I Am Sorry, am saying in public that
I

the civil service in India has got reduced to the condition of

Several people wrote to ask me, '‘‘what
‘ •

polished call girls, is

your experience with call girls?" How docs it bother you? It

is like the lady who went to the zoo and went on asking the

zoo-keeper the age of the hippopotamus; Arid he went bn

saying “Madam, I do not know.” And the lady vyas also
looking something like a hippopotamus., piriallyf the zoo- , .
^
keeper lost his temper and said, /-Madamj.'the'orily persbri
'
:

who can have an interest in the age of-a.hippbpbtamus is a . .

hippopotamus of the opposite sex, are^you that?” What does ;

, :

it matter what my experience with call girls is? Have you

not ‘
.lv

converted the service of this country into, a. hopeless pulp?

.

civil '

It nice to criticise and say they do /not -stand

is up.; . Who. , \ .

reduced them to this cond!hon?'The.poIiticians?,No. ;Vbu did ^

accuse you. When a good civil servant was there, nobody

it. I ;

.stood up to support him; When a bad civil servant was there, >
’

. ;
 — '

. -.T, 'Ni'SESHAN

•'

.
was hardly 'arlybody who stdod up to say, “this fellow
there'
,is a rascal, throxx; him out. .Is it not true? The younger
’"

generation; the largest number of thbm who are between the

age 20 and 30, are' not more responsible. But f am talking
.

'
of the old'people, what were'they doing when this was being .

;
: done? Of course when the- officers found- confrontation not

-veiy successful, they become collusionists, and they are fully

'

, committed to it. Why not? If the house is on fire, why not

go in and pick up at least a fountain pen lying on the table.
The government of this country is described as 10 per
-cent, government or- ‘16 per cent government, in different
parts of. the .country.; '"If J. am getting 10 per cent for
'

-
>sombbc)dy,'Why not retain 1 percent for. myself.” But at the
•'-bottom of all this corrU}Dtion is election. When I finish the
-r /analysis' of the three gigantic pillars of India’s democray
,
.
. : : the hegislatwe, the Judiciary and the Executive you and I —
• r can for the nest of the evening, rest of the week, rest of the
'

;
-.month, test of the -year, rest of our lifetime, exchange stories
. -asto who was' more corrupt than who.' -

, :
'

-In .thislcormection. I turn my attention to the media. In

’.-any case, ibwiil write something against me, so how does it
. './. matter, whether. the‘ water goes over the head one -foot or
.
'
iOpO/feet? TheTesult,is, the'-same. What have -the journalists .

'

':6f;India^d6rie?; t'heir 'contribution is limited to say that this

; , "manJsrigHf and; that 'man won’t say niorc except
is/vvroftg.- 1

me on,e Sqiiare foot of dry ground in this

..-asking^ypuld ,fehow
/entirexo{mtry,v;You/aret^^
: to pafnton a canxfas which is

/ / V/^^V^pS> Imlfe'middle is it tearing? -It is -

'Xitoanhg.irtv'fbeTuhjabi-Tt^ it is tearing ^Kashmir,

and- 'Nagaandt.it/is'.'tearing- in -Bihar, it is
;..';f/b;e^een:--.^ssam; - :

':
\ V;Searipvip‘;the'hiakaliteTegb^^^ tearing in
iS' Hyderabad-arid /
"
.it is tearing
islanded. Al!.;over ,,

tmn-aparbby people' who are *-,

the bottom. And •

 :
106 - AilEARTlFrai,OFB^
j{ ;

rnind you, I arn

talking -abdut India
elecuons. byt about
sweat, tl :ana
Someone, asked me the’ othpr fdan ^
"cr -

Narmada or against Narmada?” 'ram neither

wnen Dread was no^aMable,:

several pedpte.hei^e iiirUip
’=^'^^*"9«byided^bv the:e*^^
puMc^siiotof

itsreqSfemOTr*toria'^°—
Aa*SrM
Basipati rice? Let us also
^ enough

export cotton, lohgstaple

grains, sb &t Me.':';
bbttori-'^- 1 >

.%y-,9!Mnp,restricHons oh.
aoata Th-^'^
again. This IS a typical sdenarioj'

P^^^^^;^oUsh;milk;;but!od®‘v^|S'^
a c^r^y
^
^ J^ord,.
su^ering.^ atdeasttiri.tf^e
from the problem,
markedhg;»
of; surplus irni]k.>;Dh«Kuheh
justf back ha^ng vi^ted Ghiha,to:off]oad%i^^^^^^^
Chinese. Today .milk is flpudn^m
India;;:nevdi:jhind;r#the
sometimes turns rancid. Ll.cwpn't;ciabpj;ate)-p^^^^^
erause.why talk of coal, in
New<:astle;;:%ere:W>as.a',]Bme^^w^
n la ccmld only produce
the,.cparsesr; i^nety W- bxbte;
supply^e^Birmingham industi^rraa^feflltd®^
apparel chiefly produced in
;India}- Today 'even himipbiicdfe^^
are ^othed in terylene.
l.thirik thalviS;^
A
country which did'ndt ’rn^e'ipihs
'arid-heeffl fs-tpday^'
rna mg planes,
rockets^,artd.*-:,sdte]lites,> and we'- dd?:haye :>
;

biotechnplp^ and dpd'tep^

j;; •
iC
n the surface level one Gdn;gptpn1gupd^
dQr}supc^s’%
s ory but ;Oti.- the" inside
there: is ';r6bfh 'rl6irsappa]}ihg;-l^^^
Pecause^^at ;passep,for/the:=pe^^^
IS ;ip.-itsrTuhr^-
,ins«tudons.;:^d>-^ dpi>the/;mimp?
 1 ;

'
“'*”"J''""'“r'''*rv''*'“'‘?“'''““'' V "
'V'''r^, /'i' iii>/r7y' -.
''i^ Vi'
V

; ^ijihslitutlohi; ’3f^4hfe;X:pUfi^c is^jliotvS^

:|i,)(;^ant,^P; pbipe -ba^^f'fS^lhevrh^bte^^ ^ ;

;^«it'fe:'b.7*^fobrben,ahd^:58;'fOTbvbm4n'^Tfier^
f:w'6meh'twhlbh ‘
'^brd ’Sha^tKy}'
: A In ’t>ur ^pationd?;i2rad}catibn.prbgramn^ V
'V'vnafiQnal';-'^drfc‘between;^.OM%ul:'ahy\vofd^^^^^

i
'.faiaria; -saiariaV'Evet;^ j^radicafed.,; Ib'cpU'V :

Jfi<Biharv1ti!;vaa;;le|s’^h^i'':i^^pen!cbrit^^
Rrr\i\f\a‘ 'VirAmon-ictVttn .^iri.''Ain ,r^oV-'ronl-V If iS;ho^' Hp.raV5*;P>* .

:U:t^tii;;n}6|hi|^e:b}tifbat^;basic;;fed^
-.1 i¥i'}hiiSt^anda'/ii7 iirLrnakWn?-xA'^’k('i'i^-‘Xm

;r:^;fjr^^j\^|Y^|_r§Ye^|jteV|:barabtbn‘sh'd§‘^^^^

;;\WBichvcii^'^
 . :
'

108
I
A.Heart Full OF- Burden
'

day in Maharashtra the Governrnent hdd>buiit houses'

slum-dwellers. But executive engineers of the Governibenf ard .

staying in tliose slum improvement houses'. They; arte built; i

by the munificence of a hundred crores of rupees to Bofhbayf'^^
I will tell you my favourite joke. In all the' cities .of this country ;

there is no power shedding because power shedding does:,

not take place in India. That is load shedding.. Nobddy shed^;;;
power. It is a characteristic of power that once ydu acquire
it either by election or by appointment,' you never, shed rit;'

One of the fundamental laws of Indian thermodynarnics ^

that you never shed power, you only shed load; .! ’am only-;
trying to suggest that the quality of life in this ..country hasf’

reached abhorrent levels. What willDunkel do -to. us, .what '.-

will Dunkel do to drinks, what will Dunkel do to .rhilk? AVe

'

you going to patent seeds in this country? What a tragedy "if

would be, if you patent seeds. I take no sides.^'Durikel'is of '^

no concern to me. • •
^ ‘

There was an Air India hoarding during fhte;’Kera}a.’; .

years ago. “Kerala eiectidhs"; Air -India wrote,

25
’

elections ,

of my business”. Because nuns were being exporied

.'
“is nun
in large numbers. I want to tell you the quality ofdife -ip this

country is atrocious but that alone does npt bother

ultimately bothers me is that evciy single, instftutioh of 'this

country is eroded and centrally eroded by corruptionr l have

,
,

suggested and I make the sugigtesdpn .once; again for rriy

‘.

Gujarati friends. For your benefit>cach bhe, of. y^

that statement which says below "the dhree lions- Satyarpei^^^
Jayate and change it to Hfshuafeua .Jaydte. .Whdt^^
be more appropriate? - c'; ;

Tel! me one aspect of life in, this Cobritry .which Jf' not
steeped in corruption. You may well; ask,,, “how; does .

concern you, Sir, why don’t you talk about-telectipm?r ;;

Yes, it concerns me. Because the fUndainent^^^^ .

isbasedtentirely ;
corruption in this country is the election. It

on cash, corruption and criminality: People ask mte,-';:Siiv;,wh%^

is wrong with India’s elections? Why, don’t ydu'.ttelI;i^A;GsuaHy^i
 f JW.

;• ^I’ariswerJt wi&’ what ^s 'right wA InBia-s'teie^^ There

OTe- people ,wlto ,gQ,'.Yal% Vecia,=;Saittia arid Atharva Veda,

^ , :but 'primarilyXna'osfc elechpnsi arei-' done, dri ;the basis of Rig

; Vedair.Because'ithey'^diofteP hd^^^ boofe ,

.
-capterin^A^^ dUl sei-yice inTndia a
Is

'xom^itteU'Givil ‘Semce;npw.{C>pnT thin talking of

itliei^S:Ti^;%iiking of ,the highest 'rriah:® the highest chair
'.iniDelhi to the -lowest mart in'rihe. lowest mohalla in the

}
village; not to swim .against
They, have .decided 'ttiat-ttjis bettet; .

the'xurrentv...But .along can pick up

,\yitH‘ the'. current -^you .

,-vyhatever' you;,can^p^ck^hp^^ route: Whorn do you hold, '

'
}fedppnsib)e for-4li;this?-The'.Giwl.'^^^^^ and dtS; neutrality, is- ,

.;
1 vthe^Gentta^,i;u'rt^in;;brt which-tpe erithd election system rests:
' Tri';iripura/T-caugh^ oT Police, .the DIG, of Police
’
T -andv.theT.i^ollectpr .sitting ,w^^ and party
party. Minister
I
--
’Workers,':; discussing, hpiyitp'.bapt^^ votes.. .But I couldn’t do

ahything. Because the goverhmerit says* ‘‘you don’t have .the

' pp^er-’T-“Moy;/dib:ithevDP. elections pass ,6ff peacefully in
•. •. NgvemberT’ 'TVeyrhy su'spiGibn that -ithas something to do
•
t ^uipmen^
vwthithehusiness As, many as 60,000 men. ,

r',- Vwbre:sWitp;DP.'and,’thatTi,ad.‘tls:pffe^ highest

vofer^ten-^putjanH.hundreSs^pf'poqr pepple carrie- and said,, .

^1 pUr. life.|his happens be itie. first tirne that; we could

:

; ' yo,t4”b\%iy.'yras eyer^irig,,quietand,.d Because business

equipment t:was;;a>ailahle..O^^^ fear, of the-
'

TApdrdls.thdrb^^
Ruhjab
lei ^rndTell youj because •

vt;pen^;.seni';:3q^ '

to T3' Paxliamentary
•

;T<^§rist||ieTffiM;^ a inad man who

”
? o1^|;^§';^?^yp|io.ri^n} -aTtlil^luhcture, .His -EKcellericy -

Punjab, met me and

He‘ then wbnt to the

'don’t; want any

sea-change So I
'
no A Heart Full of Burden :
'

said,“what has happened in Punjah/ ha\fe ^e^'prod^^^

hundred Gills or what?” He said,^“No'Tip; it;:is '6ur'<^
decision.” Then
wrote .to the Home: Secretary
I

Government of India: “About 125 people^have'beeh-pullid^^

out of trains and killed in cold blood 'in the^last^4S h'oui^^
The car of the Honourable Minister of/ State'- for^Home:-
Subodh Kant Sahay has been blasted by. a mihe^ybu.ft
Punjab is in a fit condition?” I got a reply frGrh/the'H^
Secretary to the Government of Iridia saying, “we have, serif/

10 more companies”. What kind of,; companies; have 'ybU /

sent? What is the number of people in ten corripriniesV I dori’T;
know. I only asked him whether the law arid order -situafibit-'"
in Punjab is appropriate for. holding ah elechoripr not/I will;:

tell you more of on 12 December 1996

it the day iVefiref;-;
During the last July elections I had asked the Goverrimerit^/
to send more police to Tamil Nadu because me Chief Mini^bf/
.

was being rather strong. About' 20 Congress- 'MPs said lhafi/

“we can’t even gp to the villages, because .fh^y 'bbat;U'|';bp. j/
with cycle chains.” So I said,- “please send some Geritral'./
police”. The Chief Minister, asked for ,^veri.‘Cpmpariies/anp:/^^
they gave her seven companies of Central pbliccr Xhey iCpuId '/:/
have left it at that. But the Goviernriient. of India gratuitoU^^
decided to add to the insult ahei said, .“you Ka'vemb^
ask”. Whereupon ! postpbned;the/eledioris tii{ .Decem ,//

hell broke loose in Parliariienf and the/rightyhori^

Attorney-General came and expressed ;h.islnglih^^^^ .

