Politicians From India

"No one in our national life symbolized so well a national units as he [Dr Zakir Huassin] who had said “The whole of India is my home and all its citizens are his family”...He stood as symbol of multiculturalism. He raised the standard of public life by his word and deed. He was the last member of the generation that had not attained greatness simply on account of their contribution to the freedom struggle. Rather, he was one of those who had achieved greatness by dedicating himself to noble ideals. He was not a mere follower. Rather, he was a pioneer, full of new and creative ideas. He firmly believed that we are inheritors of our best tradition and glorious achievements. Beauty in all its splendor and charm was embodied in him."

"He had hardly had any pretence of the politicians. For him education was not confined to lecture halls and laboratories. Rather, it was an essential part of national survival. He always set his eyes on the objectives which are essential to the destiny of the nation."

"Your victory [As President of India] stands as the victory of principles of tolerance and love"

"He was very sensitive about his particular views on national history and culture. Soon after Independence, both inside and outside India, Indian nationalism and culture were closely identified with Hinduism and its peculiar culture. After assuming the offices of Governor, Vice-President and President of the Republic, he regarded as his duty to present his above-mentioned viewpoint in an effective and moving manner. He wanted to keep the collective conscience alive on this view."

"When I finished with LSE, Laski, of his own, gave me a letter of introduction for Panditji. On reaching Delhi I sought an appointment with the PM. I suppose, because I was an Indian student returning home from London, I was given a time-slot. It was here in Parliament House that he met me. We talked for a few minutes about London and things like that and I could soon see that it was time for me to leave. So I said goodbye and as I left the room I handed over the letter from Laski, and stepped out into the great circular corridor outside. When I was half way round, I heard the sound of someone clapping from the direction I had just come. I turned to see Panditji (Nehru) beckoning me to come back. He had opened the letter as I left his room and read it. [Nehru asked:] "Why didn't you give this to me earlier?" [and I replied:] "Well, sir, I am sorry. I thought it would be enough if I just handed it over while leaving." After a few more questions, he asked me to see him again and very soon I found myself entering the Indian Foreign Service."

"For God’s sake, reform and improve the politics of our country."

"Had your mother not been so well-organized, so simple, so virtuous and so resourceful, I would not have been what I am today."

"When Mian (Dr. Hussain) reached the Rashtrapathi Bhavan after taking oath as President of India, he said that only three rooms out of its 340 sprawling rooms would suffice for his family...when we moved there were my mother, my daughter, Neelofer, some domestic servants, two cows, a parrot and about five thousand books and other household items. Of the three rooms, one was exclusively for him while my mother, my daughter and I stayed in the other room and the third room was used for meeting visitors and for taking food."

"He was extremely pre-occupied with a varied plan of action he could find time to write stories and plays for children...with the gifts of creative expression made him write whatever he did... He wrote all the stories under the pen name Ruqaiyya, which were published under the title “Abbu Khan ki Bakri."

"He differed with Pandit Nehru on some issues owing to his independent attitude. He was one of those who preferred unity and understanding, though it might delay the Partition or independence of the country."

"In 1937-38, Basic National Education or Wardha Scheme came into prominence. He had given a definite shape to the concept of basic education. He championed its cause as well."

"Pakistan had spread in these countries wrong impressions about India’s attitude towards the Indian Muslims. It was generally accepted notion that after the creation of Pakistan, Muslims in India were either no more or were very few in number. Mosques and religious academies had been ruined. He (Dr [Dr. Hussein] had tried very hard to make even educated and high ranking people in several countries, particularly in Egypt, realize that Muslims in India exist in millions. His visit removed this wrong notion, and Muslim countries were apprised of the fact that the Muslims in India after the catastrophe of 1947 [partition of India] were living with dignity and Islam was safe there."

"Politics, especially in our country, is like a mountain stream which suddenly overflows and soon recedes, while educational work flows not only during monsoon but also in the summer by melting the hearts of mountains. Politics is concerned with the strengthening of national existence and is impatient by nature, education is dedicated to social ideals, it is inherently patent. Which is why education is the master and politics its servant."

"To seek to exclude any of these because of age or association with some particular elements of our national being would almost be an act of treason. In the rich history of our country nothing is good or bad because it is new or old...Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian or Parsi."

"If a good and true Muslim cannot be a nationalist, how can a good and true Hindu be expected to be a nationalist."

