The news of release of Yashwant Sinha's autobiography a few months ago at India International Centre in Delhi didn't enthuse me much. My reading list was full and I wasn't inclined towards reading the memoirs of a former politician until a dear friend shared with me the following delightful anecdote from the book, while leisurely sipping ice-mint tea in the lawns of Delhi's Triveni Kala Sangam recently.
Meenakshi Mukherjee, the celebrated Professor of English Literature and the Chairperson of the School of Languages during my JNU days in early 1990s, was a contemporary of Yashwant Sinha at Patna University.
She was a pretty young thing then and was widely known for her grasp of English Literature. He, on the other hand, had established himself as a brilliant post-graduate student of Political Science, a powerful orator, and a fine athlete.
YS naturally fell for Meenakshi and one fateful evening at Sinha Library proposed to her bluntly: “I want to marry you.” “You shock me,” she said. “How's it possible? I'm a Bengali, you're a Bihari. Forget it,” she added. She promised to remain friends but completely ruled out marriage leaving Sinha thoroughly shattered for months as he 'wandered around like a lost Majnu' !
This unrequited love story of the young Yashwant Sinha clinched the issue for me. I quickly got hold of the book and finished the engaging account within no time, as it were.
Yashwant Sinha had humble origins. He did his schooling from a Hindi-medium school in Patna and joined Patna College for under graduate studies in Arts. The biggest challenge for him there was that all subjects were taught in English.
“My written English was weak and proficiency in spoken English almost non-existent. Compared to me, students from Mission schools like St. Xavier's had a distinct advantage”. YS overcame this weakness by taking part in debate competitions and, though initially faring miserably went on to win many laurels. He did his masters from Patna University with good grades.
Sinha taught Political Science briefly at Patna University before joining the IAS in 1960. YS writes wistfully about his IAS years in Bihar, Delhi, and abroad. He was first posted as SDO in Giridih, now a district in Jharkhand. Later on, he became the Deputy Commissioner of Santhal Parganas at Dumka where he had a (in)famous run-in with Mahamaya Prasad Sinha, the then Chief Minister of Bihar.
As the DC strongly objected to his unjustified dressing-down by the political boss, the CM thumped the table and shouted: “How dare you talk to the Chief Minister of Bihar like this? You better start looking for another job!” Yashwant Sinha calmly replied: “Sir, I'm a gentleman, and expect to be treated as one. I'm not used to being shouted at. And as far as looking for another job is concerned, I can become a chief minister someday, but you can never become an IAS officer.”
It's not often that a bureaucrat and a political leader that too the Chief Minister of a State, gets into such a fracas. YS was perhaps aware that the repercussions could prove to be quite dire for him. As luck would have it though, he narrowly escaped suspension and somehow managed to go on central deputation with the Government of India.
Sinha fondly writes about his posting as Under Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce where he was assigned the charge of dealing with the six countries of the European Economic Community. This posting took him to Bonn as First Secretary (commercial) at the Indian Embassy there, and later on to Frankfurt.
After completing his central deputation, YS reported for duty to his parent cadre in Bihar. He was however soon taken back to Delhi by AP Sharma, the Union Minister for Shipping and Transport, only to return to Patna after Indira Gandhi lost the 1977 general elections.
In the fast changing political scenario in Bihar, Sinha was suddenly thrust with the responsibility of Principal Secretary to the new CM Karpoori Thakur. He remained eyes and ears of Karpoori Thakur till he demitted office after two years at the helm. Sinha still continued in the same capacity with Ram Sundar Das who had succeeded Karpoori as the CM. It's indeed a tribute to the administrative competence and acumen of the writer that he was briefly brought in Raj Bhavan too by Governor AR Kidwai after Das resigned as CM and President's Rule was imposed in Bihar.
In 1984, Yashwant Sinha resigned from the IAS and joined politics as a member of the Janata Party. A self-proclaimed acolyte of Chandra Shekhar, he was made the Union Finance Minister in the short-lived Chandra Shekhar's government (1990-91). He later joined the BJP and became its national spokesperson in 1996. Sinha ably served as Finance Minister (1998-2002) under Atal Bihari Vajpayee notwithstanding his many policy somersaults, albeit for good reasons, earning him the moniker 'Rollback Sinha'. YS was the Union External Affairs Minister between 2002- 2004 and writes evocatively about his MEA years.
He takes the reader for a roller-coaster ride across countries and continents. The chapters on India-Pakistan and Indo-US relations are highly informative. Yashwant Sinha has been publicly critical of the BJP government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, yet the book doesn't much dwell on his differences with the powers that be in Delhi.
One last point. An autobiography ought to be subjected to the trustworthiness test as laid down by George Orwell: 'An Autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful'.
The book perhaps fails on this count. Yashwant Sinha presumably writes more about the good things of life. But he writes most evocatively and engages the reader all through.
Ajay K Singh is a Joint Secretary rank Officer in the Government of Jharkhand. He's a bibliophile having a voracious appetite for reading.