views. The Government said, ‘we wll take if fo&e^

Court”. I waited for 48 hours. Thcy;did;riot/fi
to the Supreme Court rit 10.45;A^:;At%40T:P|^
powers are, wjtH;,^bu/an^^^
Justice of India said, “tlie
the elections back., So what niistri% did Tm
.ybu,;tO;rub:.;t.j;>
as you seem to imagine, a ’plbcCpf foofma^^^^^^^
: ' '

)U -cbihelrif.ahd
 ,

jV/^**-* \'^'j *''‘’^^

'
0. "^‘i

-'.i.'- i’ -#-.<*- ' '*''

.
-r . Z f*‘
'

-'
:s;

Ve<5uire's^t0^'up't^<3n^bete and-%e&^nd;-co^Uption -f

requires crimin^^^yi
• rb;ihqp|3pqple\ •

and tlien they-said'b'fwftyf^hpl^^ d'.se^e-you, d

'

/‘?The;tepfr|lii^:of;Indiab'Jbbi}tics|tbday^^
:and; corippdqny^^0yHb-iS;'r<^6nsibld
'Xs-* •» tAi t 'oVW

. every, single lihing-iliatimsxee'ntirll-’ib^'Puf-'-existen

•
destroyed'; by- repeated >bl6ws\on.vtHe;;bpdyi:pp^
cverybpdyVkept/^quiebsasnngV^at-^'^is-bqbsn’t'icbncern
.'‘“'We drtn’tbd DOllind^B6bdr>AXfe'b

day.ua'tb'idequestiqrij.q!vV^-;is‘my:riaipebd^^^
i supposed’ tb-bBebli;l$50-tnillibn,riarn'Gb^^ .Were’’ ijo.d ? A
personjfljed;;hcquldVnpt;i;Haye'";clieck^^^
''cbh'spiracyTbXbpffi'/ineffiaeric^sand;;^
pambsdn<dl^e:pp|iti'g;1ist&'i^PdayI^^
',b|;«ig^;^eda|ldtW^t;Ben|ai;,;and^
;bsin§\delib'eratqiy^d|ietedf:JI:iier|lare?mdn|/J'’^^^
and^ayiiieip6|itbd'^eise^^^^^ bubtbeir’;''.
;c>vyH'narnes:^,e'ripfthere;;|pd}Ms4f;^^^^^
‘Nam^:'€^bibdeddp‘^;SelKi';inciuded'su^^^ pdl-
 J12 - '

/ .
AHEARTTuii;6FBURDEN\j\\;,{'-:cT/i^>^k":>,y:e

ration, mai^e the card useful for,ernplov;rnent,; rthke,t^h^Sd;

useful for. hospital; schooland everything’” From Febnj^'-
1992 to August 1993, 1 waited and iwaited.-'jn reply, there!
was a thundering silence. Finally in August i got into Uchdn
since I.have the powers to issue the order.: Whatever
cure, I will cure. have found out 150.,v*?asis in which elections;
1

today are being damaged. I would like to publish them: one!

day for the country to know about it; ;• r ! '
,•
/,

Somebody had asked the Chinese, ’In which .directions

are your missiles aimed at?” The Chinese technician, who ,

did not wait for the reply from Beijing,^ said, “the aim is -at. .

all 360 degrees”. Likewise ! am trying to deal with problems

related to every part of the election. There are sorne which,
are within my powers: You bet your last penny that if it ,

becomes necessary I, shall grunt, ! shall, growl, I. shall hark-

cind ultimately i shall bite, And don’t ask me why an Alseshan -

bites because customary for, art A /seshar? to Bite. For, 'it;

it is

is better to light one candle than to' curse the darkness.f Hence

light one candle. Next time there is ah elecddn and sbrnebody

who is not fit stands fpr- election, prevent him; Stop wrong-'
people from trying to get into the A'ssernblies and Parliament;-,;
. You can. Tell your children, Sisters .andhrothers pot to.b^n'-
.

buses because .the only, person to ipfofit by burnihg buses;' is

the glass company and the purchase manager of the; hanspbrt;^
system. Because hc; gets his 1 O', per cent. Whose; buses are
.

you burning? -These are my buses 'aild W*dr bus^,' ft;is; "rhy
train and ypuh train :that you are buihihs:^nci:,W.roug^
country the poojf .young children haye' heemmadeipav^^^^^^
this.game of phess. .
.

, .
My objective is to
,
mirrbhtp iyou, and sat),^ .aGCUse;
hold a,
^

you” Because when your mother ari'd .my mdth'a^ '^ere being ;
.

subjected to harassment you 'kept silent; :i^y:;gehei;ahbm;.is :

. aboutTp! slip put of -active; work; HOr ;Gpd;s. sake ;get;up. arid ;

'fight. L
The m.edia thinlts-I.'ahV;ang^.;I aW-;nT
5 '.arigW; - ani angry .only Pn behalf pTffib 0061163;: -lis this thT
 ; '

'^>'-^p\^jt^ ^of' GjitxjdS^^jiTstQQir!^ ,

Into th© tissvcn of
,

.'i^li-«’?0;'TXrU'iV’,1^;t-i/^ rsf. Ho?n?on gfg

Japuai>/;^^6a Mil -^r sing^

"1
V"evet3|6iT/,h'’'single}';|3^r^ to say that
^c6pl any Job.”
-fKit v^Vm infnj? - PmKaW

'cpuntiy’s.-pplifi are full-

t'tjm'e;'prbfessibnai;ppliti^ ;,
- ; .'•'

:
J5|;Ple^eJfiri^eb?^^ tor &is.,cpuntry,' please
nd can' improve

;4;\am:;:Bhis}irii'a:iy3n^^ori
'(dl^rqj}aniCC)ines;^ni|;btpUi^'a ;,;

' '
tlenSbglvof ypffiiPs^itfgrnbrse^^^^^
j^wfiichiypli ran!^uptb0f-Ifam'jriPt';ablp:'^^^
tdftti?isi^pun'try^yih';ldie;.n^t

^J;|eb!r,:fi;vimigWj\Gbme/t^.;th‘c';^^^
t'-' iVria^»»aUaVi1o‘"nrnn«HnK:ifiV-'4hor’o'ic’;nr%';f»Amf'’iVi'4^75Hn‘'ti^*-n';aU-o.if''‘''.

:'
J?J^Milm^p{a^ep|jTi^|eipiOT|l|lityy^
;ybeJ|:undyib'#yoU\dp^
,,;iip|M3(|jp^|^syrej5;QpyG|^^

ahbp.f!-' nof‘-iyHHr'ai’*cf>f‘'n1^tort«"i'a''r/<f
 History is Good for Lunch,
Not fof Sleep

B ears ago, bur forefathers finaHe-U tryst witti destiny,;

'

have made fantastic arnoimt of progtess sin^^^

enormous amount of modem techhqlo^ related
inforrriadpn
to the computer, computer softw^e, ahd cbrhputef' hardw^e.
We are way up somewhere mear die tqp; of biqtechn^^^
not, quite at the, top though. ;/^d:s6me’ of the:iyor}d”S’;,r^^^
algorithms are solved by Indians educated -in IlTsiof
difficult
-
Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras arid .f^aragpuh. We/have-^
,

several successes to our: credit, all of ;'whicfr-it' isf

intention to list. I used to live as ah- anon^ou^^^^^
in the days in which these progre^es were'fnadeVin fhb fialg^

Speech delivered for the Citizens /or; T^alidnai/Conseti'sus;f 'Bombay,

'^20 December. J993. ' ’ t;v':
 . '.

'by the' goVefhments at tKe^dehtfe iahd inthe States.' Yet- tn a

large^part of.^is‘.Gountryttdday there:is no drinking water. It

iday. Be six and:a half years from the. middle of year

2000,-;the hppuiatioh of india'-^l-ctoss a billion, ntark, that
is,/a' hundred -crdve 'of people; :But ‘would’ you believe' rhfe,
'
when ( tell you 'that but of those, 40 per cent, 400 million
•people; "larger than the rest? of the' world put together, will
be, living in urban agglomeration, areas by 1 July A.D. 2000-
which'is not very far away. God willing, God unwilling, many
of us will stiilbe arpiind’at that tirhe. Gut of these 400 million

/ people, -at '-least ' 50; per -.cent, if riot' more,- will be livirig in

Js}um'sy.:ydu; can give: these .clustersv various riames. ' You can
,,'calllhe'm /huggid^rypu .can call them' Jhpparpcrti/sV Only the
;
rirbriuhciatibriwilhvary A V .'r'"
^ ;

;y..S';;'Yes,%e ourselves bn the back and'

are all-wiilirigrto .pat

which ishow available is because

say, that rnuch bf'the, literacy
"pftthe National; literacy -Mission. Where have you succeeded
•tnost?:You;'have- succeeded in Kerala. But for God’s sake^
Kerala' got life^ not because of the Natiorial Literacy-
Missiori-hufebecause of-the Christian misaoriari'esj ;who-carhe ;-

.;,iri;fbrfheir;;;oWh',purpOsed.ahd‘ decided^^hat/educatio^^^
^health; are 'the .best 'w'ays; tO ‘make inroads into the' hurriari
ymih'di Jcan gopridcs^^^ State;that ;is India, -and fiaint
’;

'

;a -
rosy ;]jibture:- Bombayris.' brie'such' city^ tX'here <
it takes you;
. oneJ.hbUrtb prpss '.Churchgate;-'' Fantastic improvement in &
^-v!ast;five:ybars, ^since I'feff BOrribayL'Anbther five' ybars,;you;
‘-will stop all ,vstbf^s,‘pt -^^ChurGhgam ; fot : lye 'will need -a large
y^puriLphbr,ead*tb',;disp6;s^^ As Sanjay 'Gandhi
i^said;''^ ‘‘ptogressds.:a-'-'d^ moVing’’: . We are
;
.
•hot/everi-'obleidhe'ep'm^^ "Y -.-"A- -v-"

'pYlMsTyery/plea^arif toh^ about oneself. > But",

^;Ko\^tdpes;-'ari-:aysi:age1ridiah;:-aphild^'o^^
,’;l60h'UppndridiY;jt-..is''less-;lhMr'^'a^^^^

:/celebra||d;thdt0Pideri'?JubllWpf‘;ffi
,,,tidrikdHe,oiBl!dreh"bfJhdid ahother’-Quit-Iridia'
f^yeniiOTfc^NPtdhd'isa^
 .

, Chowpathy. The best children now are fond; of Texas, or'^

Florida, or Miami, or Carnegie or any other university jn-tiic ;

lis. So the children of - India are in ajniood, to quit jndia. df,

,
.

you observe any 'young, set of people between tlib-age bf 20; ; ,

and 25, you would, find therri in a mood of utter d^pqration..

'
'
-
They do not Itnovv what to do. ' ,
'
, ,
.
'>
‘ '

And who
respon^ble for this? Surely, the genemtign,
is, ;

which broadly ended its tenure sometime between .1947 and

1955-1960, got us'freedotn fqr a song.\Gandhiji daught us .

how to attain freedom against the extrcmely strongly-arnied ’

enemy of imperialism without iatsely uriwg any ballets agaihst

them. I sometimes think that Gandhiji almost got us freedom;
at too cheap a price. This 'is hot out, of lack of veneratipn' bf
. Gandhiji’s memory. But I do not think we quite appreciate
that what we.have got, is, with but, little; sacrifice from ourselves.
. .
What is the status of .electibri. ahd -Wbat does election'in
India mean? Most -of- you will hot cprhprah'end .what an;;,,

extraordinarily complicated:;exercise thb ,el6ctions; in India ;.';

constitute.Today the estinnated'' population Gf/Jndia is 90,0;:

iriillion people and 'the number of ;.peopje bn
they.pieCtor^^
,
',

.rolls is of the orderhf 550 million, 55;w?j^swf

,pebple7Wheft^

ws run.an election in.the Whole of ths cp.uhbyiritiScmp'tp,.;

the tune of something like, eight ;ia^s -of IpQlilbgibgb^
'
situated in cities an'd towns, situated ,
ih;^
forests, situated in Ladaldi, Mtuat^
situated in Sundarbans.i ^situated ihThe, ,is&^ b
India. Access to some ;of -these; areas
ahd;-;a^^^^
helicopters (with the help bf Indian; Afr .FpW!s)..
places like Ra a^thand(^iy.:by v^rnefrbadkb We^p^
3

; something like .three to four milHon ,ciwl)bb;em^^

the election. That does not mclddb 4 f
need about. five ^(Six: beople: ih!eqch.l^|ng;;to
,

.
as.pdling pfficersi'i^dpbllirighffi^i)
'
one geriemii3UipQ5yh^is^banddf^^?hbly^ph^,^;^9
wehBed.exhafpsr-^PU^F/^P^
-'tirrowndh, the .bargain

; you. run an electibn'.w’e'need.fduhmillibh pfbplW;

 ^ __

••
L
-/•:’4','''“ rVf:Cr-[?j\'VVvC;^
". ,
,
. c.;’

fAha; the^tply
of =rday' 'beforer^S^rpy^i^niiirt^:'^i^?;::is^^^
*^'
t 'l«
‘
'j.T% _ 'Vl'iw'

\ nine -I: mBs\

', >
. •-'iPeopie gGrien^lybskJtiie'^ff^^b^pb;- “vi^ny:'^
'!'
a -sifiglerday^OlGctidri?)’ •
you ^atAHeiou^^^^^ ;ai '::^

far {asfl :am^.'cohcemed,',;'as:laf4MS; the,'SectipnrCdmm^^

.'=cdncehiea^\^O''afe:;,wiliin0ftq^rm

V'tKem,frangiftg'^ffdm'^:bailo!fib^;Kes-^16.vba^^^
'"^oali wire;.*'
i ':dS ^-not (f bfn((>^ve_J^ov;'ed?;b
frdabidQod because'bf’eimedrbbn'onmeiteflal'n'd^^^
-
; nb'^istake.'abdutatt 'fb'e-.Indian'^iefeli^
; Mahal; .'isebhojqfHKe; :se^eb)^bndbfe; of
'
-Pi iaf ‘^If -lef '/i>vfir5a*^ir'/-?i Wcvin T C'l
' irnrico v ^

ey-are,-,
•
'hdt-uh\Wse;pboplC'p^ey;;^|hc0i}ecrt;^ha^
' from^whefeyerthfey-'cahC—
'
adbs^ihsolMd'likd
ft ^ ^ t ^ /* V \
'
’’
'^'-t -
' '
'’’j
y ('N i'' ^ ? V
<'-
'
.'
;j j
V.' ' I ,
„ - / V, V,

;/^edtic>n'Speeph?;I,;a|3oJdgise';^Bomb%l^^^^^
to-niskA 'fhaft-Ulnd **<;Vib^rb*S'That>’''^:?iUa‘:-v'ix>bWftat>oi*^ibc>ii’:^'siVi
iq;maKe;may-wnQ;prsp^eecn;4:i;ney*taKe;5wnateyerf^^^^ y^i.

