Mani Shankar Aiyar has released his second volume, “A Maverick in Politics,” which as his career panned out, he indeed proved to be. His style is impeccable, smooth flow of the language, saucy, at times bitter, perhaps, but always honest, even if self-depreciating. That is typical Mani offerings, as he has lived his life, first as an IFS officer, then as PM Rajiv Gandhi’s lieutenant, then as minister in the central cabinet, and finally as a member of the Rajya Sabha.
As he admits he was everything because of the Gandhi family, his loyalty to them. Or else, he would have retired from the foreign service, just like any other. For people who have watched him closely, and from a distance as well, one can wonder how on earth would he have been a successful diplomat, known for his (honest) outbursts that have often caused anguish to his political party.
On his recollection of his friend and boss, Rajiv Gandhi, he writes:
‘If the world is to survive,’ I concluded, ‘it is necessary that the whole world imbibe the essential values of the Indian civilization’, which Rajiv Gandhi had portrayed as ‘the capacity to live with diversity’, and more as ‘the capacity to celebrate diversity’. I went on: ‘If we live up to that vision of India, then it is only the body of Shri Rajiv Gandhi that would have died, the soul of Shri Rajiv Gandhi, which is the soul of India, will continue to live.’
And later, after the demise of Rajiv Gandhi, he writes:
The proceedings were to begin with tributes to the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi before adjourning to honour his memory. I sought out the Speaker, Shivraj Patil, and intimated to him my hope that I would be called to speak. Although condolence tributes are normally allotted only to party leaders, Speaker Patil made an exception in my case as he was aware of my relationship with Rajiv. Thus, I set what is perhaps a world Parliamentary record of delivering my maiden speech at my first substantive Parliament session.
Describing him as a man of exceptional courage, brave and compassionate, I went on to affirm that notwithstanding the omnipresent threat to his life, our former prime minister had ‘never allowed the fear of death to stand in the way of taking the decision that he thought was right’. That was my summing up of the actions Rajiv Gandhi had taken to settle the issues of separatism and secession in Punjab, Assam, Mizoram and Darjeeling, apart from sending in the Indian Peace-Keeping Force (IPKF) to stop Sri Lanka from tearing itself apart.
On his understanding of politics, and his advice to wannabe politicians:
I tell young people who wonder whether they should come into politics that they must first embark on a well-paid professional career to build up some personal capital, for otherwise they will have no alternative to making a commerce of politics. I also tell them that they must first understand and accept that unlike in almost all other professions and vocations, there is no set trajectory in politics that ensures you are better off tomorrow than you were yesterday. No, there is a volatility in the political curve, which you find only in speculative businesses. There is no guarantee that success will breed success or that failure will lead to more failure.
Most politicians conceal unflattering events in their memoirs. Aiyar is incapable of doing so. He draws a colourful picture of a life in politics, with vivid glimpses of politicians – and their policies – such as Jayalalithaa (whose party thugs nearly killed him), Sonia Gandhi, P.V. Narasimha Rao, Manmohan Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani and others.
He writes perceptively of the challenges of being a good MP and why development doesn’t win a politician votes. And he tells, too, of negotiating the power struggles of the UPA era, where he was moved from the Petroleum Ministry, and turns the lens on financial improprieties and his ideological reservations as sports minister in the run-up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mani Shankar Aiyer is a senior politician, a former IFS officer and a seasoned author. He has served as Union Minister in the Congress regime, and been a Rajya Sabha MP.