The Politics of Power

Sage

Rs 895

Pages: 612

At a time when attacks against politicians seem to have struck a chord with the people,it is worth scrutinising a politician’s life to ascertain the appropriateness of that criticism. Based on the personal papers of former Prime Minister Charan Singh,An Indian Political Life by Paul R Brass comes at the right time. This is the first in a series of three volumes planned by Brass on Charan Singh,and deals with the early years of his political career (1937-61). The book is not about the Charan Singh that the country came to know later,but about the travails of an ambitious Congress politician at a time when leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru,Gobind Ballabh Pant,Rafi Ahmed Kidwai and Lal Bahadur Shastri dominated Uttar Pradesh’s politics.

Brass’s earlier works have focused on the factional politics of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh,and enable him to frame Charan Singh’s story in a larger context. The book seeks to trace Singh’s evolution as a spokesman of peasants,from the time he first pressed for 50 per cent reservation of government jobs for dependants of peasants or village people in 1939. It details his role in shaping and implementing three crucial legislations — the Zamindari Abolition Act of 1952,Consolidation of Holdings Act of 1953,and the Imposition of Ceilings on Land Holdings Act of 1960 — first as parliamentary secretary to Pant and later the Revenue Minister of the state. It is also a portrait of a political administrator from Meerut district,who became the chief minister of the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh,provided a base for anti-Congress mobilisation in the mid-70s and then cut a deal with the Congress to become the Prime Minister of India.

Brass counters the Leftist criticism of Singh’s efforts on land reforms as benefiting the “kulak class”,or the class of rich peasants. It acknowledges that Singh saw little merit in the redistribution of land as sought by the communists,but points out that he also strove to establish “peasant proprietorship” by replacing the zamindari system. In elaborating Singh’s opposition to Nehru’s idea of “joint farming”,or the Planning Commission’s insistence on imposing landholding tax,Brass underlines why Charan Singh emerged as a peasant leader of northern India.

But Brass seeks to downplay Singh’s “scorn and sarcasm” towards the minority community in the backdrop of the religious tensions surrounding Partition. It is best reflected in Singh and his allies’ description of General Shah Nawaz Khan,an Indian National Army hero who was defended by the Congress against British charges of treason and who had settled in Meerut,as “an admirer of Jinnah”,and in his contention that all Muslims were “affected by the (Muslim) League mentality”. Brass defends Singh’s attitude,underlining them as outbursts of a junior leader of Congress from a region where “political dominance of Muslims” was a fact. He acknowledges,though,that Singh lacked the “temperateness,calm resolve,and freedom from prejudice of Nehru on this matter,and the calm balance of Pandit Pant”.

The book also describes the evolution of license-quota raj,and how it was used to further political interests by patronising supporters and running down opponents in post-independent India. Singh’s run-ins with this system,his fight against it,and its use by his political rival Chandra Bhanu Gupta,who later became the chief minister of UP,illuminates the dynamics of patronage,and might help the current non-political class find solutions. The book also reveals the interplay of caste,religion,and criminal elements within political parties,and how the Congress used them to its political advantage.

Charan Singh was an ambitious leader. He used his loyalty and affection towards Pant,the first chief minister of UP,to remain a player in the state Congress,but his bitterness towards the next chief minister,Sampurnanand,forced him to confront the latter on many issues. The book provides one instance of his brush with Indira Gandhi,when as party president she served the “strongest rebuff” to his threat of resignation from the Sampurnanand cabinet in 1959. This left him with no option but to resign. But in the run-up to the Emergency,Singh would emerge as the dominant anti-Congress leader in UP,challenging Indira’s might.

With Charan Singh as the protagonist,this book is a primer on the realities of politics and power at the district and state levels,and how that shapes national politics.