-
'?in rl A V AV'llt tA i jH
. £5 0\ y-\i f ^ A "iiVi -4l*i oi Jl'lS at r/d'- Xf » »
* >^'r ’ T T.

4^;Iearht^pheaf^tH^bxi||)^i;^^^ep
fthbvexft-jp^lIslpredipMdlsomete
‘
cKlYfoiKti^irt: ialeo i^/A'rvt^aV/ornffn/ PK>»‘j,TvsM»Lv^ “'P^A-v+Jnk

^*;4pf:ffddip>ppd;(p't';!^upon'|lhbp'Efd^^^^
 ’,:

118 AHeartFull of-Burde 2^’'"' v'i';..,; vk-vrf-'-'.V:""

simple as tliat, subject to any laws ^Vbichv ParlamehtVmay i

make on the questions of- how;, to rah'.the eiecfiphs.-^FdP,

instance, if they say everybody must face the east/ as.libiputs^
the vote in the ballot box, we will jolly well insist that; people
get to face the east. If theyus to face the west pweJ.Ml-
tell

make them face the west. That is within the prerpgaijye bh

Parliament to tell run the election this way under
us, “please f

the Representation of the People Act/ ;1?5,0 and. Un(der;the v.

Representation of the People Act, 195.1, under, the. Chief

Section Commissioner and other Election Commissibilers’
Remunerations and Conditions of Service, Act ahd'^tlle:'
procedure of the Act as passed in 1991; a?'^ecenfly rnodified
by the ordinance, to tell us how to run the interhar busihess ;

of the Commission." Not to speak;ol haying two.; more.

Election Commissioners of the same status and, rank, as -the ,

Chief Election Commissioner. If you kindly- Send .for; Article''

324 and its subsequent-sections Pariianient. is cornjpetent, to.

legislate on how
to run the- election.vParpamentis corhpeteht;';
to fix the remunerations, terms .and, conditions of semce pf..
the Chief Election Commissioner^ and other Electio^^^^^
Commissioners. I have' notiyet- seen',sbmethirig^ih’T^^^
Constitution which says Parliament is competent todegis^
on how the Commission will sweep its. flbppnnd flU .its
jug. That matter is before Parliament in ohe.^ense-thahtHc-
replace'^
Lolt Sabha has passed the enaisling, subsHtuhng law, to
the ordinance by law, and it is nowgoihsTb Haj^rSab^^
y
I hope it will get passed by. it. , , 'v
v
If it does not before the. '.Rajya' sabha
jdseSibnf Fnday^

evening, then under the constituhohai:pfb^sibrp, the jaw

become defunct on 17 January^ .Sb
and signed by the President before- th’s.^l^
hope they succeed. As. I hayc taken Jt 'th couRj'.^sprpeb^y^^^
will say, “what is your reactidn,4p,^A
commission?" For Cod’s '.sake; :thisdKiiQt^:i^,i^
The original Constitution sajjsThat ,.dVe;,Electibn-
^mmjssiom
shall consist of -thevChief Cbr^sslppep^
 . '. !
.

btlier Electiori Cornhiissipnei^^^^ the ^residentmay from time

fo 'time appoint including Jfegi6h^ ;commissioners.; For God’s
-
,

^ke/ tnultoemberdaw'was^^ in 1950 whenever the

Cbnsttotiori wiasl passed; 'V^at iS mew now is that, you have

passed the law which sayssthat
i .the Election Commissioner
.
.ivnllhavedhe ^me salary as' the .Chief. Election .Commissioner.
• when V -
•Electibn.:.Gommissiph shall as far as
' possible alfpcate work and determine the procedure, it shall
'
always' be -.done', by^ consensus,- and' if they do not do it by
..consensus, •theyvwill-dp it by •majority, .Thank God, they did
not, .say- they will kdshti in the Election- Commission
do it by’

ri.daWhfe.-.jlhfet is. .what .the pend it is .-hopefully to be

/-passed-.b'ylhe ;Rajya-Sabha .the ^Supreme Court

is your jeactibn?!! ! am-reactibnicss. Why should I

ma:ct?Uh was,not deliberate. when jWem^ Pune bn the 3rd

'
pri'4^ oh bcfober; arid fsaid a- 1,01 Election- Commissioners
^"’-are'mbt-soirig diff'erenc.d to the election
.

'
-procedum./perhapsj ihvi^i help it to take faster decisions' if
-.'there':arer-l
0,1 ypeopI^.-iniThe,, Election ..Cbrnmissibn,, I hope
i;-;
ypmUnderst^n'X^atd ,me^^
•’

;-.^:AyyWhy,de'.yQ,Uiwant:tb,-'refbrm;therelecd When it--

S'is vfurifcfibhihg^i sbyW'ell? ^Whenever -,
there -
is an election, .

yigovernmenfedre .fpripedm Goverfipfs are. active. For- bnbe, -

^ytheAGoyernbr’shhiehobci^^ tohuym' Red .Cross '

;
.

;bflag.‘'THetGbverno^^^^ active. When;, an 'election .-gets . .

fybvenyHf.-riS.ihert.Tp to- call .To form: the-

Sbvernm'ehfejSbme^
5'!
'
'Tule '.when the -

y^^oyemb'ijspfepyehe^buf'lnd;©^ -DGs
y ofypblice.-whiletthe-eiep^^^ save
.’Would- 1 -

;
^i^hchof Csayihg iHaCit: is; much- 'easier to answer -the'
'

'
:y^U^tipnw,)hbidS;'Wrpng it, with
;;fl^e;|,bb.e|tronvwKa|;OsH^igi>tyW^^^^ Some'.;.’
'

’^'':9A!t^^hihgfpoli|cal:4entliem^^ Chief
|b^’>^^mmi be^bsharn^^-bf saying that -'

K'th’e ,;electlbm;prbc'^'s ' haf ^beeni-fedubed -ta-ia iarcedn many"-

 120
I
A Heart Full of Burden •
, ^
fv^

At this statement you may rebuke me aha say;

senses.
^‘Just
now you have been beating your breast and patting yourself
on the back saying the Indian elections are the. world’s
seventh wonder. But then you say it is a farce.” '
'

, , '
j r
I very rapidly talk about the Dasarnahapathaka oi
will '

Indian elections —
the ten great sins of Indi^ elections. 'If
anybody does not get the exact count of ten do not blarne^:
me because I am not good at numbers: '
,
'
'

’
= /
The rolls are bad. The polling booths are bad. If two •

people go in, three people have to come out. That’s the kind
of polling booths we
Then there is a Model Code of
have.
Conduct which in Sanskritized Hindi is called Acharya
Samhita. The outstanding way in which the Model Code is
followed in this country is word of the ‘Model
that every single
Code’ is offended. This applies to every party which counts. -

Now, the amount of places at which the eiectipris are .

corrupted by misdemeanour is so much that you can write a ;

whole book. .

And the Election Commission was like Jesus just till the"'
other day till someone like me came into tlie scene. “To them
on thy right cheek, show thine/left also, was
•'
’’
that slap thee
'

the Election Commission s motto unwritten. And thereafter.

whatever decision is given, in any case, does not matter; You
will ask me, “why are the parties being allowed to work-out;

propaganda using all kinds of wrong methodoIogies?.",;Look

at the basic conditions of religion, caste, f'community,
language, subcaste *— this your grandmother’s nycr,; that-
is

is my grandfather’s river. You are a Jat^ 1 anj-a Yadav: You :

are a Thakur, a Brahmin. You are a Gaud SarasWat', T:;

I am ,,

am Chitpavan Brahmin. Sorry I have to, soy^all this but what •

i;

can you do to me? Oh, yes, you will impeach me and my

•

answer to those who want to impeach -me in;, good chdste

-
...
.

Hindi idiom is Aa bail mujhe man iYou want To' s^d me ' .

home today, but I did not want your job. yesterday; V : ;

I can spend the whole rhorhing. telling;,

you}.hQvv;Tig^
becomes booth-capturing. Thereis a very. .narrow lipewH
divides' .'the two Wheh^ the -.pouing;;

sticl^ and'
:cdnshtden0'^dd2eng;;^d-^ap2ehs:^^
d!her€f6icP^fenj4i^^etitffedfiefN#/|Pdil'^Tcp^^
.6^erGise;fey?frarichM;tdigthe/%^hddfrh^^^^^
,pdper;.i&oked®ea'(sKe|'tdi:bih'tqd^
^eat- difficulty;;i^,^nd

id\<thej,^bdlip|\papen?^id‘;h.d@d;dkC]i%;'"#(sE
;new^papei^^|tdp0Gddi'ke;tdd|v^^^
::^^^^he»hext^|)i:‘db!em^isdid‘0^•^d^

;haye:demdaac^:.in;dpJjaSsoi^ewh'0jli^
ji5/Hicn''':dias43tdi^ettt’dh'jNepai;tiilT^^
thV*-'’ S'
‘'“''V vtv*-—
..ic^•
'
y /•, .••‘-•- s ’-’“/-'fJ-'*' rrci

|jrincip1e;pf;deiTioCTacy^^the^righ'|;td.d!

pai5idi(lbte?^rdjj];v|;:ipjng''^q/^^
dissenCiniHlsr'cpyjdt
|^|{;ie'^^n|e|pf^ifr^(^l||an^ai^-|ypu5;^U^
'
'i VV'-' -/
t ffl tl ^TA hr y,'
:tidn sCbfr&Tiiisfdh n
Then am dragged
I to the court saying that you did -not
decide' ,
;

the genuine candidate from the non-genuine

candidate; Mn
H.K.L. Bhagat was nominated by the Ali-India Congress
Committee to authorise candidates for, the Delhi elections. .
-

He authorised ‘X\ One or two hours later, Mr. ‘Y- brought

a letter from the General Secretary of the All-India Congress
Committee, Mr. Nawa! Kishore Sharma, who said, “1
withdraw the delegation to Mr. H.K.L;. Bhagat only in ’respect
of this constituency and I hereby nominate ML ‘Y”!: And my . ;

poor returning officer was tearing his hair to find out or X

‘Y’. He decided 'X’ was 'X’ and that ‘X’ was good enough.
So our election there are frivolous candidates, too many
in
candidates, and there are ballot papers which look like
newspapers. It an enormous cost because
certainly results in
we print ballot papers on security paper, if you have 365
candidates you not only waste paper but as in the case of
Tamil Nadu election we ran out of symbols. The symbols used
were pen and ink bottle, black-board, radio, television, mbtoL ;

cycle, ordinary cycle, all sorts of things.But at the end of it, „

they ran out of symbols. We said, "you can devise, whatever '

,; ;

symbol so long as you don’t use animals for symbols,” Once , ,

we tried the experiment of animals also in Tamil Nadu. Party ;

‘A’ had the pigeon, and party ‘B’ had the chicken as symbols.; 'Y
Each party used to bring animals of the otlier party and y^ng ;
;

its neck on top of the dais. Since I was the Secretaty ;gf„
; .

Environment, I told the election people,

We a pa^ wth
'
•

sake, save the birds and animals. still have'

a lion as a symbol. But thank God it can’t behrought dn.Ad ;

stage for its head to be wrung off.