"As the President of India, I had lots of experiences that were full of pain and helplessness. There were occasions when I could do nothing for people and for the nation. These experiences have pained me a lot. They have depressed me a lot. I have agonised because of the limitations of power. Power and the helplessness surrounding it are a peculiar tragedy, in fact."

"I have gained a lot from my German teachers and philosophers and I acknowledge this debt whole heartedly but it does not mean that others have not contributed to the growth of my ideas. I have been influenced in much the same way by thoughts of Indian, Swiss, English and American teachers and educational philosophers. I always treat truth and discretion as my lost property and pick it up wherever I find it."

"He was perfect Muslim as envisioned by Iqbal. He possessed the inherent passion for which the Arabs are known and the delicate temperament for which the Persians are acclaimed. He was soft in private audience and action-packed when involved in some task. He was like a drew drop which smoothens the fire in the heart of tulip and like a storm which terrifies the heart of the sea. He was like that hermit whose humbleness bears magic character. He knew how to keep the lamp glowing in the tempest. He was a model of culture and refinement."

"Nehru's great passion was to change our society — the congealed society which we inherited from our own past, and from the static past of the British period. And, social change he connected with economic change. We could not change our society without changing our economic system and economic relations in society. His whole dream was that, his whole effort was in that direction. But the march of society, of social change has not been fast enough, nor fundamental enough so far. And, our inherited caste system remains with us, but it has been very badly battered. And, the conceptions behind the caste system have also been very badly damaged by policies, by the march of technology and economics, all these things. To some extent while this progressive movement was taking place, there was also, concurrently, some sort of counter-revolution, resisting it. But the overwhelming force of the progressive movement has been winning by and large. But now we have to specifically deal with many of the social ills and backwardness."

"His mental alertness and oratorical skills were at their best particularly [in his college days] in his rebuttal to the speeches of his opponents. In no time he would notice the fallacies of their arguments, which he would make a target of his satirical and sarcastic remarks in quite a dramatic way in his own repartee. He quipped and gibed so wittily that at times he held the audience spell bound and at times made it roar in laughter."

"He displayed this [summarization, translation, writing and editing of books] talent right from his school days. He got an ample opportunity to cultivate this habit when he joined college...he prepared a summarized Urdu translation of Professor Brown’s English article on the religion of Mohamad Ali Bab. He participated in essay-writing competition in 1917 and won the first prize on the topic Muslim Education in India. Around the same time he started translating Plato’s Republic."

"The Muslims, whom I have seen in my time i.e., the 20th century, appearing on the scene of history, were of both kinds, truthful and hypocritical. We confess with grief that amongst the Muslims generally artificial materials were more popular than the genuine ones because it possessed outward, whose popularity is still limited to few, but the temporary glitter of gilded material has started fading out and the genuine gold is stable with its permanent radiance. Now perhaps the Indian Muslim will start appreciating him."

"During his student days (In Aligarh University), he and Rashid Ahmad Siddiqi used to write interesting articles about the college life and activities; under the pen names of Rip and Bohemian respectively…He distinguished himself by his style both in English and Urdu, a fact acknowledged even by his teachers. Mr James Bottham, the Vice-Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University was also one of his admirers."

"The aim of a student’s life should be to overcome any illusions or prejudices he may have and to give up mean habits. He should, and it is his duty to, propagate education among his illiterate brothers and to consider the propagation of education as part of his own education. He ought to acquire knowledge for the sake of knowledge and he should not be unaware of the needs of life."

"Such an environment of love and affection (at school) had not as yet allowed my life to be exposed to hardships. Depending on others was my habit. You will be surprised to know that prior to my journey to the college I had never bought a train-ticket myself...the very first day I realized that moving out of the controlled school life and stepping into the free college life is no less than inviting all sorts of hassles to yourself. Nobody tells you how to read. Nobody tells you what to do, where to go, when to sleep, and when to wake up. The one who is used to restrictions gets perturbed by this freedom."

"He found him a tall figure, with a slightly flabby body, shining hair and well-trimmed beard. He appeared impressive, well-dressed and his eyes were exceptionally eloquent that drew everyone’s attention. There was deep note of mystery about his eyes...His style of conversation was always accompanied by his smile and too attractive which cast a spell on his addresses...He had a remarkable ability to assess others and immediately found out their mental level and their taste. Likewise, he had an enviable understanding of the context and situation in which he found himself placed."

"I may be forgiven the assumption that my choice to the highest office is mainly, if not entirely, made on account of my long association with the education of my people."

