Doon-based Arvindar Singh, Associate Editor of Defence Watch and biographer of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, says that a bias against the late Morarji Desai can be clearly seen in Pradhanmantri, a serial being aired on ABVP Channel.
The anchor/host of the show is well known actor and director Shekhar Kapoor. Singh told The Pioneer, “I witnessed two episodes which deal with succession to the prime ministership after Jawaharlal Nehru’s demise in 1964, the tenure of lal Bahadur Shastri as Prime Minister and the choice of who should succeed lal Bahadur Shastri after his sudden death in Tashkent in 1966. I have no doubt an artiste of KapoorRss calibre must have done considerable research on this work. But the bias against Desai is clear.”
Singh says that Desai was a strong contender for the prime ministership on both occasions (1964 and 1966) and on the latter occasion, he contested the election for the leadership of the Congress Parliamentary Party held on January 19, 1966 (which incidentally is the only time the Congress has ever held an election through secret ballot to elect its Parliamentary leader).
“Former Governor General C Rajagopalachari complimented Desai in his newspaper “Swarajya” “for halting the downward slide of the Congress Party towards monolithic totalitarian procedures,” adds Desai's biographer. In the episodes of Pradhanmantri, says Arvindar Singh, Morarji Desai is shown as a trouble maker, a person who intends to upset the apple cart, so to speak, and prevent a smooth transition from taking place. “Kamaraj, the Congress President of that period, is shown saying that Morarji Desai’s ideology and policies would be harmful to both the Congress and the country”.
Singh says that Desai was a Gandhian to the core and believed in a firm orderly State and was content to stand in a minority of one on a matter of principle. His words to Kamaraj on the eve of the 1966 election for the leadership “I will be a candidate even if mine is the only vote in my favour" is an example of this trait. Desai, says Singh, was an able administrator who had proved his mettle both at the provincial level as well as at the centre. He was included in the first Congress Ministry formed in Bombay Presidency in 1937, under the Government of India, Act, 1935.
He served this province again as Minister and Chief Minister after independence. At the Centre, he had made his mark as Minister for Commerce and Industry as well as Finance. He took unpleasant decisions like the implementation of the Gold Control Order and Compulsory Deposit Scheme in the wake of the Chinese Aggression of 1962, says Singh.
“As Prime Minister of the Janata Government, he will be long remembered for competent management of the economy and improving relations with all our neighbours. One owes a debt to past generations and a promise to future generations to be true to history, otherwise it may become a standard practice to mix-up facts and fiction to suit oneRss own views and beliefs. We should not forget that Morarji Desai, was the only dignitary to receive the highest civilian award from both India and Pakistan,” Singh said.