'
,
. . '
; .
'

The Chief Minister of one State m^e a staternent: ,

,
It .

matters very little who actually wins in the olectioh; OndeThe-r^;^^

counting has been done, the returning pffic^er' will;st^^
and announce the name of only our pv^ c^didate.-Even;
if ,

he reads out a name, by mis1ake, hc: w|ll;never^

different
as near as the Patna railway station.- Supppsmgjhd;\does
would be nib” jBree.eIecddnsfinyfe%?i^ib>?^
.
V. r',' •
- -
'V. ' -y.'; V-- V. ;

free 4ecti6n:;is^e^ineLftmiiii|^^;lfetif^y^e^
. * .._j.'’^j. Jill.. -.X...!!,..'! 1 l^r »A1 ‘ »^4-' 'v^ *

^tipposed ijo' be’ njthiesslyjdmp^^ /^nbip;:

tell you tiiabmore diani 'ah^thingvelse tliB
'
* siielectiphs',

haye been rndst hea,yily-dama^ aj^parfi^n.biyij^se^^

They h'aye^'b'ecornd‘:;bbnfajnin,at^ed,!:'c6liusly^^^
Spme'pf theni'afe.iboRihg Tdr ^pp^c'^elf ,;][or^0(fite
ldioy;i-'i'-wbijld^]ikeftp’"g'o--t4;Ec^^^

fencgbhatd;
>',^iTbb''GM^'saU|!.;.‘;^erdri!iypd;’a;pi^

v^yiSlyblifll'.'se^GeVcareeB^
if‘j)pu}can;'l;Shall nbi^Helij"yp,u.>ypu'!cahH,;Cbrtippi;^e^

ewdbnce/agai'n|tvmyself^ steib^ybufabbuf /niy"^

;enbounjbrAwtlr^';|4inisJer;-dh;!ly57^^^^
an iniiependeh|'cHafge;'idne\Ha^^^^^
iij'tyas'^'allr^suited^Mdlb'pptedi;'^^^

'apdja|t;|?haiice^fb?Jge|lntd^|brand^
fier|^adms‘;Mmisters'bilbd(fo®jgrVbj^;lca^
^^^t|^4j(^^ganisatig^;|Gh5b
hTmbd' • . C31#*l ' i T?' tJ ’- I t fW» i\ 1 1
'
 I said, “Sir, you give me a written
order, and on that basis
I withdraw the charge/’ Then the Minister kept
will '

silent for
five minutes and asked the driver to
stop and drop me in
the middle of nowhere. I stood under a tree
for 105 minutes ^

before my Jeep turned up because

was .an old war service
it

jeep and the maximum. speed it could pick up was ten

miles
an hour. But I persistently and tenaciously followed the
Minister for the rest of the. day! .This is not yesterday’s
phenomenon or today’s phenomenon. '

The elections are damaged in eveiy; possible way. Over,

the years, the civil service, partly by fear, partly by
inducement, partly by something else, has been reduced to
tools in the hands of pariy politicians in every State. I have
six national parties, 43 State-recognised parties and 300
unrecognised parties. Whoever is in, government, it .makes
no difference whether it is party ‘A’, party ‘B’, party ‘C\ party
‘D’, party ‘E’, party ‘F’. The misuse of the civil service for
purpose of electioneering work has reached appalling
proportions in this country;. When in November, a Union
Minister was making a. speech,, the District Magistrate sent
him a chit saying, “Sir, it is .5 o’clock, you are. past the. time',.\. :

of electioneering. Will you please come down?”, ,!And the

Minister read the chit to the entire audience,, Wliich was not
very large, of course, and said: “Who is this to. tell me DM
when to stop my speech.” So the DM
sent the second chit
saying “in approximately two minutes from now two
constables will guide you down the steps.” Whereupon' the" .
^ ^

Minister came down fuming and on the ground

sat 'and said,

“I amgoing on a fast unto death”, and the DM saidj ‘1 will :

give you every facility.” .

... V‘

Let us have more laws for this country; particularly op, .

electoral reforms. We would be much better off ® .

.

which enables the Commission to audit laccounts] and poiM ,

the finger of corruption on people who spend money

l/i . ,•

excess. In Delhi elections the other day, there was a lady

who y.

dptay
fought the poll. May the lady remain namelesl; The. y. .
 t

^m;.jypup;r&

.v'-n (nninrT?aH.'ri\/<>r-'„fhD;.*^mTciitn£(nri j >..^7h6ta3’’rHi/4'^fh'44V>'';/'AYViii . j'

shabaash for the Managing Director. If the ink is
red, they
will throw him out mercilessly.

1 am not here to talk about

the morality of business. I
am sure one' of these days you have a seminar on the
will
subject. But that have to wait until Manmohan Singh is-
will

finished witli his work. How do you control this? A simple

amendment in the law which enables us to investigate into
the details of the accounts will do. I will narrate to you an
autobiographical story. The first impeachment notion (not
motion) against me came in July of 1991, irhmediately after
the elections were over. Somebody in the Government said,
“keep a low profile for sometime and go to America.” They
did not give me a rupee. I spent ray hard-earned money and
went to America. I hid rnyself in the houses of nieces and
nephews for a month. And when I came back, they said, “Oh,
.you’ve corne back but we still want you to keep a low profile.”.
I said, considering the totality of my size; it is very difficult

for me low profile. It was resumed after the elections

to be of
of October-November .of 1991. They said we are going to
impeach you. They also said,- “we want to protect you and
the job.” To that I said, “you look after the. job.” The leaders .

of the Opposition came and said, “‘on .behalf of the .

government” ambassadorships and governorships are still

available. In this connection 1 will repeat the joke which 1
repeat everywhere. I said, “the only way I vwll ever become
the governor is for my wife to become a goyerness and we
,

I have ever
have not found a suitable child. And the' nearest

been to an ambassador is my staff car. will accept nothing.

I

“What c^ I then give you?” .

.
-

I said, “Sir, the answer is in the

question. Anyhing yoii

can give is ipso facto unacceptable.” Then I told him ^ .

proverb in' Tamil which says you go arid sit under a palm ,
.

tree and drink the best Haryana milk, the. passersby y/ill still

think you are drinking toddy. Somebody came and

politely . .

said, “we wail make, you the General Secretery of

the.p'driy,,
4ne
because in six' moriths’ time )CTZ is going tb become ..
 ' :

'
'

-df 'Ihdt? T;-fiave ;hd ^Hd'u^tdypiii -heed ..^hat ' a g'entldman.;said -

'
. 9esterd4y;iajfe§;.idips^ndrafiG}CHief’$^
-
- >Beca'aseJvd'vi: Jdp'/.ddt:4indi^,- which •direction; this ungUided • .

;':lhis'siie'uair^y.ljnext?'But;1h^^^ electoral
systerh/ydu^Haye to improve -the rdlls", Even if ’
you are willing .

/ t6;improve_'the^dlls/the booth's are badly. located.. In

-
? .thersamejbUilding- there;iafe ten polling- bpdths;and I dp not
’,:/;khdw';whemgrito gp;td' classroom;.,‘A’f dr classroom ‘B’ or ;

.;;; 'dlassrpdm;^'d|.:;T^e-’'Gi^;:setvan .There, is ''

"
'l^hddthVqapturihg,': there are political parties,
- ,•

't:j.wifh’;|beir;;'nii'sbehavi9,ur,r^^ ^are -
hundreds of candidates,
; ''rhahy of whomiaVe frivoldus; WBy do part^ frivolous
c'cahdidates? Because then behifid each frivolous candidateydu

.•J.
get passes for tWoicars frdmdhe.r^urnmg, officer If you have/ .

'

/-BOi'frivdlous -candidates, you iOO.'rhore cars tp go rPund

../ the.(:pnstitUehci;-,withouhlctbrhi .Then you. canput •,

;
50^;di.ydur pepplednside; the .polling booths. aspolling. agents.--, ,

/ Then ydup^ put.anofe iiiThe couriting booth; /

:

; And.:;ps^4 'tpidtyoudh-- Vnarip. cases/ the. partyr'is'pp able' tp /

_
decide which •is.,,thetcahdidate pf 'ihe dast minute/and ’even
t; ,
.'

/r-hhyphd/pnd„leades;;it tpftHeTende'r piera returning’

’

-;; .|pfficer.tp; decide wHd:^is; paity'’W.s- official, carididate and .who '

''

/ ’
.

.;//4<::tamhdtdh;thef^^^ nianymanydef&ts.

/./ EK?^9'?P.^y..'nipre;lavy5Vu|hd^^^^ vue can' cphtrdi; /

j^i||bpn^|3lacesf\^^&(hj[%iiar^ ;

/>;i^psAp!}%^ht^-,0Ur fp.uhdihg;fajhers'vyere"*h^ -

y:4^5^?®Hifhspiye;hme'i|.The/ppcess^^^^
 US

sittogether and say^.'-^Mn

Purijab eledidns at;the:iast;nioftieiif?”^^I^QU?&^
which .isth^Jone answer vbecai^i th^'j^att^iis^^siill^^Sinf ^
before the Speaker oh an wnpeachm#hi mptiofe^
Speaker decided eithehto hari^nigc^n.^;ih?ihr^^^
after a vote of Parliament; -or ;he/^j;kWe}fi]£!s:d6sed^ic^^
the country why I pdstpbried
tell- -IheS^ ;

scheduled for'the 22^<}uh&J- .

Once an article rwas'cpihpared to a sfetiph

in
if I was Waving a:red flag for.postponemehts'io

Do' you' think 1 take =pIca'sUre;::in 'cahcejlatiohs ^arid^

postponements? One Chief Minidef^^ys, •“i'wdli give schemes ,

. worth Rs. 500 ddres/’ Another 'Chi^f''Mlnider'"says, i“I tviil

' - •

give schemes worth" Rs.;25 droresf’The'thirdJChief:^

writes to me and saysV "the^Hindus'and
to kill each other- in ffiOusands
'

;
Government icohfirms this to mei khei'^arhs "me.'t^^^^
and Order dtuafioh; im 5 is ;sd: gray^- the comhiuhS ' :

situation is'.so 4faye|hahhshOuld,,pOsfpO^^^^^^^ ,/

days later, When the, nghhhdhpufabie;Chief;-M

in the Asseml^V,,piWypuO^'foi: &!j:^jtpo^
honourable Ghief tvl inister says; r%'d’H^ye;
' ; ! - (

request;” I can publishdhO.documehWtioh';^^^^

Chief Ministers' are equai?;:’tO:/dne>:0hieh-{^
Commissioner? Or rather
Chief Election Commissioner’eqiial?-: ,
, , ,,

,Ih Assarh because I got ;nd Ofthe ^eigne^^^^

is angry' Mr, Jyoti Bssu jSigenerdly:'an^;;;MnrlWlod^^
is always angry,. Smt.: dayalalitha iswelW
Reddy implored me' td‘Ohsure;that'his;0ectiph;w^ ppnddcWd’ :,

before 8 April;, oh which ;day iTe ;

-becorne the Oiier MihistedAnd tin

kept .quiet aind' the- moment the ,

“I 'shat! expose; Seshan. ;yd'"am,;Teminded;:pCA

pasted oh the,rearof an^ArhOhean truck-whe^ v^.%:-

 ' '
,

is-'

•; -'*fuh^^;eri{a!>iaW;0'|;|3ft|'si^^^^^ (yM' never ;

:'''Jgive;U]^Fpw%f?v(fheffier“j^ey,jkre-€^^^ are

C '^f.^l;inHp: iS5d&tineBH^^^^^ ;i3Q0'years'''a^p'it ;

'‘;'5was;one bfi^the mostfaldy^ced countries 'in'tHe-w^orld.-T^^^ ’•

:',ydb jfind/.thafc^^ cdnHdtfgayt-yddr elbctricib^'^bil! Vi^thout /

.pa^ng'ttpjpbp/cent ’^tm;:-^^^^ replacement,

^ ^ptf';canriotrget^;4dep,Hpne''bbnneGfip^^^ get ail

were one

'Kyv.yrM .ojc5.^pi" \;“;;:.'t;‘v \ i

\^ «/j‘. . -
r ^

i¥ st"d5v#s^^^^ fa'diastacally^ arnbzih'g ; : We have several

widiouf script
‘

^:'{j'liuncir^d';ldhgdage^;;4^^

.IS
•rtp' atfailabiedm^^islbbt^li^ 'there- ^e ''sd- many;''
?rfrsub’religibhsiWatkthe.-5ame’,Ftindu-^xyi^^^ by K
cutiingta/gbat;'i(Bb<^ufe;he^ a";-child) 4n prderr'tb /
.'

•;ff
prbpitiafe'it Jto ;t1Sere/arb;6ftbrHi^ not -talldhg'v
;^t-|j,ains|;who4t|[pu|d,p,ubaWasfe^
5:pnsfeejs;i^diyd;:-n.io£-gb^^^ Alh-6f7thfs-:is‘ my ;

i'^;|lmddjsn\fifiindaism'’^^ that:- temple.. ', .

5^$‘^erSgq>a;^Sk)iTi-

;irigid;jpintss--'-
 ' '

'
130
I
^
AHeartFull ofBuri)en;' ' '

True democracy will function only on thd basi’f of. t^^

pillars. One pillar is the pillar of the rule of law which has all^
. but disappeared. Today it is so difficult
an FIR^or to T to. file

fight have not come here to commit contempt -6f

a case. I
'^

the Judiciary; the Judiciary is my Idst sanctuary..: True

democracy can, therefore, subsist on the rule of law aridrthe^
expression of freewill of the people. The, elections, are. the I i

only method, just as the rule of law which is incorruptible^’:

'

which which is quick, this is the only way in whidi

is fast,

the rule of law can be established- The only way in which

you can establish democracy by the will of the people is by.
the conduct of a free and fair election. QED Mr. TN.Seshano
No. QED Election Commission. The present elections are
corrupted by money, by caste, by religion, by criminalisation, •

by corruption and the bamboo frame. People in, powef^',,

whether elected or appointed, will not leave, except by^'efc C,

aur dhakka. Does. that sound familiar? Grie can make;:,

philosophical claims to an audience. I have prepared this fpr'-;,'
young people but even for old people this, is true;
Let us abjure violence as a method, not because 1 am a,, .

