Chandrasekhar - The Indomitable Politician

In the sad demise of Shri Chandrasekhar the eleventh Prime Minister of the country, the country has lost an intrepid politician who articulated his views fearlessly. The Young Turk, as he was popularly known during his political formative years, was an angry socialist to the core and a staunch believer on democratic values. He had friends in all political parties cutting across the party lines. His presence became conspicuous since he joined the Congress Party after the difference of opinions with the PSP leadership in 1966. In the 1971 Shimla AICC Meeting he was removed from the official panel of the party. Still he could manage to get elected to the Congress Working Committee in the AICC elections. This was on of the golden hours of the inner-party democracy of the Congress Party.

However, he fallen out with the then PM Mrs. Indira Gandhi following her infamous Allahabad Judgment in which she lost to he political rival Jaiprakash Narayan. While he advised her to put in her papers respecting the judgment, her coterie advised her against doing so. The rest is history.

Curiously, he demonstrated a rare apathy towards power and the power-brokers in those days when the much sought-after power was well within his reach. But in the 90s he changed his attitude towards power and became the Premier of the country for a very brief period of 4 months. His tenure is marked for an unprecedented financial crisis. So much so that the RBI had to pledge the Gold reserves to bail out the nation from the financial woes. Even during those turbulent days he steered clear of the crises after crises with the acumen of an able administrator. He was also an able parliamentarian with a passion to raise the issues affecting the commoner.

He will be remembered in the annals of the history as a Solitary Reaper who furrowed a lonely borough in the see-saw politics of the Indian republic. Barring his brief flirt with the power from 10.11.1990 to 6.4.1991 his status always afforded him to be a rebel, out-spoken and oracle of unpleasant truth. Therefore, the void left behind by the indomitable crusader shall always remain so.