Two Patils, one Rashtrapati

Born in Jalgaon, the cotton-growing Khandesh region of north Maharashtra, she studied in Mumbai, has a residence in Amravati and was the youngest member of the legislative assembly. That was way back in 1962, when she was just 27 and unmarried. Her mentor was Yashwantrao Chavan, then a towering figure because he was the first chief minister of the newly created state of Maharashtra and later Pandit Nehru8217;s trusted defence minister. In 1967 she was made deputy minister in the state in the Vasantrao Naik ministry and given the portfolios of public health, parliamentary affairs, tourism. In 1972 she was promoted to the cabinet status. All this while, Chavan8217;s stars were in ascendance and, as his protege, she too grew in stature in Maharashtra.

But she chose to remain with Indira Gandhi when the Congress was split following the 1977 defeat. In those days, to remain loyal to Indira Gandhi meant inviting political ridicule. It was a difficult decision also because her mentor had left Indira Gandhi. Even Sharad Pawar, Chavan8217;s godson as he was termed, had left the Congress. Pratibhatai as she8217;s known in Maharashtra chose to become leader of the opposition in the assembly, positioning herself against Pawar8217;s ruling front.

Loyalty matters. Mrs Gandhi came back to power in 1980. The Janata Party had disintegrated and the Pawar government was dismissed. Today, the Left may be extolling her political virtues, but then the CPM and later even the CPI, were totally opposed to Indira and therefore even to Pratibhatai8217;s politics. The Left has gone out of its way to describe her as 8220;steadfast8221;, but at that time it meant support to Indira and even to the Emergency.

Her being 8216;Patil8217; has confused many. In Maharashtra, 8216;Patil8217; does not necessarily mean a Maratha. Shivraj Patil, for instance, is a Lingayat, and Pratibhatai is a Rajput-Maratha. Then there are Patils who are Kunbis and even Dalits. And besides the last name, there is really nothing Shivraj Patil and Pratibha Patil have in common.

Pratibhatai is a private, media-shy person but is open and communicative when in conversation. She is confident and restrained. Shivraj Patil is like a wax statue. He has a very synthetic smile and well-ironed clothes to match that artificiality. It is difficult to hold a conversation with him because he neither expresses an opinion nor challenges any view. He is reliable because he is like a sponge which absorbs water.

He has no primary group, no circle of friends, no personal following, no party network which he can call his own, no active media lobby and no comrades or colleagues in the Congress. He is a loner and has generally remained loyal to Indira-Rajiv-Sonia. Perhaps that is another attribute common between him and Pratibhatai. When Shivraj lost his seat in Latur, nobody had any sympathy for him. But there was shock in his constituency when he was chosen as one of the top cabinet ministers. It is truly a mystery how he rose to the level he has.

But that is a bit like the famous Peter Sellers8217; film, Being There. In it a gardener, serving in a millionaire8217;s estate, having no knowledge of the world outside that estate, inherits all the wealth. Suddenly finding himself a rich man, he starts getting importance and a point comes when he gets nominated as a candidate for the presidency. He even goes on to become president of the US. He is clueless about how he came into power, or what to do with it. The last line in the film, which is also on Sellers8217; tomb, is: 8216;Life is a State of Mind8217;. For Shivraj, Life is a Virtual Reality. In this reality there is no contradiction between being a candidate and not being a candidate.

You just cannot have a conversation with him. He has been like this for well over the three decades that the media and the political class have known him. Nobody can quarrel with him. He never raises his voice. If a reporter asks him a question or if a local Congress neta asks for a favour, he shrinks back a little, fine wrinkles appearing on his face. But within a few seconds he recovers and becomes a wax statue again. He then turns to the reporter and says, 8220;That8217;s an interesting question.8221; He promises to look into it. To the local neta, he shrugs, 8220;I do not handle that issue.8221; He also explains that he is busy with some nationally important policy matters. Both the reporter and the neta leave, neither impressed not dejected. For a while, they too feel that life is a virtual reality.

If Shivraj had indeed occupied Rashtrapati Bhavan, it would at least have been a great tribute to

Peter Sellers.