Gandhian. But you don’t have to be a Gandhiah to .say 'ihaT'.

ifyou will settle disputes by the strength of the. fist, if' you'';,
rule by the svv'ord, you will perish by-the sword; And' even if :

you are rich, please don’t go and buy Rigley chewJng giim
at the airport for Rs, 100 a packet. I have seen children: of
.
,

rich people travelling by first, class airbus, or J-class airbus, to ,

come to Bombay to see Kha/nayak on the-day of the release

inwhatever that ciiiema is hear,Worli._So, fdr.Qpds sake,
even if yoii are rich^ do not show it off. -Let us setah:cxamploy'
-4^ 'on dowry,,,on liriguistio;.
for,ourselves'on, small things
fanaticism,, on ’^ligious fanaticism^ Some people; say::leTuS':
get rid of the following kinds pf: people frorp the surface of >
this country.: How will you get lid of therri? They are in .every v
mpha//a,, every stfeet.'. boWn first floor is sQ-and-so,' secondy^
flopr is so-aiid-so,. third floor, is so-ahd*50. HoW wil.l.yph geT
rid of them? Even practical pOliticbm^es it irnpossible. Tariiry
not saying- somebody sKdUld be pamjperVd.. .Nobody should
-
,
'
..

be pampered,;^ v" 'r

-Almost finally,- bhaye a 'feguest to Let us ailpake a
resolve through theTGiti^ensV Consensus; for D^bcracy; or ,

Natiphal .Consensus ^hat -we will.' not, ..vote .bn. any criteria
except merit hereaftep- Is;^^^^ man siraight? Does the man
. ,

have integrity? I don’t have(the power to change the jaw b^r' ,

which criminals cannot contest the election. and" I cari scream

until Fm blue in the face,"but it is unlikely that Parliament
will pass Such a law,. One., of. .the gravest; disasters ;in Indian
polity is the full-tinie-professibhal politician Who has no other ,

'

:.way of, |iving;i;/.\^iat was;|^P^ditji?,>Pan^^^^^^ got a, tripos' in .

Cambridgcbhe' wasl'aiBti^ arid he' was called tb' the

Inner tempIe/iWhat. "was ^Gandhiji? He- Was a 'Banat-Law,
What- was Sardar Patelj what. Was Motilal Nehrii,- what was
A^d, w.hat^ was, Jinnah;Whb started writing our History but
ended up rewriting biir-geogYaphy? They wWe alt men who .

sacrificed what they xoiild have done btherwiSe, iri order to

compand sen,'e the country- Joday, the.gentlemen and .ladies ,

Whq-.represent us oh the floors of the,legislatures arc people',

who, are full-time^ ^.S^hburipoliticians; ^ • •
v

There Is simply nq^ in-: saying,’ Who. should get tb;

the. ASsernbly,Haye;ybu.heatd -the story ,about;thqtwins in'
; Lucknow? A'pair.pT tWins waS:abbut« to bpme- out:of the

womb of a:mbther;/HaCh:bhild told the 'other child', ‘‘peh/e-

aap” .bec'ause;LucknbW is'^inotoriou's' for its 'politenesbf ,
-

yitirnatpiv;:thp' rnothp.r died ‘A;fnairtnh'r r>f

should: get -intb,'thei AsseihbIy^^^^^ Servants should"

-get. into, the: AsserhblyF’:;Wh'o n^^^ you tb/tell.Others-what to"
.do?; Do it .yourself'; 'SeLydufSelf:. up: ,a.S;:a bandidate, -.At ,,'the
most ypu, rhay :lose:ydWf;d®0#'-^^^^^ saved Trbm all r
-’yburipehsiph and- sayingspTp 'nriakbtiiefot^i^
;:cpmpletely 'tiahspafent,'^:iheTlays
Who'ha^ filed? armt^rtHhl^he'S
VahdrteUs me ;that.|H^^^p^ 55yal<ftsf
 ;

132 A Heakt Full of y;

sitgumless and toothless. When I said' I

the expenditure, people asked me, “afer you au^it aPd-ii^dii "
find any irregularity, what will you do?” I 'go' to^the fe y

and do tapasya? No, you just wait and wateh.' 1 dphh

trumps until it is time to rough a deal. T'o, rpugh? d dand,
will not tell you what trumps are. . Is that . good brldg^ -

language? I don't play any bridge', because I don't ImpW.hpw.:

to wink eyes at the partner. .
'
h.-, “ '%
V'.';''. :

Somebody told me- “Parties submit manifestos but .fey ;

never carry them out.” Has any of you asked the safe
gentleman when he comes back for electionereirlg,v“feat:.:
happened to your last time’s manifesto? The. thirigs.ypu.said^
you will do, how come none of it has happened? What has
your party done?” Should you have the right to recall? That-,-
is a two-edged sword. can bo used to.get rid of honesH.
It

people. The dishonest people will still stay because of thfe

fundamental laws of centrifuging. The.heayien particleS'fell',;
settle down, ff you shake a centrifuge, Jigfef.particlfevriil^
fly off. Slag will settle at the ..bottom.. You, fell hfe. fe

Parliament of slags. -Ultimately 'you will need only. piiver;.?

Cromwell who went into Parliament in .ITfe/and said,- ?jb''
tlie name of God, go,” Please let. iis not lead to that condiUon;i|

because you are on the edge of that, precipibd

We have national grids of all kinds. V.
;
.t i .

We have a national grid/df jntolerarice,' of language :.by

which, for example, in the Bombay. huses fBKlQ^not only
^

vrill they put dhe. destinations in Mafehiv which

T.donTthin
but even the bus nurhb’ers'are put feMarabt,nurnerfe;>S6, h;,
want to a friend and askedj “howfeSl'I reach sucH-and-suchp,;
place?” He asked me ,to .take'324;frbfeehfebt^fe);i fefef
there but as i ddn't knpw .how td^feadfeavnagn orj.MarathL^^^^^^

numerals, I stood -therb Kelplessly dll

and ‘Said;’.-no;'fe4fefe”;-;'fe said,;; fed

back to the frierid

are'illiterfe/’'-
'

We'have.cofe''to' thismati6nafleyek'drferisfesuS''fefe’pi
'

language-has becomep bone pf-uhhecbssafe.fighting, feoaghj.;.;

 .

Ghi n.ese'rand ;cy,9U taik^Ru^sja^^^ ;

/'i^rniTnrini/^'ate '.tinfa" 'oMrVi' nfftc>^^tdt7r^^^i^^;^'i I'n'-Sn' HlA«';Q7jn-<iw6-^'

and-a-rhaif

'

absence df dhafacter^ Andrasicb audiOTj ^JvrG^^^

.
'

one piece of aoil of ';Earo'pe. goes/Jntp ’'the 'walep- -ifls vas^if

V ,

some partoi-me went ,awa\;;”;:And--ne-'end9d dj5 'the’‘P,a^age

1 tlSo’ -fom Ai 1 C 'c;5 i riria* A'clfTnAt fnf - Koli - foDc V if

examplds^' of' cormptlpn^'andv yoii v^in^;^teafct>!by;;;giyi^^^^

>1

give rne 100 j'dOO^^'mples^qf '.co™ whicbi;one ;df

has lifted ’a- lime ‘^096^10 [^y that tHis 4 S-hpt 4bhe Ho#
*
' -
us' ,
..;

can r ask;a 7 questi 6 n 4hd nditj \vait4bV ,^74nSwer?;,-;^^^^

.
'
:;

Press: in' Indla.'don’e >0? 4ias:'tibe" Press\in ’^fiibHlighted/V:

muchiessi6'w^t.fprdfe',^„^er?|fdday4;pb'ca^^^
: anri sair: “onlifirfen'c' i-aVii" all’Mrifi}- :’'riinl A'cofi'ra'rifc '7iV-o -';r^Ai^^

accountahts? -Sprb'ave iy&u'^gme. ;

preach ^odiTi?” ';,Nd jpJ^bhiojthjdmd ^o ,

dQpniiy.My/Jahdafhbnla!.’;ire;fhJse
;gteatn 9 ^. may^;r4 A^d^^f ^l^e^df aftd ?|
decide whether;/GBaknia ;jS;' a'.- refugee ’'or t^hefherysdnveV''':
l?»nA!ia/T£> ic' si 'laWniiartfa, 1

\: ^wry^bd-ah ^tif^g^M^lhdiatpd^^ 5

'M’f^festag. Jndiah hWdw^eis' even b'etien/y^d,;we tmbwhip^^si:

;teclmolb^as.^lih|;h%hfer fo^th^‘:u4
serve :0ou ohlu if fherelis‘/a rah \^'c an4 fA /^ ahi4b if '"^ ftVTii S7 i
‘
:
,;
' ' '‘

.
^ >
;; ^^
 A Heart i?uLL of Burden

heed to put stitches is in elections^ And the most important

places in which you want to put- a; stitch are expenses —
corrupt expenses; the country has a right to demand an
impartial civil service to administer this. And when you see
something wrong, for God’s sake don’t keep quiet The 900
million people are required to act as the eyes and ears of
the election process if you are going to prevent this Dhandhli
from continuing. I have done ramblings and wanderings even
if they have not led to a coherent completion. It is that those

in power will not do anything which will be tantamount to

reduction of power. Those with money will not pass laws
which reduce money power. You will have to compel it. Civil
servants are by nature what they are. You have the right to
expect and tell the Election Commission: “Give us a poll
which is complete. Give us polling stations which are
reasonable. Give us quick counting;, give the Press adequate
access. ”',The complaint of the Press is that I prevented^em
from having adequate access.' That" .will remain for another
day to telithe story. Make your isntire election process as
transparent as is humanly possible but hot so transparent as
to become naked of course. > '

,
 '

Yy y
'.J-

r
\r.
7
> ^
''-'

•-.-"'f
'
‘•-'
;"'
*
^
'^’{^•Jr-'t7>'-'; , ;i Tyi / ’ '’'f
',
^;

,to;s'teiE3,';!oufi;.'Not;T;et'qi|it^^^

r outer- ‘^po^siplthe/’^.^,e^c^j§etwQfl

pearsM.: or';.'

•
tier
;’;ha's ;St lamp^wtilcti'bl^^^

’y^^.eeyrriadejdftM'Jai^weU':fuh'ctl6ff60M'i^^^
 ^1 ' -

136
j[
A Heart Full OEBui&m

As they stand at the threshold^, of ia /future,-

congratulate them. I want to v^,sh':th4to welL^^^
them how exhilarating life is. Dbh‘t be w|ighed dowrt^y
feeling that this world is a, cruel wpfidnt is'b
a difficult world. But ahead of ^hfeating
ail th^,ej;,this, is;a'n

world. This is a world pf abounding rOpportuhitiesV^hetfe

you have studied science,, cornhierce/ 'or ,a^^
have done sports, theatre, Written stories of .poems-.All^^^^^
are going to stand you in o'utstaiidiug;stead as you g^^^

further into the portOls pf the absolutely /larged.

namely, the university of the world;' ,. ^
I know that the. young;'people of today .are 'ponfuseB:'./
Sometimes they loOk back in' tho school arid ihink^the worid
is roses, roses all tire way..These childreri whom suspect-, if ;

my arithrnetic is not very wrong, are pf 16^i,7;.years pf age, .

must be confused by the .thought 'aspo, what

are they stepping into. So long as' they; werripndef
parental umbrella of the scho^ /all .that' rnattered- was;to pibyl ;;

from class 1 to 2, to 3, to 4,/and:sp pri}to -p andp^

under the extraordinary parental guidancepp^^^
principal, whoever she may bc;T,am';cle|ighted tO s^^
the entire faculty", only a hop.eless rhiribnty ds meri,^
of them are all women and tHatphdbubtedly musP^
for the fact that the school is an butstaridirig -oriO.;;^^

because it is an outstepding school* that the ririajpntypT^^

teachers are ladies or because the .teUchers: are/^all

school is outstanding,' there..is;n6; quelhpn:that-.M;^

combination, we have brought iprth the^best. Of
children. ,
'

What will you think of today? Wili 'ypu think:pf,.Biue^BelI^^

Will you think of rnadam foonderPi1hey?‘fAbat
these good teachers who have’ Gdmb/,pcTO^:ib:see^
our hopes and sorrows and 'share ;thefri?j^.at |dri^
are you from? Are’ these familieV.jgbing' .te
enormous procure to think that 'you fri}Bt.riec%^nly, becptri
 ah engineer, or 4 wnuld like to do
doctor, w>hereas, what, you

; is;maybe theatre; maybe video, or rnaybe something else.

. bwant to; appeal to; the parents, as a parent who has no
child, please fop God’S'sake don’t pressurise these children,
tet these children blossom into flowers. We didn't have 12th
“.standard u'e had. H
standards, or 13 standards, whichever
[- way you look at it>i Suppose’ your 12th is roughly equivalent

; to what 'we had in, 13th. The outstanding educationists of

.
this country did ari enorrhous piece of algebra and decided
'
that 11 t ^ + ,.2 havirig been changed into 10 + 2 + 3 is an
enorrnous change. So, I .am talking of 11 + 2 because vje .

