By raising a pertinent issue, Yashwant Sinha exhibited exemplary courage. His was an act of a true statesman, who is anxious to ensure policy-makers don't err
Dear uncle, congratulations. After being in obscurity for long, you have hit the headlines again. like a true statesman, rising above partisan lines, you have raised a pertinent issue — so what if it has potentially dented the image of a party that has given you your live’s most glorious moments as Finance Minister. Some cite ‘bite the hand that feeds you’ aphorism to slam your historic ‘speaking up’ act. But I don’t believe, for I have been told to idolise you since my childhood days.
I am, instead, enamored by the gigantic surge of people’s interest in you. Overnight, you have entered into what many call an illicit and quiet relationship with your once bête noire — the Congress. The party is celebrating you the most. And why not, because you have given them a huge cake to cherish. Your party colleagues are surprised — and I am surprised. WhyIJ They should know: As the Finance Minister for many years, you have an astonishing knack for analysing balance sheets — and this one was massively tilted against you. Despite this, many are complaining, and some even questioning your true heartedness. I don’t, despite being told that you had an oscillating sense of loyalty, and a remarkably sharp sense of spotting opportunities, which led you to switch over from the Indian Administrative Service to the Janata Party, then to the Janata Dal and finally to the BJP. So what. Isn't this a norm in politics, and why should you be differentIJ
I also don't believe when many say that you were no different as Finance Minister, at least not even shades closer to illustrious predecessors, including Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee and Manmohan Singh. Why should all people be greatIJ You had your own share of glory, you rose from a District Collector — managing finances for few hundred blocks — to the Finance Minister, entrusted with managing the country’s economic destiny. With passage of time and greying of your hair, your wisdom too grew by leaps and bounds, and those around you immensely benefitted from it. Among others, you must have been sharing your experience and knowledge with your very bright son, who is also a Union Minister.
To extend this wisdom to the wider world, you spoke up recently, and loudly! Your harsh critic of the Government’s economic policy, some say, may reek of a frustration out of an aspiration to serve more, and a definite lack of gratitude that, perhaps, you imbibed during your days in the Indian Administrative Service — a service that teaches you to be impersonal to serve better. I don't agree. I remember, once I was tempted to believe that you miserably lacked gratitude, when on a chilly winter morning on the sprawling lawns of your lutyen Zone bungalow, my father, whom you had known for many years from your days in Patna college, was made to stand along with 30 other visitors to greet and solicit favors from you. I thought you were a miser in etiquettes when I saw you spend precise 30 seconds with a university professor and your old friend from your alma mater, as you did with the remaining 30. But my father sermoned me about your robust values and your commitment to the cause of the nation as a Finance Minister, where you were under the oath of the Constitution to treat all as one! He asked me to junk my middle class values, and continue looking at you in awe and reverence. I continue to!
And even as this may sound personal, I don't believe when people accuse you of making it personal too. They say your speaking up is nothing but a personal settling of your grouse against the Prime Minister, Finance Minister and BJP president. They also say your age and ambition grew proportionately — Arun Jaitley phrased it as ‘job applicant at 80’ — and that you were even considering being considered for the President’s post or something of a lesser hue. But I don't believe this conspiracy theory, since I am enamored by my father's faith in you, despite your winter morning humiliation to him.
I also don't believe that what you did was pure and poor politics and no economics, as your skeptics claim. It was an act of a true statesman, who in his 80th year, is anxious to ensure policy-makers don't err. Rather than expressing your apprehensions in a cliched private mode, you boldly opted to chose a newspaper article to point out the economy's downward spiraling to the Union Cabinet — and even as your adversaries term it a deviant act, I do understand you are driven with the passion to save India’s economic misfortune. You exhibited exemplary courage to stand up and point out. You did not compromise on your ideals and spoke what you would like us to believe as truth.
In hindsight, the Prime Minister must have been happy — for he would not have got these pearls of wisdom had he sent you to the Rashtrapati Bhawan or somewhere else. Kindly continue enlightening us. Thank you.
(The writer is a strategic communications professional)