JAIMINI BHAGAWATI
The Promise of India: How Prime Ministers Nehru to Modi Shaped the Nation (1947-2019) by Jaimini Bhagwati ; Published by Penguin Viking ; Pages 385; Price Rs.799/-
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Jaimini Bhagwati was India’s High Commissioner to the UK and Ambassador to the European Union, Belgium and Luxembourg. He has served in senior positions in the Government of India, including in foreign affairs, finance and atomic energy. In the World Bank, he was a specialist in international bond and derivatives markets; he was the RBI chair professor at ICRIER; and is a Board member of IDFC's holding company.
He has published several research papers .
Bhagwati analyses the key political, foreign policy and economic decisions of all the Prime Ministers from Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi, to comprehend the role of each one of them.
With his long experience , Bhagwati reveals fascinating behind-the-scenes events and offers fresh insights into each PM's governance. For instance how, Nehru, considered a 'socialist' by some, in fact acted according to the prevailing wisdom of highly regarded economists; why P.V. Narasimha Rao has not received adequate credit for heralding economic reforms; how Atal Bihari Vajpayee followed in the footsteps of Nehru and Rao; and how and why Modi focused on the delivery of basics to the poor.
Grand in sweep and thoroughly researched, this deeply engaging book sheds new light on independent India's history. It provides an incisive overview of India's political culture and what keeps its democracy ticking.
What distinguishes this book from other books is that Bhagwati was a former Indian Foreign Service officer and is also a trained economist. In the capacity of an IFS officer, Bhagwati did have a view from inside the government for the period in which he served it, and as an economist his mastery over detailing the economic transition and policies certainly has an edge over other such other books.
A balanced reader would find his account under various prime ministers neither gushing, hagiographic, or bitterly critical. The real test lies in dealing with Nehru and Modi. Most liberal writers overly gush about Nehru and are bitterly critical about Modi. He has assessed all PMs on three Cs – Character, Competence, and Charisma. For this book he has accepted limitations by invoking the principle of master historian E.H.Carr, that all writings about the past are impacted by the choices of what to include and what interpretation to give to the so-called recorded facts.
His assessment of Nehru is quite objective. Contrary to the belief that Nehru chose the wrong economic model for the country, Bhagwati shows through facts that the model of socialism or mixed economy was the dominant theme at that time, with the majority of economists of the time also endorsing it. Nehru’s choice of economic model was fine but needed to change with time, and this time was ripe during Shastri and Indira Gandhi’s reign. Unfortunately, Shastri died prematurely and Indira took a left turn to consolidate her political career.
On Nehru’s China policy, Bhagwati is rightly unforgiving. His overall assessment of Nehru’s legacy on 3 Cs is thus: He had character and charisma in abundance. It is in competence that he may be faulted in some measure on foreign policy and national security matters.
According to Bhagwati, India should have positioned itself as a nuclear weapon power in May 1974 itself, when former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi conducted India’s first nuclear test and earned sanctions from the US and other nations.
He agreed that it may not have been possible for Gandhi to take such a bold step at the time, given the US pressure and India’s own domestic challenges, but she could have done it when she came back to power in 1980.
"By 1983-84, if Indira Gandhi had done the second nuclear test, two things would have happened. We could have got economic sanctions but people would have reconciled with a country that was growing, that has a large consumer base and, secondly and most importantly, the door would have been shut very firmly on the face of Pakistan.”
The fact that the Vajpayee government could do it within two months of coming to power in 1998, proves that the “scientific community was ready and waiting for the political green signal”.
We have highly readable chapters on the contributions of all the 11 leaders who held the office of the Prime Minister of India,
The author agreed to rank the top five—but ranked only four, and did not find anyone worthy of the fifth slot.
In terms of impact and long-lasting value, none can match Jawaharlal Nehru. Till today, he overshadows every prime minister who has succeeded him. Perhaps, there would not have been a nation state called India today but for him at the start, immediately after the Independence.
Narasimha Rao really deserves the second place—he has earned country's gratitude because we had several economic problems before his coming on the scene as Prime Minister. He was one of the longest serving politicians in terms of various positions he held—from CM of undivided Andhra Pradesh and cabinet minister with so many portfolios—Home, MEA, HRD....He served in a way that gave full expression to his ability to steer the country and the economy when it was in a major balance of payments crisis. And one could say that the same of reforms which he did – industrial licensing , EXIM rationalisation,etc. Import duties were reduced from that time onwards by every successive government. He rationalised exchange rates .
Narasimha Rao is high on Competence as he demonstrated through the balance of payment and economic crisis in 1991.He did not show enough courage of conviction to stop the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Rao was influenced by so-called god-men and that too was not a stirring example of Character.
The next person is Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He displayed boldness in his decisions. While for the decision to go nuclear, one has to give credit to our nuclear scientists and engineers, Vajpayee. took a very bold decision here. A number of countries, including the USA, announced all kinds of sanctions, including economic. And he was also able to gradually normalise relations wit-h the US. Vajpayee is noted for his Character and Charisma--he was always amiable,good-natured and accommodating.
About Lal Bahadur Shastri.the author has a high opinion.Pakistan had sophisticated weapons. Yet, Shastri was able to resist in Kashmir. He saw the situation was getting a little grim, and he remembered that Nehru had promised in Parliament that next time Pakistan attacks us, we would take the battle to them, and the battle would also be on Pakistani soil. That is exactly what Shastri, diminutive man in the sense he was short, did. He showed great strength of character when lot of people were wondering what we could or should do, and Pakistan leaders claimed one Pathan was equal to 20 Indian soldiers. He was able to push and almost reach Lahore. That was when the world community, including both the Soviet Union and the US, tried to pressurise them and us to stop fighting, and he agreed to ceasefire. With far inferior equipment, he was able to show the morale and leadership at the top that we can win.
The other area that he gave a fillip to was agriculture—the introduction of high yielding wheat, the beginning of the green revolution, and the slogan of Jai Jawan Jai Kisan. In Tashkent at the negotiating table, he lost a little bit of what he had won in the war –the Hajipir Pass—but the problem was that he was under tremendous pressure from the USSR.
Modi scored high levels on Competence and Charisma.It is too early to assess him.
It is impossible to disagree with the learned assessment of this book by Dr. Y.V.Reddy,ex-Governor of R B I.
"With his versatile background,Bhagwati provides a bridge between news headlines and the reality of behind-the-scenes public policy making under each of the Prime Ministers since Independence.This timely book is a fascinating insider's account of the interplay of politics,economics,diplomacy,
PPR
24/11/2019.
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