, were slow people.. Therefore,, it .took us 13 years what it takes

ypu .lE yecus.tp do and when I finished that stage in 1947,
;

.‘';4.7-, years ago, there’-were not one-hundredth, of the

ppporturiitles which are before you today. The opportunities
to. study in an enormous variety of substances and things,

; hot. only pf physics -and chemistry, not only of

.
mathematics
; and statistics, not phly of .philosophy and psychology,- not
,p!ily; of. politics arid;, politicar science and public
.adrhinj$trhtioh ,--f-.but a whole new variety of subjects, not to
computers and biotechnology, today, a million doors
,speak;,pf;
-
are .-about tpeppeh thed^^^to you. And don’t you ever
‘,'beiieW if 'sonieBpdy tells' ybu^ even at the height of his or ,

Jher parentai pressure; -jliat the world is a difficult world where

-
.

. you would ribl fit Im’/You will jolly well fit in. One fact was

;-hece,ss^pit'^as 'thc .fact th^ outstanding kids. You

phad: 'an; outstanding, school, you had an outstanding
;
9,^^.°^Bere and- d;;.what I have .imbib.ed of the school during -

^:P,,®'^^V®de.hpurrisJahy.Indication,- l arri Sorely -jealous of the

:.,,.^d;pf atornOsphererin’whi^^^ been brought up;
pl^°7ttli^Pf,3,:jeal6usy;bbrn'df apything else, but a jealousy,
;;
bom-qf;.sayjrig good..:Lord; have a school 47 .J

;'|yehrs;aho •.
; ,
.

pbt-Ypuf.'scbopthaddori school has given

•'pff?h'4|{you^;;citation;^ three months from today,; •

'
to choOse", your owH' professions ’
 . , . .

I
- A^Heakt JhjtLOT BuRiiiOT/ ;;1‘
::
;•

and your own calling. What callmg^shallLcHdoseior-ih^eli^^^^^

;

Shall I do theatre, shall I do philosophy, shall I,

shall I do chemistry, shall 1 do engineenng,:6halhl
di^^
medicine? What shall I do? I must tell you that cdnsideririg ;
the extraordinary amount of cdnfusiort'and cGrripiexity which -

is. engendered by your present stage^ of education, there

is a
truth about this country and about yohr future .which is that
it is absolutely outstanding. Don’t let'ariyjDody alldw you to
wear you down into the belief that yoUr future is .'anything

but the brightest of the brightest lafnps thafydu have lit today,
Yes, there an amount of dross out there, there is an amount'-.
is i

of corruption out there, there is an amount of inhumanity V

out there, there is a lack of compassion out there, there are ...
all kinds of wrong things out there: So, you are fighting many

other confusions. You are at that’.age where physically you ^

are in confusion. You are at that stage where your educatiori ,

Is going to open a thousand outlets Into which you don’t \

'

know which outlet you would go to, where’ydu, vvpuld get- ,

'

caught, where you would prosper. I arp told the school does
a good amount of career guidance and counselling. I /'/
fairly '

am sure it is an enormous advantage that you haye^

So, what does a Chief Election Comm^sioner do to come C-.'
'

,and advise children, 80 children who are gomg fo step: out :

into the world? I can only tell you one thing, picked lipirdm

several places, picked up from several bobks: "Believe in wh'^t

y
you do. Do what you believe in.” The world if good enough, ;
y
the world is large enough, the world is Tich'enpughf the.jwdri^ f

is sagacious enough to give you scope fof doing all that you -

want do so long as you do what- you .believe in, iahd .you

to ::

believe in what you do. I cannot think of any greater advice y ,

for you today except to suggest that whatever, avocation

you y
choose, may you become the most . sld^lful. in that avocahp^ .

May you become the most outstanding in, that aypcatipn. he^^^

it not be said that this child .came, frdm.-this. schPof but

 ',
.

the second best in ;hB"hr/h-h^n'chos'eh ’^isdplih^, of lear ,

and workingv May.'the^ood -Ldrf show'ybuih^^

'
V;,}-,

’ But a skill in; action ••

a^^skill ^ in .dtsc’ipilinc i >ar skill in '

profession, is' not’ that which .is'cpdugh; to rnake yoUa round

and whole, ,hurhari ,^inb[)i'fhat^w^^^ ^ ndcd^sary fs td'
understand and appreciate tbK'furidctoental values of life. Thai;

believe in, every single'- religion — be lt Hinduism, be it

ChrisUanity, be it Islam, be ibSikhism, be it Jainism •— every'

single religion in this cQUnby,;iri;the world, 'teaChes:there;is
a right way and there is a' iwpng wayi; May the Lord grant it

to ybu that ;in'aiI:th'Myqbi!db7ybu"y>i|rplt6ose the'^r^^

in ipreferehce .to the wrbrig;i^y, eVeh when the -choicej the

adherence' to, the right Wayb results /iri what looks like
,
temporary disadyahfege',arid,lerripWary, Suffenhgt'Manldrid ,

will survive only Ion basis; of,' the UhassailaBle belief that-
.the

ultimately the tight will' wih, ultimalely thd.tmfK will vnnl;

“ -

'
The world today is divided into all kinds df fragments^-,'
,
fragments of religiph, caste, language f geography, stdtes“'ahd;,
. countries -arid toymsfehiivillages,.; /Ibt'what have .‘you fearnt
21yearb0X*?b Hiaye
the last
^
' ’

in' ,1 -

Vttsudhdijii'a
Kutumbdkah1bThat ;stafe^ my . family is thelwhpie •

of the ‘uasu<i/jdlJ;What;is:my idmily?^My family isbhefe^^

-

Universe;yd^dfiblismot merely rthe planet iyt' goe^^

beyond the,. plarietTo_,say.that un;that pet'vad&'Gpdy cfebtibri^^
is 'my;;tamii,yyHaye:;Comp itoxydldslthe' Weaki
,
Gpmpas^on,' npt mereji^ df The^^^^^ who ;

-are nieHtdliyw^.'.feipsdwhp^eTTri^a^ who

'

are weak fecohpinii^iyjthdsc' Why’are weak

;oppressichv''ipLdhy^^;ht^n%ingSi;h^
yianet pervades:. M^;;^pd‘gmril you the lighltodby ,tp' belieyel.'

'learrit' pt; the- .cbmfriejce;ypm Hayer^l^rnGorThe laits -

which 1
 1 h

140 A Heart Full of Burden

you have learnt, or the sports you have

learnt,' dr the dieatre
which you have learnt. They are neces^ry in tHeir bv^ .i^ays..; i

And may each one of you become whpt the; Bhaswad Gita ; .

says r.
?

Yad\jodacharati Sreshtq’ .
t; -

TattqdevMqrp Jdnqa , ,
- .
v
wiwm^ Sa Yqt Pramanam Kiirute ..
y ,

ci)0^ci^dc{d 1 Lokastadanu Vartate

Do whatever the 'ShreshthY-dp'es; ~Sh^^

merely the person who has got the bestmarks in the GBSfe
exam. Yes it is one qualification necessary, to be called
‘the Shrestha'. A ‘Shreshtha- .iS not merely thel gentleman
who jumps highest in the high juinp.' The,, '^/ireshthatjs
not merely the girl who is best in elpcutidn ot best in music,,
best in dancing, best in sorriethirig. else. the', ‘.Shreshthe’^;
,

is somebody whose fundamental vaiue.s, are screwed

the right way so, that the twbtld^
Sreshto " —
follows whatever, tlie path the:'Shrest/id fpnoWs.b;
“Tattadeuetard Janaah” —
that is wbat the omer;, people'':
follow, “Sat Vat Pramanam . —;:whahhe .decides
Karate’^ ;

is the right thing to do. %okasfadand:'y^^

whole world will follow him pr Hen^ .

;v...

May all that you have learnt in the last :i2.years;#and,^!

you in good stead, not only for^.the. nsxt’3 br^Spr;;^
years, you may go into MBBS, :ahd feen'-go ihfo ;^
may do engineering and then go into hesearm.-.
do biotechnology and go on to a doctoratehYowi^
go into photography and become. h^cafherama^
camera-woman, or a damera person’; as sprnebp^
me to say. So, whatever you do jn wl^ldheybhwalk.p
you may merely become a Qocddathpp bha'go
In whatever you put your harids-*to,;',may'tHdiWbrid^
to say that “this, was the complete humemybein^^ .

that heaven'Pf freedom, let friis '0]; Y ifr

 — ”
,
.

iji'l^p^anie-Ifoi^owfe rpeyanesan, approxirtiately:

$;M|dras/0^fi&l(5oMgp'in;'^ear^fc;df-.physics;-D^
;;;i;io|5'a'iin’an'"pf:^^^ ar-mto,of 'histo^; Devanesan ,
.

vyy|&;'a:^&7or’MfidrteSs:.-|$,^;^as/a;^
fvaji'm'an'iofl^^ffltio^;^ sqhplarshif).; Above, all
h:K^7^s|a};bi^an'^^ ^.(^ibflqal 'mature ,\;I sp,erit5ix.-years -

ever
,'^^0;jang^Tdf;tbqre: fbrgive as
j;,?,a,^etp_Hr!s|ia^^^|;|^at^a^’fiHaridra^^^

' "*
* ”
tl
JJ M » !«*—
I II I lipil >111 I
l
l ll I 1
, -/^ * * '
“'"' ^ ‘
*
^ 'r 1 'j'V'‘'’*'‘

Mddfas''(m-26^Mdrcb\l 9941 . r ft '

f'
V ,' '
'
v T-''* i'
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‘C '''''
142 II
A Heart Fdix of Burden

born in 1917 and when he died in 1982, he was 65 years

old. Erudition and scholarship sat lightly on him and he could
be easily mistaken for a plebeian individual despite all tlie
erudition with which he was bedecked. The last time I
remember seeing him was when he was battling in the North-
East of India as Vice-Chancellor of the Hill University.
tire
And I still remember that the problems of the North-East,
which have distressed much bigger minds and much greater
capabilities and knowledge, had not distressed him. He was
hopeful. He was wishing that the North-East would get what
it deserved to get like the rest of India, or perhaps even more.
I have no intention of spending much more time talking about
Chandran Devanesan. Because all that had mattered then and
all that matters now is that many of us were blessed to have

known him.
What does one speak in memory of Chandran
Devanesan?
As I have mentioned, what one is reminded of when
talking in memory of Devanesan is that he had the Christian
virtues of humility, of compassion, of discipline, of integrity,
of dedication. can go on listing those virtues which are
I

desperately the need of humanity today. Where do you begin -

when speaking of these virtues? Today, the world is in a.state

of great andhkara. Wherever you look the forces of evil seem
to be taking over from the otlier forces which you can think
of collectively. The population of the world .is somewhere
slightly higher than 4.5 billion people. There is every prospect
that in the next less than be 925 years it will billion people.

Population is growing at the rate of 3 per cent per year.

Those of us who know geometrical progression will know*
double
that it will then take approximately 24 to 25 years to
the population and, therefore, in the year of grace,
-maybe
and
by A.D. 2025 the world will have 9 to 10 billion people,
maybe there would be just enough room for standing. But
of. the next ^

why think of 25 years from now? Let us think

'

few years. ‘
,
-
.
‘
^
 , .

V.^6Gl:^'u>:|pJyiliat56ffl|5gpin^t<5^^^

nnnn*^nV\i/' iKfSi'mrliiricic 4iHll-’>

^as:ii?:

;V^^V6f’i^Rli^'e’ls'^ti'sli(^Jlta|%;jtVv0th';^^
' tfte^x^Suesifojf- ';l;he;|iiim^‘;beih'g', di^ingubhed^himself' ';

^^lrbiih?tfe'jungie'':;ibeastVstiIl;ts'u^

fsuj:vivinii^|n,4;9.9^ .:^rtues 'tQday?;.-'

;Bgh'pd,w.er‘ weapons ^n';'

:>:^chobl¥:6pdi1^ffre^na -^liii{T25't<:fe^ at- al!-,

'bxdeDtsthat' iiDsd%/^dcid//.thbvr-^described', him- as

^^^oi!af|!;bh.'-|i^.-„..^ ,
V--

%'^c!i4Wg=-^ShieI:‘dedt:H;'of^ai^^ Asia?/'
jEyenitodayrip:§ai^^lGf,£iirbp|/man’s:^

,;-mpriti«;|Ggetffen^^ 'Nations mission/ of ;r

.:;^aferWmed;ca|}al5ili^fp3!;^
jBattiiedi l^d ''6^dra]ey<^i^er€-: in^
/^^^J^i^^/'dcgradatipnv
‘
ate' truly; '!

