Generosity and Boldness were Chandra Shekhar’s forte / Today is his birth anniversary
ANIL TYAGI, SR. JOURNALIST, AUTHOR
17 April 1927, the eighth Prime Minister of India #ChandraShekhar was born. Today is his birthday. I recall an incident that distinguishes him from the typically indecisive politicians who remain silent in similar situations. After attending the cremation of #RajivGandhi, in 1991, Pakistani PM #NawazSharif had come calling on the Indian PM. Pakistan’s ISI was then (now too) causing problems in hashtag#Kashmir and fomenting terror. Chandrashekhar told Sharif very bluntly to rein in his military and refrain from carrying out subversive activities in India. Sharif didn’t expect a pointed question put straightaway. He responded haltingly, saying the hashtag#ISI refused to comply with his instructions and was carrying out such activities on its own. The Pakistani PM also looked visibly ashen while taking this question. Generosity and boldness were Chandrashekhar’s forte. He moved and lived with everyone. Family, friends and even political adversaries. He maintained friendship with all, even if some had a tainted reputation. He never abandoned any friend in good or bad times. Chandra Shekhar, who served as the eighth Prime Minister of India, took charge at a difficult moment in India’s history. The VP Singh government had just fallen in the aftermath of the post-Mandal Commission agitations and, from November 1990 to June 1991, Chandra Shekhar headed a minority government of a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal with outside support from the Congress as a stop-gap arrangement to delay elections. Crucially, the Indian economy was in a shambles, with his government having to authorize the mortgaging of gold to avoid default of payment. Making matters worse, Rajiv Gandhi pulled the rug from under its feet, leading to its fall in just six months, before his assassination in May 1991 that further plunged the country into uncertainty in the exacting general election season. Chandra Shekhar’s time in office was short but critical in laying the ground for the PV Narsimha Rao government. Salute to Chandrashekhar ji
Pic #praveenjain
