‘I didn’t have to dig up dirt on Indira, Rajiv to promote my book’

• Is it true the NDA chose you as their presidential candidate based on your Christian background, with the ulterior motive of preventing Sonia, another Christian, from becoming PM? Is this why the Congress chose not to endorse your candidature?
Cheriyan K M

Pramod Mahajan, who was deputed by then PM Vajpayee and Deputy PM Advani to ascertain my response to their proposal to field me as a candidate for presidentship, met me at the Raj Bhavan, Mumbai on November 30, 2001. I asked him why the NDA leaders had chosen me. A special reason he gave me was that the NDA leaders expected the Congress would support my nomination and there would be near unanimity. The ‘‘Christian factor’’ developing into a hindrance to Sonia’s chances of becoming PM had not entered into anyone’s calculations that time. In fact, Sonia has never been considered by the people as a Christian after her marriage. If objections were raised against her becoming PM, they were never on the ground of religion. But they were on the basis of her foreign origin and other such considerations. However, those who were bent on frustrating my chances in the Presidential elections had to resort to reviving her Christian identity as they believed that was the only way to explain to other Congressmen the rationale of their opposition. The ‘‘Christian-Christian’’ argument thus suited the designs of those who were leading the campaign against me for their own reasons.

• Are you still in the race for President’s post? Will you claim it after A P J Abdul Kalam?
Sanay S Shivade

Certainly not. I had publicly declared at a press conference in Mumbai immediately after the announcement of my election to the Rajya Sabha that I would not be a candidate for any post in the Government thereafter. I had informed the PM and the Deputy PM also about my stand on this.

• Indira Gandhi was very tough on Communists, particularly in Bengal. As a trusted lieutenant of hers, why do you think she took such a stand? Did she feel that they would come to dominate the political system in the future?
Chandan Banerjee

I don’t think she was particularly tough on the Communists in Bengal. It is a fact that when the educational institutions managed by the Ramakrishna Mission encountered some problems from the State Government, she supported the Mission’s stand. However, this should not be interpreted as any hostility towards the Communist party as such.

• After holding positions like Cabinet Secretary, High Commissioner to UK, Governor of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, isn’t the Rajya Sabha nomination an insult, especially since your name was announced for Presidentship and then withdrawn? Why can’t you serve the nation through voluntary social work?
Leo Rebello

I don’t agree that membership of the RS is in any way less important than the various high offices I held before. It certainly is quite wrong to describe my RS membership as an ‘‘insult’’ merely because my name was announced for presidentship and then withdrawn. Any position one occupies in the government is to be taken as an opportunity for the service of the nation and the RS membership is one such opportunity. There is no difficulty for any member of the RS for doing voluntary social work while continuing to remain active in his work as a member of the RS.

• Do you see a time shortly when at least one ‘‘big’’ politician is punished for corruption, so that it will put a sense of fear in the others?
A Manjunath

I fully share your concern about the fact that ‘‘big politicians’’ have been escaping punishment for their corruption. The delays involved in the present procedures for dealing with corruption, whether by politicians, civil servants or anyone else, have been a major cause for the growing incidents of corruption in the country today. Another important factor preventing prompt punishment is the increasing tolerance of corruption in our society. The permissive attitude of our society to corruption in general has encouraged more people to indulge in it. Our society does not bother to find out how a man has made money, but is only concerned with whether he has enough money. This trend of tolerance in the case of politicians is particularly evident from the fact that people elect them again and again though they may be aware of their acts of corruption.

• In your book, why is Indira Gandhi always right and everybody else always wrong?
Rhea Kashyap

This is not correct. I had always expressed my views frankly whenever I felt that the steps she was taking were not right. I have given two important examples in my book where I had strongly felt that she was not taking the correct decision. One related to the choice of Giani Zail Singh for the post of President and the other to the installation of the government of G M Shah, replacing Farooq Abdullah, in Jammu and Kashmir. There were innumerable other instances when I had expressed my views frankly, knowing pretty well that her views were quite different from mine. But the final decision was her prerogative. Once a decision was made by her, it was my duty to carry it out faithfully.