Jifffdescnhatild^^eiijihfy/claimfhat^

/iI^4fiiBt/to'eOT%feyaiy;fGll^pn-taUgHt-uSit6^^^
/:^si^yself?E|^|5at|isfi!i^-]spiQfi^^^^^
 '

144 : A Hea^ Full of Burden ’

sonorous language: “Long years^ agb/ we- mb^

‘
destiny...whiie-the worid sleeps, India ’wdll aw^e;t'’‘. lnd^
woken up earlier but it had gohe tb: sleep Jri be^eehbiL
Woken up again. Would it be.correct'to say that Gandb^^^^
us freedom at almost a throwaway price? ^
Did we get freedom in this cOuntiy at a^pnce^ ;^^^
-

led us to believe that freedom

in the language of those
'
use English badly today is priccless^:.Frcedom has nb. price;':;
, .

for most people in the country. today. It required. Gandhijite

fast-umpteen times, and to go to piaridi to' pick.up a handfbLj
of salt before we could attain political freedom.; It required
' thousands of others to go to jai}, ,td fast,, to get beaten up
When you talk about people being beaten up, my memory^;-,
does not go merely to Panditji or Sardar Patel. Jt doe's -ndt';;
gO inerely to Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad oiLvarious other/-:
names. It goes in front of the, corriputer console, in
'your eyes. It goes to Pandit Gpbind Ballabh.Pant beihg!;|
brutally beaten in 1928, to live, the re^ of his life wiiL a.shakbx;
all over his body.rHow many of us have been to. the, CeUu^^

Jail in the Andamans to. see what Wrid 'oLcbnditibns’ thdse]^

people lived in? How rnany of ^us' remember General^Dye^^^^
killing -people within the eonfincs of' Jallianwalh;Bagh? ,Hb^'p’^

..many of us bring 'back to mind^the image of.- yOC?;.MdW:...':

many of us bnAg back .to' mind the king .in ie.epjdpwnVd

Tirunelveli who agreed that he would much ratlier; be masteji ;;

,
than yield? How many ^of Usbbellb.?^^^
in chains,
gentleman in the west .of .India saidL;:?,7Frebdotei^^^^^^
bight?” How many of us' believe'bh .BhagaL Singh Land
.companions, who Went up to.the gailowsi
their head for one second?Hpw many of.us^^^femqn^ber-y/hat L

price we paid.in oirder tp;get this:ni^ri^,5Xt;f Lbybl r

iAnd today* people afe ,telldng;hardiy;|4? years
,

'

least waritihga, dictatprship/Jf :hbtbeturH'df,'foreigh.^<^

Who -has brought . US' to .pils pitfable'

things .did we earh,and,achieye?'^hat;Significahbbiings,hayei

vWe’Ios^ l
admission, not to speak of cdllegejC^d ;medicai?t6iyge5|r'
engineering college, or the JIT. Jn '47 years ^t^edu^ '

improvement what did this cduntiV'do?; Thei;;

going to go vocational but not one college has a ^ihgle -

bie^
of vocational equipment. When Chbhdrah'pe4he's^;44
Principal of the Madras Christian Cpilege riot :obce''didyh|.;
have to worry about how to pay teaclier^t salary fqr.:the'-4>ri
month. Today Francis Sunder Raj sitting; in; the ch'aifTriri.
'is;

another couple of months.. He is desp^ritely pmyingth4iin;

the next two months he will be rible to pay 4aiy;;wife6uri=
difficulty because the University .Gmnts .Corn
thrown up its hands. Forty-seven years- ofVeducaUprialt'
planning has led us to a situatibri; where educatibri'.ih.l^
today is neither fish nor flesh nor good fed^herririg. IJ . ^

As for elementary education our Cdhstitubori says that''; ,

all children between the ages of 9 arid have uriiyer^F

compulsory education. What, kind; of education' ar®' yriii;i
providing? 1947, the pupil-kacher. ratio 'inJth^iTioM^J
Iri

backward villages of this .country was one teacbcr,.for,'4.Q!:;

,

children. Today it is one teacher for SO'cHldren/ Hovyrnari^^

achar^as are left in the country? l am ri6t;4lldrig^oTmo4f
acharpas who arc by birth acharyas., l aril talWh^'o^^^

acharpas who are acharpas by profession ?/H6iw4

them arc fit for being treated as; gpds?
, Is; it j^e.bhnbt thab^

in school after school, and college after. iCoH^eb.thriyii^ch^tri

just comes into the classroom, .opens

101 and says “pages 101 to 151' is today’s I4?rin;1>?exri|^^
there will be a test. Those of you who want ;td know
about the subject come to my house tomombwi fe-OmiriT
6.30 for coaching?”
^
Is it also true, or not that qu^honypapbrs'l^ccalF^^
this country and the entire effortbf Jhe univerVity aud^^
is to suppress the truth of the leakagej riot the leakage itsslf?^i>
Is it true that teachers in this country lyrilUo, papers by

and not by vrisdom? Was this, what we leafhtTp|^^. 5000;^^^

India’s great culture comes, from gufuk'd/at^
 V i T»
- ‘t --v
•'

'•^-'5
-' 1'--

*'
'A ~
‘ “
r >
‘j.<
-a! I -

H'-ij tT^VT'^ic’iiSi.Vi'i'T ‘^sil'' 'iJ'An:'j^‘ f

•'rf:-x>±^
‘ ^ —
Gh^c#or’f^<iig4t jril^^&e;;SiilidihgV\ahd:^^^^
‘
-j-T. \ ->^L- ; sV •«’lf * T<^ ti^y^r ! _ .'

autonom6{is?;4^hev;’ are -aiifcmbmous

autbhomotis' of v^^qrri^ Thbyjare autonomous of freedorn?; . :
- .•

^Ts_..X iL__. ^ ,
‘
TIaI ft /t^ l4>t» «*’.<«'' I^t-i « t ' V .

- come out With a Kferature^nbriours qegfce;b^;<^ write eyen^^

. ;one pagd without "seyerafmlstakasdrt apeiHng. and-gfathmaP
' Sbmeorie said':the’ other%^i',.vhut,'Sin ”we:‘are vary ;gdo:dip:v-,_^^
'

. Tamil”, f never ^shidledrafWqid'pfTa’milUb^

'

'school; My enitife'foovyl^ acquired.'thyou^h •

'
•

"
'f[l{ing'"a ';'crbss-w6Vd c'qnipetitibrf in:-thei. Ana fidqlV^ '
-j ‘I
'

•tha.‘asa' of eightfThaf is'airyhe/:^^ I learrit> ]But would fV ,

:r T y._tj ..*:•. iu.;V-_i_uA. _i.

. wiite a'. :
-

pagefqf T^ilA^thdut ;hiis^es:ih. wihng, to

' ’
rnistakes in.gtcOTimat^f ;:_ /
.. ^ow hiany p'f ;
our children Jkriow
'
physics, ^emistTv;' rhathe^^^ 'fhe \lphdamental§':qffany >
. subject at all? But'do I hold,l^e.children respQhsiblc?y‘Tbda^*s':-=-''”^
,. children;;are jnbprer j'rjf mtellebtyhan^^^^

we were bhilbfehlf/RubbishilTbday^ areVihfihit^y'jy^

V.in6fe;jntel!igenf'bfcaus^ihe;ve^act:p^
.
j patt-;a\deg]Cee;|b'f faf acntyvlan^yahifi^^^^

and^fhe indi^;i^ciehfi|ty>^^h3di^r‘^ite§

- ., si.jfitHQw.T!:'
/ thdusajtdsysf ;ybuh'gdndiah|®‘the:U
 J'
^;

148 '

-'A HeATIT IFulL OF’BuM^’ ,

inderitiired labour. As' in /an .Wliebgbneratibri^K^^^ topk ^s^

to the Westlridies.c^d to b^er pa^^^
Islands,

M
Fiji

to act as indentured labour :to cut}c^et most

outstanding intellectuals arc going to ,the Unikd States to cut'
cane .

Do -.you blame the young people - ‘Ihat tbey.

-
arc going to
cut cane in the Sun Valley of Florida or iri^the Sunrise Xfelley ;.'

of California? Ho\y can you blarne them?; They arc .sick

tired of what goes on here .in the name! of berhocracy, what
goes on here in the' name of' educatipri,' what goes On herb
'in the name of technology. I liaue spent a large part of riiy
service life in the Science Departinents’/bb a
space, oii and environment.. My long a^pclatioh' with science v

and -technology tells, hne that the greatest enemy of science -,

in India is the senior scientist; WOuldl be correct to summarise .

the; educational status in India in a ;sihgl6. sentence ~ that;pf

all corruption in. India) nothing is rriofe conupt thuh
educational system., !•.'
, !

can go On in the same .yein about, the statc of K^ith in b

I

this country. “Oh; We have gof;;rid: of ;pIagueV!’:No.: Plague

coming back!; SrnalFpox is;comihg-back. Nb.one believes we
got rid of malaria.;; 'We have mios^dultoes,'
pesticides'thaf you have devis^.;:Toddy-6iA of
babies born, 180 die within the first 12 mphths: of ;ejdst^^^ :
-

but of the remaining ,82,0xhildfehv'another-23()idieibofp^^^

they are five. What kind of health cAfeprcJygU^^
National crash eradication prbgfarhmey national cra^^^
eradication, fiiaria,eradicahon, tuberculbsis)^pdi'c§ii6h,ycai:!cer.,
eradication, leprosy ,oradicatiGn.' >you ,rhight^:a^^

programme, /arid 'replace the 'dash)

national brash ‘dash^ p;
any. disease you like,); ; 'v-'": •S'V'ib;,)
i V All doctors take an path when Mey^bfbprne^h

fiypocritic oatb.T go to fhe dptfbr arid say, “i fiayga stomach-;^

adie,”''FIe says,. _“go ahd'take-pAelectricai .enGephaip^^
 ; 149
- =
V, .
"- |f'

f;'?>eeiit''bF'tHe'’'arniouM^^^ ithe ^M^I, is then .liickbacked

;
'; ^v^ /GbVecnme® '
a desperate condition
’
.

'>'^iere |here;€fffe?I(j6Qt^ deaths. Where •

ivlthefe^ougilt>to bV’ad6d.‘hurs'es,
'Ll"—' J .* - r»***-»

'

;;|36'?crnniehthbsbitak^^
{jv^;^;:^6w,we have ^'^hbleScrcam .of new, clean private

called

;|'?'^/.:;^eretarp;Jtlids^^^ people? They used to,

.V^^eakl^ofdGS;;-It
|wasnot;-a-.'s.bndce5'^^^
^ was not civil and
by. the service called
certainly
the
'*^»-Ty*JrlWr^''^A>4rrniinii?Wo+itirt '
*^AiSc4- tACl v^r>r\T*\l/^ V%o»#rv

v.46isay|',‘i 'Aih' Sori5vi|.’ll3e^^^ the initials stand

'

^‘f^^-- ‘."'V .
.

-i,

t"
: ,;fr''.'d!D6 ’vbu the word ' hi jreaiirraf ? Thp
l lpxfprd !*0/chphdrj;j^iw^ ab- “those who" fplloui
Grules;’^I:wish there Were hlbreliealhLire in this countrv.
;|;aHd;;hPt>;th’e (b'pgus; su who are doing
..X ^ ao* I 4-1 >4 2

V§f'yispTmd(pt nob dk.life 'in.thispounhy has

;
is from 'Canada,
^Tiejlvfroftfe^st^iia^J^^^^ Indian”:
-
'* f Trt%-Wir/4 V x.I-kS'vkO 'T.Jf .. ‘j.: _•'# ‘t •

^ {corkiptioxvibf >
u jf cbmiptipn'' oh cash ;'-
:
‘
 '
, ,.

. ,
Tell me one thing in Indib which is not' corrupt: 'it W:
during the French Revolu{ioh;that Rdhespi'erre was described
as the sea-green incorruptibleV And Che ended -

gallows. Do you want, me

to analyse,, dissent and vivisect
^
corruption? \^ere did corruption eome' from? .Corruption
'
came because industi^; was pleased by all kinds of permits.,
and licences., When Rajaji told-you that “you. are converting'
my country into a permit licence
you threw him out of
rajf’ .'

the Governor-General’s office, made him Home, Minister and

subsequently sent him as Chief Minister of Madras when the -

chair became too hot for anybody else to sit’ on. You .will
,
ask; “Are you a Rajaji worshipper?” I worship nothing-
because I am an iconoclast of the highest order. I have only ,

one thing to worship. That is this beautiful daughter, this

beautiful sister, this beautiful mother. “Which lady am 1
referring to? I have not seen any such person who is worthy •

, of all this respect.” I speak of the daughter cdled Bharatmata .

To me this woman of such fantastic variety can never be .

ruled by anything but democracy,- .Because if there are .two'

Indians there are three opinions. I learnt my democracy long

ago. The fundamental of this democracy is the right to.;

disagree and not the right to agree., That is democracy, and

I democracy long before the. Greeks. In Athens.they
practised
had got down to the plains, and decided that they wii! .rule
themselves by the rule of the people demos, erases ; — ,.
^ :

And we have to preserve this democracy. I want to tell .

'
you at the end of the day, please get iip and' fight.* Please ,

'
wake up. How shall we fight? We them, in the
shall ..fight ;

streets. We shall fight them in the ,beach^. We shall fight

.
;

them on the sands. But, do. not use any. violence because:
that day, your movement will die. In eyeiy: little thing tliat you'.

do, which is unjust. Don’t start any all-India antf

fight that
c6n*uption movement. It will die in.hyo-and-a-half days. The,;
treasurer will collect the money . arid, run away with the CashV ;
The secreta^. vdl! run away witli the'Stenograpliet if she has :
 - There' are a: •v}>;,„^ ,‘j^y5.' ' !»v*.,

'

becpmeleh, X,- . v..-.. .r:.- ^r-. -.^.v

. .:Ohf$r carice'roiis'veells ;gipw:^definitely;;and-pro^

•/sleeja inthe w^_ng^l30|iur|B:|l^t

 '

.;:;s]i^cfrboih'^KH%|3anfj^^ A-.^d, AMul KSani, iS, 19, 144:, ,.

'
109 ,

;_e3{ampi(k of :«3Untln'g of votes in, -

'
,

:il7‘A5sain;3j2:u%i''io5ft|'-'J:7:^5'ffr'-\'!i>:3lrih'We,' 20f:78-79 '; ' -:'''

<
_Bodoland,22
Bombay, 22 .

