Through The Corridors of Power

Title: Through The Corridors of Power – An Insider’s Story

Author: P C Alexander

Publisher: Harper Collins 2004 (First)

ISBN:

Pages: 470

Dr. P C Alexander was a well known figure in Indian politics, having served two prime ministers – Indira and Rajiv – as Principal Secretary and as a well connected man who knew when and how to pull the right strings. His reputation among the public was like the man who always swayed with the wind, causing no friction and becoming the right-hand man of whomever was in power! Alexander climbed the bureaucratic ladder with active support from the Congress party, particularly with Indira Gandhi’s firm clout behind him. He had to resign from Rajiv’s office claiming moral responsibility of a scandal arising out of leakage of official documents from his office to corporate dons. When he took over as the Governor of Maharashtra which was later ruled by the BJP – Shiv Sena combine, he so captivated their admiration that he was even considered for the post of the President of India as BJP candidate! Though adorned the highest chairs of Indian bureaucracy, the author is quite simple and modest in his objectives in writing this book as he says, “My intention in narrating the experiences of my life, both pleasant and bitter, is to convey to the readers in general and to the younger generation in particular, the very important lesson I had learned in life, namely, that if one is firmly committed to certain lofty values and remains determined not to compromise with one’s self-respect, integrity and sense of duty in order to gain short-term advantages, one would not have any cause for regret in the long run” (p.9). Edifying comment certainly it is, but that’s what memoirs are for!

Alexander begins the book, with an episode during his governorship in Maharashtra. This is out of the chronological sequence, but it was put there because he had to state the plain facts behind what went on among the king makers and how he was rejected from the candidacy at the late stages and A P J Abdul Kalam was nominated in his place. Natwar Singh, a noted Congress leader from Rajastan is accused in the book of having conspired against the author. Singh was favourable to K R Narayanan continuing a second term, but the ruling BJP-led NDA was against it. He put forward Krishan Kant, the then Vice President who was acceptable to TDP, but not to BJP. The Congress leaders also came out against Alexander as they feared that he becoming President would nullify the chances of Sonia Gandhi becoming prime minister should the Congress win the next election, because the public may object to both the President and Prime Minister hailing from the Christian community. Abdul Kalam was proposed by Samajwadi Party as a consensus candidate and he eventually became President. This little episode showed in clear detail how the personal rivalries among the politicians taking nasty detours and ending up with disillusionment at both ends.

Alexander joined the civil service in 1948 and quickly moved to the central cadre where real power lay. He became Commerce Secretary during the Emergency and claims to have turned down a request from Col. J S Anand, Sanjay Gandhi’s father-in-law, for an export license! In fact, he doesn’t mention any notable incident during that black period when democracy was briefly eclipsed in India by Indira Gandhi’s ulterior moves. However, the author has enough scorn in store for the Janata government which ousted Indira in the elections in 1977. Relations with the prime minister, Morarji Desai turned sour and Alexander took up a position as the head of the International Trade Centre in Geneva – a wing of the U.N. However, he came back when Indira returned to power in 1980 and accepted her offer as the Principal Secretary in 1981, after Sanjay’s death. He was unwilling to be in that chair during the tenure of the prodigal son! Indira entrusted all matters, political as well as governmental to her secretary. He cleverly manipulated many a cabinet reshuffles and king making. We can discern the coolness with which Indira engineered splits in the ruling parties of Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir to enthrone a puppet politician there.

The book is richly endowed with a detailed and matter of fact narration of the events in Punjab which escalated into a proxy war. Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was the head of the Damdami Taksal, a militant Sikh outfit. He was once arrested for the murder of Jagat Narayan, a Hindu leader who criticised the murder of Baba Gurbachan Singh, a Nirankari guru, at the behest of Bhindranwale. There are indications in the book that Giani Zail Singh, then Home minister helped him evade arrest at Chandokalan. Zail Singh also openly declared in the Parliament that Bhindranwale was innocent and he was subsequently freed. He couldn’t have done this without Indira Gandhi’s approval, but Alexander doesn’t say this openly. Bhindranwale resorted to more and more violent ways, and the moderate Akali leaders were marginalized, but were forced to up the ante, for face saving. Things were going out of hand as the Akalis threatened to stop the movement of food grains out of Punjab and refused to pay taxes from June 3, 1984. Indira decided to send in the army to Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of Sikhism, but was made a safe harbour by the terrorists. Though Alexander says she had authorised General A S Vaidya only to lay a siege to the temple, Vaidya convinced Indira after consultations with Lt General Sundarji that a quick commando operation was the only effective way. The commando action failed soon since they failed to factor in the strength of the entrenched extremists. Heavy artillery was used to take out the holed up terrorists, causing immense damage to Akal Takht, but killing Bhindranwale nevertheless. Alexander puts all the blame on Gen Vaidya for bungling on the issue, and overriding Indira’s instructions. In fact, in the long chapter on the Akali agitation covering almost 1/5^th of the book, he puts Indira mainly on the backstage in the role of a benevolent administrator intent on obtaining a peaceful resolution of the vexatious issue. The readers however get the impression that the author is not truthful in this episode.

The author continued as the Principal Secretary to Rajiv Gandhi, who assumed office after his mother’s assassination. Just 3 months later, Alexander had to resign, claiming moral responsibility to the leakage of official documents from his office to corporate bodies. He ended his political career as the Governor of Maharashtra, after ruling Tamil Nadu as Governor and administering the Indian mission to the U.K.