"The edifice of my educational thought is almost entirely beholden to the views of Kerschensteiner. At later stages, however, Gandhiji’s influence and his elaboration of some of the finest points on the subject provided the much needed depth and expansion. Words turned into projects and a mere conceptual and transient framework became an insuperable part of my life."

"There was an apparent disorder in his personal life style...resented any restriction on his freedom...for him freedom meant a constant movement of the intellect and imagination...He moved in different directions at the same time that he could only look forward and beyond."

"...his varied interest is exemplified at its best in his publication of an attractive Diwan-e Ghalib brought out from Khiwani Press, Berlin."

"He was wise when others would have been smart, frank when others would have been cautious. He was available to the people of India, as a "working President" (the description he gave to himself in an interview) but he was essentially his own friend, counsellor and confidant - with, of course, Usha Narayanan by his side. His inner resources were phenomenal - for reading, contemplating and, in his own special manner, brooding. But when seized of a problem - large or small, in the public domain or very personal - He would go into a shell of thought where no one may enter. He was never secretive, but always in need of a space of his own. No one could think for him, much less find the words he needed. He did not seek publicity for his views though he was (to use his own word) amazed how the Indian media seemed to fix its priorities. He was as conservative in his working style as he was radical in his thinking, pen to paper being his writing practice rather than computer keyboarding."

"MY husband and I were on a train journey and at a wayside station I asked him to get me a cup of tea. When he returned, just as the train was steaming out, I saw him standing at the door of the compartment, teacup in one hand, trying busily to get rid of his w:Flip-flops}chappal. `What are you doing?' I asked. "Oh, nothing. I accidentally dropped one of the pair at the platform... I can't get it back... What is the use of my keeping one when the man who finds the first will need both?"

"Logic - was a tool in his intellectual armoury but it was not a cold, calculating logic. There was space in it for something beyond the algebraic piling of reason upon reason."

"His term at the London School of Economics (LSE) is deservedly celebrated for the equation he enjoyed with the cerebral but morally intense Harold Laski. Less known is the fact that his studentship at LSE included attending lectures by Karl Popper, Professor of Logic and Scientific Method. He related to me this classroom story: Popper was once discussing the value in an `open' society of checks and balances and (as Popper put it) of one `sphere' arriving at an equilibrium with another `sphere' without direct state intervention. And to give his argument a visual correlative, Popper pointed to an empty chair and said, "If you let that chair be, you will be able to sit in it at some point." He, who was 26 or 27 then, broke in and said to Popper, "Letting the chair be is all right, but if you or someone were to pick up the chair and hit it on my head, I think I would be entitled to catch it and throw it out of the window." He [KRN] said that to his embarrassment this intervention was greeted with a small applause from others in the class."

"His penchant for anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist and anti-militarist causes did not diminish during his presidency. Talking at a reception during United States President Bill Clinton's visit to India, he said that the governance of the global village could not be left to a "village headman". He added that "globalisation does not mean the end of history and geography and of the lively and exciting diversities of the world". He went on to suggest that the global village in "this age of democracy" would be headed not by a "village headman" but by the "global panchayat", loosely symbolised by the United Nations."

"The greater achievement of this brilliant man was to retain unto the last a progressive social vision and empathy with millions of India's poor and deprived citizens. He did not flinch from doing what he considered right — whether it was joining a queue of citizens to cast his vote (before him, heads of state did not vote) or creatively interpreting and exercising presidential discretion or speaking his mind on issues that mattered."

"Both his teachers at LSE, from opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, exercised a lasting if unflaunted influence on their precocious student. In matters pertaining to national politics they doubtless had something to do with his oft-repeated caution against forms of political `stability' which, in his words, "could slip into authoritarian exercise of power"."

"When he stood in queues to vote in general elections, a few people criticised this practice, saying that a head of state should not be seen taking sides in an election. But the overwhelming response was that the President had done a service to democracy."

"My image of a President before I came here, and before I had any hope of coming here, was that of a rubber-stamp President, to be frank. This is the image I got. But having come here, I find that the image is not quite correct. I thought, I will have lot of time, leisure for reading, writing, waking etc. But somehow I find I can't get it now. So, my image of a President is of a working President, not an executive President, but a working President, and working within the four corners of the Constitution. It gives very little direct power or influence to him to interfere in matters or affect the course of events, but there is a subtle influence of the office of the President on the executive and the arms of the government and on the public as a whole. It is a position which has to be used with the, what I should say, with a philosophy of indirect approach."

