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BREATHES WISDOM AND STATESMANSHIP
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- From E.K.Ramaswami
To many political and official observers in the capital, who
knew nothing more of
Mr. C.N.Annaduari than as a brilliant orator in the Rajya Sabha,
but a shy and reserved person outside and who expected him to
be a passive listener in the high-level discussions on food,
finance and graft between the Centre and the States held this
week, the active and dominant role of the Chief Minister of
Madras came as a great surprise.
For the first time in post-independence annals, the Union Cabinet
Ministers were conferring with many Chief Ministers not belonging
to the Congress. As the Chief Minister of Kerala, Mr.K.M.S.
Namboodiripad, observed, a conference of the nature could not
be expected to take decisions. But it was certainly fruitful.
For it showed that it was possible for different party governments
not only to co-exists, but also to co-operate in national interest,
provided there was a spirit of give-and-take.
With men who had fought a bitter election with conflicting ideologies
and dissenting opinions, sitting across the conference table,
there was crisis. It was on such moments that Mr.Annadurai,
wedged in between non-Congressmen and congressmen, to whom his
party is less, his face a little flushed, his hands passing
over his knees or his chin, suddenly went into action. There
was no rhetoric, for which his Tamil speeches are famous, none
of the appeal to party passion which marked the speeches of
some Congress Ministers, nothing but the resistless logic of
a clear mind that marshals its resources with ease and certainty.
He dealt with the situations, as they arose honestly and plainly,
taking a pragmatic approach. He had not even hesitation to disagree
with the Chief Minister of Kerala on the ethics of taking PL-480
food-grains. As he himself mentioned later, he had no orthodox
views like Mr.Namboodiripad. He had no ideological inhibitions
in regard to continuance of zonal restrictions.
RELATIONS
WITH CENTRE
On the question of getting rice from Burma, again, Mr.Annaduarai
was clear and unambiguous. He made it clear that what he was
suggesting was not any kind of bilateral agreement by States
with a foreign government. It was for the Centre to explore
the possibility of getting compensation in kind from Burma for
property left behind by Indians. He himself was aware of the
difficulty that the Centre might come across when they approached
the Burma Government because of the shortfall in the production
of rice in Burma. But the he had answers ready for any objection.
During the discussions with Finance Minister, Mr.Annadurai,
took the initiative to point out that, when the Centre tried
to solve the problem of rise in the const of living which it
had created, as far as their employees were concerned, the State
Governments could not allow their employees to suffer. As long
as price rise was not checked, the Centre must help the States
to maintain parity with the Centre in regard to rates of dearness
allowance.
When the States were reprimanded for having overdrafts with
the Reserve Bank the Madras Chief Minister calmly pointed out
in the midst of a heated discussion the overdrafts were not
resorted to by States as an easy means of raising Plan resources.
If half-way through the implementation of a project the Central
allocation was cut off suddenly, the States were forced to go
in for overdrafts. Talking of increase in non-development expenditure,
the Chief Minister gently hinted at the need for avoiding expenditure
on huge building for offices. In planning he underlined the
fact that Madras had no prestige projects. They were all minor
and utilitarian ones with no room for pruning. At the same time
he appreciated the difficulties of the Centre. He did not lose
his temper like some others when it was remarked on behalf of
the Central Government that if all the States went on demanding
more money, the only way seemed to be to allow every State to
print its own currency.
It was on the language question that the Chief Minister of Madras
found no room for compromise. He was unequivocal I his demand
that there should be no imposition of Hindi directly or indirectly
by backdoor methods. He appreciated the difficulties of the
Union Government in amending the Constitution. At the same time,
he drew attention to the needless provisions regarding Hindi
being introduced in a Bill meant purely for safeguarding the
interests of non-Hindi speaking people. He was not afraid of
the badge of unpatriotism being pinned in his chest by protagonists
of Hindi and declared categorically that he wanted English as
the link language. Nobody need tell a Tamilian or Andhra or
Gujerati to love his language and develop it. But the link language
should be one which would be of equal advantage or disadvantage
to all people.
LINK
LANGUAGE
These arguments, he advanced both before the Prime Minister
and the Home Minister. He talked with the Prime Minister, Mrs.Indira
Gandhi, as one who had not forgotten her sympathetic air dash
to Madras during the language riots. He made it clear to the
Home Minister that there should be no room for complaints from
employees of the Central Government hailing from the South that
they were either being forced to learn Hindi or not promoted
for lack of knowledge of Hindi. Observers did not fail to notice
that this time the attitude of the protagonists of Hindi, be
they Ministers or Hindi, be they Ministers or Parliament members,
was one of being on the defensive. At the meetings, Mr.Annadurai
gently reminded the Ministers who spoke in Hindi that they were
there to transact business, and not to assert their rights on
language.
At a closed-door meeting with his party men in Parliament, he
told them to conduct themselves with dignity and decorum. They
should not join any campaign which smacked of cheap popularity
or virtual ballying.
HAPPY
ACCIDENT
More than in the official meeting, which one could read only
in the Press, it was in the social functions that Mr.Annadurai
will furnish the historian with an attractive theme. Was he
an accident or the architect or events all party leaders, including
top Congressmen who attended reception given in his honour I
Madras House by the leader of the D.M.K. party in Parliament,
Mr.Anbalzhagan, agreed that, even if it was an accident, it
was a happy accident. His humility won the heart of everyone.
Barring Mr.Kamaraj, no other leader from the south was received
the ovation Mr.Annadurai got from his countrymen at Palam airport
on the day he arrived. The way he mixed with the high and low
at the parties cutting jokes was in sharp contrast to his predecessor’s
taciturn attitude.
The best engagement in Mr.Annaduari’s crowded programme
was his calling on the congress president, Mr.Kamaraj, it is
an open secret that no one regrets the D.M.K. having been forced
to contest against Mr.Kamaraj than Mr.Annadurai, who has personal
regard for the Congress President’s ability and honesty
and appreciates the need for having a man from the South in
a key position. It was a happy coincidence that a few minutes
after Mr.Annadurai had been in conversation with Mr.Kamaraj,
no less a person than the international peace-keeper, U. Thant,
would join them, accompanied by a common friend in Mr.G.Parthasarathi,
our representative at the U.N. As one wit remarked, it was a
case of two opponents being at the conference table before the
chairman arrived. A more cordial meeting of different ideologies
could not be envisaged. The congress president complimented
the D.M.K. Chief Minister on the way in which he was carrying
out the procurement policy. He told him that, when he came to
Madras, he would speak about it in public. And Mr.Annadurai
assured the Congress president that he would not give up anything
which was good for the State, merely because it had been started
by the Congress. It was field day for Press Photographers too.
(THE HINDU, 14th April 1967)
