In the passing away of Chandra Shekhar, the nation has lost an outstanding leader, who could have served the country much better if provided with the opportunities. He took the wrong turns at various crossings in political life and found it difficult to compromise as far as principles were concerned. As such his Prime Ministership lasted only four months in addition to a caretaker period of three months.
Chandra Shekhar headed a minority Government. Besides the faction of the National Front, he had to depend on the support of the Congress from outside for survival. But he led the Government and the administration with great confidence.
When he took over as the Prime Minister, the wounds inflicted by the agitation following the government’s acceptance of the Mandal Commission recommendations were still fresh. The Ayodhya controversy was live. Using astute leadership skills, he managed to defuse the controversies. He even called Khalistan activists from Punjab for discussions and tried to find a solution to the crisis.
The first crisis that the Government had to face was the need to send gold reserves abroad to overcome the foreign exchange crisis. A report had appeared in the media and the government had to respond. I recall a detailed brief that was sent to him. He had a quick look at it before responding to a question asked by the television interviewer. There was no attempt at hiding facts. In effect, he said India did not want to fail in paying back the loans it had contracted, and promised that the gold would be brought back, when the country had the money.
Almost immediately after, another controversy erupted when the United States planes bound for Gulf operations landed at Indian airports. Again, there was no effort to obfuscate the facts. He said that India did not want to participate in the Gulf war and it was true that the planes had landed to refuel – but they were routine transport flights and not armed aircraft.
I remember traveling with him when he visited Kancheepuram and Madras as Chennai was known then. We had flown to Chennai and changed into a helicopter to visit Kancheepuram. At the Madras airport, the press correspondents told me that Jayalalithaa was going to ask him to dismiss the Karunanidhi Government.
After visiting Kancheepuram, where he met the elder Shankaracharya , we returned to Chennai to call on Jayalalitha at her Poes Garden residence. The Prime Minister had a brief one-to-one meeting with her on the first floor, while the rest of his team was given coffee in silver tumblers. On the return trip, he said the Centre would recommend to the President the dismissal of the State Government, the ostensible reason being its support for the LTTE.
The last crisis to which I was a witness to happened when he was visiting Bihar. On the forward journey, we had read in newspapers that the Congress had conveyed that the Government should not present a budget and only a vote-on-account should take place.
He saw the item, and told me that he would react later in the day. In the evening he told the media that the Government would be presenting a vote-on-account and not a full-fledged budget. He asked me to get further briefings on the subject from Yashwant Sinha, who was then the Finance Minister.
Yashwant Sinha was himself surprised, but the decision was a political one. If the Congress, which was the supporting party, did not extend support for a full-fledged budget being presented, there was no point in pleading for it. The budget, he felt, had to reflect the policies of his Government.
Soon, the controversy over two spies being noticed around the residence of Rajiv Gandhi erupted. That was the signal that the Government was living on sufferance. Chandrashekhar decided to resign, and the announcement was made in Parliament, to the surprise of all.
The last interaction I had with him as Prime Minister was the occasion when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated at Sriperumbudur. Chandra Shekhar was away on tour that night. The world was keen to know as to what information the Government had about the assassination.
After a core group meeting at the Cabinet Secretariat, I held a briefing at the Press Information Bureau at midnight in which I said that the available information suggested that the assassin was a foreigner, most likely of Sri Lankan origin. The government was keen that there should be no backlash inside the country, like the events that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi.
I briefed Chandra Shekhar in the wee hours of the morning. He told me then to make all arrangements for the media during Rajiv Gandhi’s funeral.