"There are one or two things, which you can directly do in very critical times. But otherwise, this indirect influence that you can exercise on the affairs of the State is the most important role he can play. And, he can play it successfully only if he is, his ideas and his nature of functioning are seen by the public in tune with their standards. The President has to be a citizen and there must be some equation between the people and the President, and if some advice or something is to be given to the executive, it would be received with grace, it would be sometimes accepted, if it is known that the public opinion is on the side of the kind of advice the President is giving. Otherwise, he cannot exercise much influence."

"...the Indian public are weighed down by their problems, and becoming rather insular in their outlook because of their preoccupation with their own problems. We have to rouse them and make them conscious that we can progress only as a part of the world and as a part of Asia."

"The Nehruvian dream [the ending of poverty and ignorance and inequality of opportunity.] today has become a pungent necessity, inescapable necessity. In 1947, one could say that it was a dream, it was Gandhi's dream also. But now it has become an inescapable necessity for us to translate that dream into practice. And I think that dream cannot be abandoned. We have to pursue it and pursue it in realistic terms. I see that India can do it. And India must do it."

"Many in India fought against some of the ideas of changing our patent system. And we have signed the World Trade Organisation Treaty but still we have to safeguard ourselves because, many of the developed countries are, though they have signed the same WTO, but they are not practising it; anti-dumping measures they are adopting very liberally, as also tariff, non-tariff barriers. So we have to carefully argue within the WTO system our case."

"Communal mobilisation in the long run will not succeed in India because Indian society cannot be mobilized communally. Even the last elections have shown that communities, religious communities, castes did not vote solidly for one party."

"In 1949, he joined the Indian Foreign Service at the suggestion of Jawaharlal Nehru. His ambassadorships in China (1976-78, the first since the 1962 Sino-Indian war) and the US (1980-83) led to better understanding. Serving in Rangoon, Burma, in the early 1950s, he married Daw Tint Tint, who later adopted the name Usha and became an Indian citizen, the only woman of foreign origin to have become first lady of India."

"...when we became independent and Nehru spelt out his vision, we appeared to be the leader, we are the only country which articulated the aspirations of Asia as a whole for the first time. Then other countries, small countries, big countries have come up asserting themselves, and, but still we are, because of our economic development, everybody knows that India is geographically a big central chunk of Asia and that it is an expanding economy. It is a technologically progressing society and in every field it is making a mark. And everybody recognises this role of India, but I think we have to articulate our position in Asia, in a new way, in a new set of circumstances that would appeal to everybody."

"By some mysterious reason, there is no difficulty for a man in illtreating a woman, and this is something amazing. Everybody loves his mother, sisters and relatives etc, but still, with all this there is this callous attitude and ill-treatment of women. So women's movements are necessary. One thing which is forgotten in India is the transformation of the attitude of men. It is in this field that active work has to be done. We all preach to women that they should assert themselves. But on the other hand we don't tell sufficient early, strongly, to the male that they should behave well, their attitude should change. I have no doubt that even the women's reservation [bill] will be finally adopted."

"Economic liberalisation is a world phenomenon. Socialist countries, capitalist countries, all of them, have to take to liberalisation. The liberalisation took place first in Britain, then in the United States under President Reagan, these were not liberalising from a socialist system. I think it is because of the stage of economy which the world has reached at present and the stage of technology. At every historical and technological and economic age there are policies which would be suitable for that period and countries. We have to adopt policies, dictated by the circumstances and the necessities of the time."

"Among his teachers in Berlin Professor Sombart was a scholar of repute. He learnt much from him. However, he gained many insights from my teacher, Sprangner who was undoubtedly gifted with vision...He was much more keenly interested in education than his field of specialization [Economics]. He had tremendous regard for my teacher Professor Sprangner, an authority on the philosophy of education."

"We in India, as a result of our planned economic development, not central planning, but mixed planning, mixed economy, we have experimented with, we have moved to a stage of partial maturity of the economy, when we needed new forms of management, new forms of, expression of the spirit of enterprise, so that the economy can move forward. The compulsion to liberalisation and globalisation arose from this. This is why we say that India's liberalisation is an irreversible process....and, in a vast country, with millions of people and poverty, rampant, we cannot liberalise recklessly, in such a way that the balance of the society is upset and while some sections would flourish, make profits, the rest of the people would be left without employment and be helpless. Therefore, we have to have a balanced approach to liberalisation and also to globalisation."