Booth-capturing, 20, 91, 127

Brain drain, 83
Buddhism, 96 - :Gdn5tautl6ni:9^a9;48^51f66i'6i^ ^
Bureaucrat, meaning of, 149 -
99^101, ^102]
see also civil service :
;'..rl46ri66'Y=Y'V^ViY
'•

Con5titiifidnai-.arriendmen(s,-’l{)2^
Caste and subcaste =''^orrui5ti6ri'or,;brashtacfidr,''l2:,34''‘
diwsion of, 34, 70 -
-\;'39/40;4l^47-57:-72: ab5;ioYY
CBI, 25 ;YU,T24;;T33;1^Y5#<> :

Cellular Jail, 144 Y' Cotton 'export, 145;; Y? 'a "vVY

Central Asia, 17, 78
Central Institute of Indian Languages, _

Hyderabad, 96
Central Reserve Police Force, 31 .

Chakma refugee issue, 133 . . ;

'

UP Assembly 'MLAs: role in, 58-59i';''

Chandragupta Maurya, 87-88
,, ;;ip3,;,^..V v'r.
Chandrasekhar, 36 ’
'
CuItiireV ••
ancierit .'and .mpderh'’-;' '

Cherrapunji, annual rainfall at, 77. _

. Y compared, ‘92^, / Y'r',,''
Chief Eection Commissioner, 31, 46,
48, 52, 58, 62, 90, 117-118,
';jDdndU44;.V.
127,128 •
Death, rate, 20; 78.
'

'[i'l
Children of school-going age, number :

26,:10B;
pcfcctidi), >.
'-v’, ir';,'
of, 83 ,

:'DeIh'kele^6n,'-i21i-122,
Chowdhry, Renuka, 59 • Dclimitatl'6h‘Coriim(ssidn,’M;;‘^>
, ^

Christianity, 96, 139 ;’;DeWda;acy^.?‘; Y'"

Churchill, 47 9l-
7 m'^ning of,' v; 'vl -;;Vr -v
Citizens'Consensus for Democracy or .
; ,
. /pillars of, M)l7lb5;ri307:;7Y^r
National Consensus, 131 :;prtnaple's dfj'i8:2b'/,7 /'’f;'--!
City Police Act, 67 -/;.jKbt;^tidh hi, 474S/.15p;lSL^r,';;
Civil disobedience, 88 D^bmukh,' Ciutifeman; l,p4v/ , ;'.i yi.
Civil Service,17, 24, 25, 35; 40, Devart'dkii?D'r, ChanYihn, 'merribfy.-,,/
45-46, 72, 104-105, 123, 134, ' i 7.qf,44i:i43,YY6Y7Y7;'7:iYY^
149 Dharroei,;SiS;;^il 77 V > /T // 7y7':'
• '

Clive, Lord Robert, 143 Dharmo/iheanirigWTl^

Coalfields, 10 ‘
Dhopmifet w^m^ihg of,'734"'^^
Code of Conduct, 30
see also Model Code of Conduct
Collectors of Customs, appointment
of, 69 .
'

'Dyer,
Conrmissioners, extra, 63
Commissioners of Income-Tax -

appointment of, 69 . - .

.Commonwealth, 81 ' •
- /: :7i37; 14^1471
Compute, achievement in, 82 . .--,-'ahd leakage of
questfon {^f^rsi;4U^
^Concentration of wealth, 16 -
. 77;- 1464’:v '7.7/7777.75’;
•"
'••'copyirig system in, 39 ,~v,
-
rhistakesin,'29

''/rdefectsifi;'447-l48
.’see a/sovotem' lists' . -

Employment, 19. 20
'

dlemeriktyj -146;‘ '' j"'

English language, SS.;. .. - -

,
itrSprovemerit'in,
Environment; degradation of, 83-84,
lack of, ',83;.,' '
'
'
506 .. '

,
-

'iutiop^stcm lp j '40
,
;

Ethiopia, 17
valuation syst^ in, 40 'i.
Evaluation ^stem,. 38
•

'Elections;. 22, 24, V' ^Expenditure observers, 69

corruption in,, 27,; 57, 108/109 '. • -

criminality in, 57 '

•. r , ;
t';
Fabian socialism, 81
•
defects in, 26-27,-28-31,"120-122, ; Famine in Bengal,' death statistics
155456 ..v
'
during, 81
- inforrnation and disinfbrmalion Food, self-sufficiency and exporters,
during,' 26
•
-
10 ;
; liquor rble.‘iny,27 Foodgrain
91 -
rrialpracticesln; .
, India as exporter of, 81
.manipulative, tactics of privileged' production, 81, 106
- professionals in',' 12 Freedom, erosion of, 17-18
'money power 27,47, V- ^
role in,
'
policemen force strfen^ during, 90 . Gandhi,. Mahatma, 15, 16, 17, 19,
suggcsdoris for the improvement of, 35,88,116,144
'
,3l'*32' ,• •
• '
Gandhi, Rajiv, 36, 42, 51
Election' account expenses, 46-47, - Gandhi, Sanjay, 415
'
'

'56-57,125426' Golden Jubilee of the Quit India

,

Election booths, Bihar example, 22- •

Movement, 115 .
•

' •
.Government planes, misuse of, 3
.23...., ^ 4 ..y
Election Commission, 24-25, 30-32,
Green Revolution, 10
Gresham's law of currency, 92
/; 46, 62.i55.'56,’59, 61^62i.67..
Gross national income, 20
y 68,:70;44, 118-12^, 134^ y
.

,
;
Growth rate, 79 '
'1 -
staff sfreiigth bf,4l7 ;-“l ''"rv-V- -
.

Curukuh, 1.46
Election, Commi^ibhers; II 8-II 9
,

4 •
'

Election expenditure lirtiit,i56,'58;'69.-

Hazlitt, on education, 12
4;^0,;12^25, f ' '.Health, 19-20, 39, 148-149
'

Electibh iaWj.heed'forbhartge in; 28 and malaria, 20, 78

Eiection.riggihg, 29,-30,91, 120-121,
- and .mosquitoes, 148
A.-
'' and plague, 148
Election symbols', 90. /
'f and small-pox, 20, 148
Section vipfehce,',30 -

, and tuberculosis, 78
. ."arid death'.'statistics ih 1991.' and and typhoid, 20
''/41993*104-?';, Heisenberg principle, 74
Bectipns in^uhiyersilies/^S / / y-'-' Hinduism, 85-87, 96-97, 129, 139 .
'

Electbraf •‘'fefo'rTns,V'.'4li4'12;
'
Hlndutwa, meaning of, 38
,'419-i20;42442B/;'44^;- Home Secretary, 32
Electotalrblis!;;-''/'';/''
'

'

' Hospitals, conditions of, 149 - -

>4B.angla"de5Klsiri;;9p,f, 4 4;
!‘
’
-,-4
'
- Housing, 20 ',
,,
 , ' ' ; '

•
1 ,' 1.

Wen%cards.,:3i;65. 11^112' '

•

impersonation cases,
53-54 !-
' '

AdministraUve Serw'ce 24’

motto of, 38 " -
’

see a/so Civil

,
^rvkd •

uterac^,^;'..H^’L';;}
Indian Civil Procedure .
..

Code.. 88
Indian Criminal
'

; 4 >^fe#!e;:,2 iv 80 ,"il)7 Tili

Procedure Code 88
Indian^lnstitute of
Technology. ’s3,
t
elections.of/a^
List si«fem m.<3#mahy-'46'
Indian National -
Congress, .
Lahore
session of, 81 '
. . ,

Indian Penal Code,

69, 88
Industrial sector,
'
achievement of 16 ^d'^'Christiah^Coili^^'kP^iv
145 •
r
. Manifestpi-a;32:'^i.-L, .vV:-L:;,;\.^^^^
Infant mortality. 79-80
'
Islam, 96, 139
;I'^nipuf;; 22 ':: rj:
.MARG poll survey', lOT ^VThV-'' -•

Jainism, 96, 139 :;J^Ik:producti6nV I06;-i45i.;r^^lo

Jallianwaia Bagh
massacre, 144 .'Md^‘tt#pfCdnduct/Si: 5 ^’60 ::^v
Janata Cloth Scheme '
L 6i,;65-75,:'i2q::.v;;;^-;4?;y^
sari, 68-69 . ;

Janata Dal, 24 '

Money ali6(^tibn, misusedf/
20 v't''

Jayaialitha, 128 .
,
money :povverv;34; ,47, L ; ".'If
'
'

Jews, 96 -Moral character, 3'5 ^

47;--.

Jharkhand, 22 ’ :’/ J':?^Pi?J;pont43«pn)25'-7

Journalists, limited
contribution of; '

105 .
- .
•
. ,
, ' 4 :,i^iah(i 4|2;4i05;,74.^7 7®!
Judicial service, 1 7 4
lfemibia;4i77
- ,
,
;
'
:'7'
Judiciary, ; ^.Narmada river '4^ .
4,77
130
, :

collapse of, 40. .

,
:.:;4 12 i 4;:^:;.>7 7 :

Karkaria, Bachi, ;,,NaH^al-^dc^^i-’20;47'7\

33 . -
^

Kashmir, 22 105
'

rNatid^rLit^c^feioh,^l5_7;7^
. ,
NatiqnarPaities;'24';'';-7’.7/''. ;74 '

,
author’s report on, 34 ,
'
'l)%ai^or;p^G;:22;;473oK’^'''^ 7
'
'
'
KeraIa, 21-22, 80, 115 ,
’
" ,

Kerala elections. Air 4 Nehm;;jatvyi^dalLi6-‘'i?.i'T97^^

India hoarding
during, 108 ^

Khanna, Rajesh, 29 121,. -

' '
4 N^ni, ttdtilal) 'i 9 ;JrV^'Ci?] .:7;;7
;

, " '

;-ci4c^ Delhi ;cphstituehcy;'i2l'‘4

Khayyam, Omar, 73 ‘

-, ' •'

7
, ,

Khurana, Hargovind, 43 '4

•
il^akhalkris ; .'!4 4
4 ’
, ,
'Nulari-’As.sam'-'GahW Pa'nctia4''l bji;'>’
Krishnamurthy,, Ghali
Venkatagopala, •

63 .
'
.

’
Korien, Dr.,
7
‘

106 ,
'
,
-‘
-

languages, 70 87 96 - .
'7 ".
, . , ,

Law Department; 25 '

.
’

t,
 *
'JivSXi'
Stafe,parlies;.'.24: ; _’

"lEafel; &rdar^ 35^ BhpUan 12.S , - •_ -

.

', {
 ; ;;

138 Index

names given to, 31, 58, 90.

report on Kashmir of, 34 - vTilak/’B^l GangadHat;-26\:?'\
Shakhder, 57, 60 ;-'Tiruchifa^ni'jTOn^ltoen^,^9i^
'

Shankaranand, 68 "
,Tripura^eIe^^on;;
Sharma, Nava! Kishore, 122 , • ;6f;, Police' ihycollusion \^th ;

Shastri, Lai Bahadur, 41 . pp!iticiahs;-I09'-.'/-i?';'..^

Shastri, Peri, 56, 60, 61 'Triyedi, 57y 8Qy‘ r>'
r-
Sikhism, 96, 134'
Singh, Bhagat, 144
Uhempipymehtstati5t!cs,'83:;.'.>
Singh, Kaka Joginder, ur/ Dhartt '
United Nations, --143
Pakad, 33
, United States;'-.i'43 V;;! ii'd'Ci,
Singh, Manmohan, 103, 125-126 University; Grantsj.Cpmhii'sioh^^^^^^
Sinha, Shatrughan, 29, 121
_
Up ;AsseiT>b!y,'' number of 'crlmina!
Stum Clearance Board, 145 .
'\^'-j#^:in;:58^59;Tp3{i<{V^
Slums, 99, 115, 145
Socialism and planned development, " •'
Values,, fragmentation 'of, '34;-35 1
•

81
. ,
Vicc-CHancellpris), ipp;r,\'^
Somalia, 17
-
Votersi' numfe.ofySP'^^
Sri Krishna, 35 '29'; 53,.’
Voters’ ilists'df ^iedofa! lists,'
Sri Rama, 35, 48
State Election Commissions, 61
and -^ssam" foreigners’
'

.
,
,
issue, 1 28./;
State parties, 24 i-
defects in; '91, 120- ;
Statute Book, 54
;
- ,
.•;statistics'0fj' 116:/;, /<
Steel plants, 82 ‘

; Voting population; ^90 “ I' / v

Steel production in India, 82
Supreme Court, 61, 63, 65, 66, 68,
,
:
'W^pbie, Horace, 30
69, 100, 101, 110, 119 role of; 22;. 27;- 86;
'

Weapons, ,
-L
'''
Weather^yarikions, 84 .C/''.',"';
Tagore, Rabindranath, 43, 75
West Bengal; 31/. I-,/.//; // ;////
Tamil Nadu elections, 110 /
.Wh'eat';exports,'T45__' </
Tatas, 82 W6men's:^ucalipn.,heg!eH
Teacher-pupil ratio, 83 ,

•Women voters/dOTiai of voting rights

Techno-economic power, 11
Telephones, 17
Wor^dBank/I^^F/8S;^;^;
percentage of successful calls, 40
Telephone Department, 40 Yaday, Laldo,';i'28,'
Television channels, 16-17
Textile mills, 10, 81-82 Zila Parishad?,;: 27
’

‘
/.
. .