As politics has grown increasingly raucous and polarisation in the public arena has set in deeply, it is instructive to look back four decades ago-the Eighties and the Nineties- when political discourse was more subtle, political courtesy and civility was the norm in public life. And the leaders that stood tall in that era were those who led by example and were unassuming, accessible and yet commanding. One such striking example was the iconic Shri Arjun Singh.
Shri Arjun Singh played so many important roles in these decades- Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Governor of Punjab, the first Vice President of the Congress party, Union Minister for Commerce, then Communications and then notably Human Resource Development. He performed these roles with aplomb yet never did power go to his head and he remained unassuming, modest and easily approachable.
His feats were the stuff of history: he got the notorious dacoit Phoolan Devi, the terror of the Chambal valley to surrender when he was Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh in 1983. Like his contemporary VP Singh, and possibly influenced by the discourse of that time, he was determined to advance the goals of social justice, as HRD Minister, introducing 27 percent reservations for Other Backward Classes in higher educational institutions. While there was considerable backlash at the time, his decision stood the test of time as the judiciary upheld the concept with the caveat that the creamy layer would be excluded.
His political skills were widely admired as he helped the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi negotiate peace with the Akalis and the subsequent upheavals in Punjab as Governor. An astute politician he had a long-sighted view of India’s political challenges and did his best to help the Congress party navigate these tricky issues with finesse and skill.
Noteworthy too was his fierce loyalty to the Gandhi family that he never for a moment doubted that they should be entrusted with the leadership. In fact, the emotional investment that he had made in the success of Indira Gandhi and her successors brought disappointment to him when he saw but did not openly comment on, their indifference to the Congress party’s basic interests and principles.
I was long an admirer and friend of the great political stalwart. It was my privilege to have known him and as a young journalist, I greatly benefitted from hearing his perspective of events. I understood too from his grassroots wisdom that politics had earthy resonances and was most often not always driven by lofty idealism.
As a young reporter coming from Chennai, then Madras, to report from the nation’s capital New Delhi for The Hindu newspaper, my interest was in the coverage of national politics. And sure enough, in the mid-80s, the real star of the Congress party other than Rajiv Gandhi and Arun Nehru was Arjun Singh.
As a young journalist I was excited about meeting the shining stars of Delhi’s political royalty and I called on Shri Arjun Singh in his darbar with hordes of eager loyalists thronging his waiting room.
He was Vice President of the party at the time. I was pleasantly surprised when I found him to be a friendly, cheerful and genial person, welcoming me to Delhi’s political world, taking the trouble to find out my own background and quickly realising that I had come to Delhi mainly to gain knowledge from the heart of India’s political arena.
I formed a friendship with him very quickly and with his charming wife, sons and daughter too. I had the privilege of dining with them, his wife, the ever-gracious Shrimati Saroj Kumari was a wonderful hostess. I too had the privilege of hosting him several times for tea or dinner, introducing other friends to him and he was always happy to share his views with people that mattered.
Shri Arjun Singh was a major source of strength for me as a journalist from the South seeking access to the corridors of power in Lutyens Delhi. He introduced me to a wide range of leaders and thanks to him, I began to understand the labyrinthine structure of not only the Congress party but indeed the entire political field.
And remarkable too was his realism and sagacity. He addressed complex political challenges with a simplicity that very often helped defuse the charged situations. His mediatory skills as his deep understanding of politics made him the party and Government’s trouble shooter in many volatile situations.
His world view was likewise simple, and he had little patience for what he saw was intrigue and doublespeak. He saw issues in black and white, to him it was self-evident that the Congress party should ensure its founding values like secularism and pluralism should be the guiding principles in decision making. That accounted for his deep unease and alienation from the manner in which the former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao had handled the Babri Masjid issue.
It was painfully clear to him that the Government had allowed matters to drift, and the atmosphere was being deliberately inflamed by incendiary and provocative rhetoric on both sides with the Hindutva and Islamist hardliners escalating the confrontation.
Shri Arjun Singh as a staunch believer of Congress values especially tolerance and multifaith coexistence felt that the Prime Minister Narasimha Rao had lent legitimacy to the dispute by allowing talks to take place under the auspices of the PMO. He made clear his disappointment with the failure of the Congress Government to articulate a clear stand.
He was appalled by the Government’s horrific failure to stop the cauldron from boiling over as it did with the destruction of the Babri Masjid and the subsequent retaliatory bombings by Islamist fundamentalists deeply worried him. He knew that the country was heading for disaster, plunging more deeply into communal polarisation that would ultimately engulf the Nineties.
I often wonder what the great leader-statesman, Shri Arjun Singh would have made of today’s India.
I am sure as a person passionately committed to India’s development, he would have admired the great strides in digital transformation and the rapid rise of the economy and would not have grudged that due appreciation to the Government of Narendra Modi.
It can be also said that the decline of the Congress party, reduced as it is today to a shambles, a sad shadow of its earlier self, is attributable in large part to the departure of titans such as Arjun Singh who exemplified the values and the honour of the Congress, and invoked the aura of the earlier magnificence of the Congress organisation.
The BJP’s unchallenged sway of the national political arena and the strange lack of a credible alternative is because the Congress party has lost stalwarts such as those who strode the stage in earlier decades. Arjun Singh’s devotion to the Gandhi family was not reflexive deference but respect for the party’s great traditions and adherence to basic democratic values that he felt the family was best suited to exemplify and to lead. When Arjun Singh felt Narasimha Rao had betrayed the party’s cardinal values, he rebelled and left, rejoining only after Mrs Sonia Gandhi emerged as the leader of the party.
Shri Arjun Singh epitomised the era of the gentleman-politician. Urbane, cultured, shrewd and realistic, he was also a quintessential politician, making key deals and decisions that put the party ahead of situations. As a person, despite his high positions and striking achievements, he remained modest, unassuming and easily accessible. In my opinion, he was one of the most consequential leaders the Congress party has ever had. His belief in the infinite possibilities of change wrought by the right kind of politics and governance was refreshing as it was inspirational.
I will never forget that gracious and welcoming smile that always greeted me when I went to meet him through the years I spent in Delhi. He would always want to hear what my views of any development were, showed no impatience or irritation with any narrative and instead would quietly explain his view of whatever was being discussed. At the end of every meeting with him, I always left feeling more informed and with a far better understanding of whatever political or national development was on the horizon.
India is poorer for the departure of such political titans like Shri Arjun Singh whom I miss to this day for his kindliness and personal warmth as well as his lucid and statesmanly perspective.