The book is unusually clear in the narration of the happenings in the citadels of power as it is backed up with first hand information of the inner workings of the machinery. Another plus point is the precise description of the events in Punjab which culminated in Operation Bluestar.  On the downside, Alexander has tried every trick up his sleeve to exonerate Indira from the mess she had made with her undemocratic style of functioning which was appealing only for her sycophants.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 3 Star

Countdown to Crisis

Title: Countdown to Crisis – The Coming Nuclear Showdown With Iran

Author: Kenneth R Timmerman

Publisher: Three Rivers Press 2006 (First published 2005)

ISBN: 1-4000-5369-2

Pages: 332

A sensationalist book cleverly designed to alarm the gullible American readership against the nuclear bomb being devised by Iran. The author has deep relations with the CIA and there were allegations in Iran that the author himself was a CIA agent. We can’t jump into such extravagant conclusions from the available data. Timmerman follows the established U.S. dictum that Iran, now ruled by religious leadership is an axis of evil, engaged in terrorist activities through proxy and clandestinely developing nuclear and chemical warheads, ostensibly to use against the western world. No doubt, Iran is not a place to live for the secular or moderates, but the extreme depths to which that nation is credited is clearly undeserving. Timmerman has exceeded fair criticism at many places.

Even though the erstwhile Shah was an American puppet, relations between the two countries soared during the Islamic revolution of 1979, spearheaded by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. It sunk to a low during the hostage crisis in which American diplomats were held hostage by the revolutionaries for 444 days. This was the incident which planted in the American mind an unremitting hatred to Iran, which funded the Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon to blow up U.S. military bases there, killing hundreds of marines.

This book is concerned with the story of Iran’s nuclear ambitions which began in 1984. Khomeini was initially against the concept of Iran using nuclear weapons, but the pragmatic speaker of the Majles and later President of Iran, Hashemi Rafsanjani was instrumental in reversing the leader’s decisions in this regard. Necessary blueprints for the equipments and machinery for uranium enrichment were stolen from Europe and handed over by Pakistani enterpreneur-cum-scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan. Iranian technicians were trained in Pakistani nuclear establishments. Iran’s quest for generating power from nuclear stations suffered a setback when a reactor under construction at Bushehr was bombed and destroyed by Iraq during the 8-year war. Iran availed every ruse to hoodwink the IAEA inspectors – Timmerman is very harsh on two directors general, Hans Blix and Mohammed El Baradei – an continued with an enrichment program. The author asserts that by now, Iran might be possessing a few nuclear warheads.

U.S. always stepped up the pressure on the middle-east nation irrespective of the ruling party. A deviation from the set path was alleged by Timmerman to have occurred during the era of Bill Clinton who sought to appeasing the mullahs instead of stepping up the ante. Clinton was such a pacifist that he didn’t even think about retaliation when U.S. soldiers were killed in a truck bomb explosion at Al Khobar in Saudi Arabia, which was an operation masterminded by Iran. Clinton in fact eased some of the trade restrictions in place against it and the author alleges that the Clinton Library he established upon retirement was funded $165 million by grateful American companies which gained from the opportunity of trade with the hardline Islamic republic.

Timmerman is unable to appreciate passive measures in the dealings with Iran. He proposes some imaginary scenarios in which the U.S. is attacked with nuclear weapons by a group of terrorists with links to Iran. He puts forward a five-pronged strategy to deal with the Islamic nation,

1) it must become the official policy of the government of the U.S. to support regime change in Iran,

2) we must immediately commit significant financial resources to help pro-democracy groups in Iran,

3) the U.S. President should appoint an ambassador to the Iranian people, based in Washington, DC who will convene an Iranian-style loya jirga of respected community leaders,

4) the U.S. must delegitimize the Tehran regime in every possible venue,

5) the U.S. must intensify the pressure on Tehran over its nuclear weapons program by insisting that the international community take tough action against it.

The book is interesting to read, being written in a sensationalist, investigative journalism kind of way. It lacks depth, but it is more than compensated by the spread of information. A good case is put forward by the author.

There are some parts which don’t stand critical scrutiny. He asserts that Osama bin Laden was being harboured in Iran, as “today, Iran’s leaders are plotting new attacks on the West with Osama bin Laden, whom they are sheltering inside Iran” (p.5). We now know this to be false. Timmerman is quite contemptuous to all Asian countries, not only Iran, and puts even India among the list of rogue states, as he says, “Senator John Glenn published a list of Leybold sales of nuclear production equipment in his newsletter, Proliferation Watch. Leybold’s clients included government entities in North Korea, India, Pakistan, Libya, Iraq, Iran and South Africa – a veritable rogues’ gallery of nuclear wannabes” (p.77). Such sweeping accusations smack of racial predilections on the part of the author, as the German and French firms which supply equipment to these nations are not harangued. Blatant statements of American supremacy abound in the book and a revulsive statement goes like this, “Because the United States is the most powerful nation on earth, most Americans don’t pay much attention when foreign leaders visit Washington. The visits are so numerous that the Washington Times publishes a weekly calendar of them every Monday. If its Tuesday, it must be the prime minister of Belgium or the president of Kazakhstan” (p.103).

Timmerman’s blanket accusations of sales of dual-use technology is not in proportion to the perceived threat. Even gas chromatographs, which is a common enough equipment in medium sized labs are portrayed as sensitive equipment used for uranium enrichment. Factual errors occur at other places. Location of Iran’s secret nuclear weapons research facility of Moallem Kalayeh was given as 36 deg 60 min (p.113), where in fact, 60 min is the next degree. Also, the author is silent about the Iran-Contra deal, in which the U.S. supplied weapons to Iran, and channelled the money arising out of the sale to support Contra guerillas in Nicaragua. Such a serious lapse in unfathomable by looking at the extensive coverage of plots and ideas by him.

The book is recommended for not-so-serious reading.

Rating: 3 Star