For Jawaharlal Nehru the road to the first general elections, on which he was very keen, was not clear even after the ouster of the “obstreperous” Congress president, Purushottamdas Tandon. The prime minister had yet to overcome strong opposition to some of his fundamental policies from a more powerful source, the Republic’s first president, Rajendra Prasad, who had served earlier as president of the Constituent Assembly.

Differences between Nehru, the life and soul of the Congress leftwing that then included both socialists and communists, and Prasad, a pillar of the party’s rightwing, led by Vallabhabhai Patel, went back a long time. These became acute at the time of Independence and Partition. Prasad was not a revivalist like Tandon. He was also opposed to theocracy. But as an “orthodox Hindu” he wanted the Indian state to be “symbolic of the Hindu majority”. Nehru would have none of this, and began to believe that Prasad was “less secular than even Patel”. No wonder then that he did not want Prasad to be the president when India became a Republic. He therefore brought C. Rajagopalachari (better know as Rajaji) to Delhi as governor-general when Mountbatten left in June 1948. But there was a strong feeling against Rajaji within the Congress party, especially regarding his opposition to the Quit India movement (1942-45). Rajaji was therefore reluctant to join the race for presidency. Indeed, he astounded the prime minister by suggesting that Nehru should become president and Patel prime minister.

Consequently, Nehru resorted to what he usually did under such circumstances. He wrote to Prasad suggesting that he should decline the office of head of state. Prasad refused to oblige and cleverly added that he left it to Nehru and Patel “to edge me out”. Only then did it dawn on Nehru that Patel, with his enormous influence in the party, was backing Prasad. Yet, curious are the ways of Indian politics. At a later stage Prasad started having second thoughts. Patel taunted him: “This marriage is settled. But if the bridegroom wishes to run away, what can I do?”

... contd.