We do not know if Nehru called him to say, thanks, but no thanks. What we can see is that even in the serene early sixties, a real politician — like Rajendra Prasad — knew which was the job that mattered in our power structure. The same logic drove the rumours of the reverse in the NDA government’s second half, when a certain ‘camp’ freely suggested to journalists desperate for ‘items’ for their political gossip columns that, through an ‘internal’ arrangement brokered by the RSS, Atalji could be ‘elevated’ to Rashtrapati Bhavan and a more ‘active’ person put in the prime minister’s job. There was, of course, nothing to it — and surely no reporter of the Express ever took that bait, because it was no more than empty intrigue which used to go on among the flotsam of failed politicians, debt-defaulting businessmen and their flunkies and assorted busybodies that hung around the BJP core of the NDA government. But even now, that is until early years of this decade, there was no doubt as to which job mattered, and which was mostly ceremonial. Presidency was a job for a retired politician looking for the Republic’s finest sinecure. Active politicians, with ambition and hunger for power, knew where it lay, in the cabinet, ideally in the prime ministership.

SO, what are we to read in the totally unconcealed desperation on the part of so many key members of this cabinet to be ‘elevated’ to Rashtrapati Bhavan? Pranab Mukherjee, Shivraj Patil, Arjun Singh and Sushil Kumar Shinde are the four senior-most members of this cabinet holding important, powerful portfolios. All four were in the race to ‘retire’ to Rashtrapati Bhavan. Following in their footsteps, at least four others have been desperate for the vice-presidency. Now, even in the not particularly renunciatory history of our politics, this is unusual.

Here is something for Sonia Gandhi to think about: if four of the senior-most members of her cabinet see so little future for themselves in mainstream politics that they are so keen to move on to a ceremonial sinecure and if another four are equally desperate to simply move on to vice-presidency, something must be wrong with the way this cabinet has been constituted. But that is exactly what you expect from a cabinet packed with individuals the use-by dates on whom have been over for years. They are not sure the party will return to power in 2009. But they are sure — except Pranab, whose case is different — that none of them is likely to get a cabinet berth by then as they will be too old for an active job even by the geriatric standards of Indian politics. Do a quick head count of cabinet ministers who are most unlikely to get their jobs back in the summer of 2009, and that too if a Congress coalition wins, and you run through most of this cabinet: Patil, Arjun Singh, Saifuddin Soz, Sis Ram Ola, Mahabir Prasad, A.R. Antulay, you can keep counting. All of these are full cabinet ministers, people who meet every Thursday to take decisions vital to our lives and those of our children. But if they have one certainty about 2009, it is that they will not be back in the cabinet, irrespective of who wins power, so better grab something now that gives five years of security with pomp. In fact, as we get closer to 2009, you can safely predict many of them will canvass equally desperately for governorships. Pranab’s is a different story, because he is the only one who can be sure that should there be a Congress-led cabinet in 2009, he will remain its key pillar. But he knows he won’t be prime minister. So the top job is denied to him for ever, despite his competence, experience and, most importantly in Indian politics, years; why not cut one’s losses now and move on for five years?

THE perils of running a government built around key people who have no stake — or faith — in the future are evident and there is no point wasting space or time underlining these. The most important of these is that it squashes the party’s youthful impulse. If the oldies with no hope in the future continue to occupy key slots till 2009, it damages the party in many ways. It takes away from the party its strongest edge against its rivals, a young leadership. The BJP, the Left, the Third Front, even put together, cannot match the team of younger Congress men and women already in active politics, from Rahul Gandhi to Priya Dutt. But if all of them have to serve a period of internship till 2009 while the oldies plot and plan for their sinecures, the party is looking down the barrel. Second, it leaves the government very tired and ineffectual.

Forget the 9.4 per cent growth for a moment. Just look at the sectors not performing: mines, coal, power. You’d notice that quarter after quarter, these sectors remain stagnant while the rest of the economy moves and for none of these you can blame any allies. All three are with the Congress. On the other hand, many of the sectors with the allies are moving forward: aviation, railways, even ports and telecom. The voter, today, is far too smart to miss this. Or, to not ask what purpose Ola, Antulay and Mahabir Prasad are serving in this cabinet. No surprise then, also, that the functioning Congress ministers in this cabinet, Pranab, Chidambaram, Kamal Nath, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Kapil Sibal and Ambika Soni are also the only ones in the A team that see a future beyond 2009.

Since none of the golden oldies has won the battle for Rashtrapati Bhavan, you wonder now how far-reaching the post-presidential election reshuffle will be. The government, therefore, will continue to not only look tired, but tire even more, with the limelight for any good being done cornered by ministers from the allies. This cabinet needs a generational shift. And what the Congress needs right now is not a mere reshuffle. It needs a new Kamraj Plan. It has to send its veterans back to the organisation, into the Raj Bhavans and, better still, into total retirement — something they richly deserve.

Postscript: Since we are talking of the presidency, I cannot help recounting a delightful story the former prime minister, I.K. Gujral, tells about the time Indira Gandhi sent him to ask Zakir Husain if he would accept the office of rashtrapati. He recalls that when he walked into Zakir Sahib’s office in Parliament, he asked him to sit down, and even before he could open his mouth, said, in Urdu: “I know why you have come. If you have come to ask me to stay on in the same chair (the vice-president’s) for five more years, then I am not so weak as to not be able to say no to you. If you have come to ask if I’d like to move into Rashtrapati Bhavan, I am not so strong as to be able to say no to you.” A big laugh, a brilliant line, and the issue was settled. My apologies to Gujral for stealing this now, but you will find this and many other such delightful stories in the memoirs he is now writing.

sg@expressindia.com