As home minister, my style of functioning was different from my predecessors who had served at the North Block during the UPA years. I had an open-door policy and anyone who wanted to could meet me. I also came up with solutions, which created a buzz, in New Delhi’s corridors of power, about me being a good home minister.
P Chidambaram is a highly intelligent man. While he tends to be a little aggressive, he always maintains his relationships with his colleagues and has a bunch of officers loyal to him. Shivraj Patil, too, is a good man, but many people tried to tarnish his image, which is perhaps why he had to leave the home ministry. When Pranab Mukherjee became the President, Chidambaram was made finance minister and the home minister’s seat became vacant, leading to my appointment.
Yet, the ministry’s work often is under-recognized as peace and tranquillity are taken for granted. By extension, the home minister’s job too is a thankless one. Appreciation for the work done is scarce, and it often entails enduring abuse and criticism. One key responsibility of the job is maintaining cordial relations with state governments – usually with the chief ministers and their chief secretaries. For example, in the Northeast, we had a good rapport with states like Meghalaya and Nagaland, which allowed us to swiftly solve many tricky issues.
A home minister’s job also involves a lot of hard work, sometimes through the night. I recall one instance where RK Singh and I had to fly to Hyderabad at two in the morning. At the time, the situation in what was then undivided Andhra Pradesh was quite delicate due to the ongoing disturbances over the bifurcation issue. Having served as the governor of Andhra for a little over a year, between 2004 and 2006, I knew that my presence there could help bring peace. Although my stint as governor was brief, I had tried polishing my Telugu, having learnt the language in my hometown, Solapur.
In some ways, Solapur is Maharashtra’ – and possibly India’s – most multilingual and multicultural city. This is primarily because of Solapur’s geographical location. The southern part of the city is close to Karnataka and present-day Telangana. Being on the border, it accommodates a large diaspora of people from these states. So, when protests began in Andhra’s Seemandhra region against the bifurcation of the state, I found the response quite natural. Wherever a new state is being carved out, such feelings are bound to arise.
On 13 February 2014, I piloted the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2014, in the Lok Sabha. Without going into the specifics, I can say that everyone in the party and in the UPA was on board for the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Yet, the INC had to pay a price for it.
The division of Andhra Pradesh – in the wake of Telangana statehood agitation – by Manmohan Singh’s government in 2014 did not bring electoral dividends for the Congress. The move cost the party dearly in both the Lok Sabha and assembly elections, as it was decimated in both the newly created state of Telangana as well as Andhra Pradesh. Our leader, Sonia Gandhi-ji, repeatedly asserted the claim that the Congress alone was responsible for making Telangana the country’s twenty-ninth state. But we won just 2 of the 17 Lok Sabha seats and 21 of the 119 assembly seats. It heartens me to say that the people of Telangana finally acknowledged our sincerity and commitment when they gave us a resounding mandate in the assembly polls of 2023.
A lot has also been said and written about the surgical strikes in 2019 when our Indian Air Force daringly crossed the Line of Control to destroy terror camps in Pakistan. Without getting into the specifics, I can share with confidence that during the UPA years (2004-2014), we too had carried out surgical strikes. When I was the home minister, our government brought down the number of terror camps from sixty-five to forty, but we never advertised our work. Surgical strikes are not meant to be made public, but the Modi government is used to marketing such events and it has benefitted from this, as was evident during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Prime Minister Modi used military services, particularly the Indian Air Force (IAF) to score political points. Just as the 2019 Lok Sabha polls were set to commence, the Indian Air Force conducted a highly successful and clinical air surgical strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed’s training camp in Balakot to avenge the Pulwama suicide bombing attack. Within days, Modi and the BJP began harping on its political benefits. The BJP election posters carried motifs of the Pulwama attack and IAF strikes in Balakot. Wing Commander Abhinandan, who was taken prisoner by Pakistan (but released two days later), also started figuring on election publicity material. We are all proud of our air force and armed forces, but the BJP projected military success as part of its Right-wing agenda, indulging in muscle-flexing and politicising our defence forces.
I am not a strong believer, but I had prayed for the life and health of Nirbhaya, the twenty-three-year-old who was raped and brutalised inside a bus in Delhi, and who later died from the horrific injuries she had sustained. The 16 December 2012 case had numbed many, including me, into disbelief. All I can say here is that we tried our level best in terms of diligent investigation and enactment of pioneering legislation for a speedy trial and exemplary punishment. We were quick to track down the culprits. We also sent Nirbhaya to Singapore for the best treatment possible, but destiny had willed otherwise.
I tasted my first defeat in the next general election in 2014, when I was in the fray, for the first time, from a “reserve” seat. There was a strong wave in favour of Narendra Modi. I accepted the defeat with humility and started working for people from the next day. Thereafter, I was not keen to contest in 2019, but the party could not get a suitable candidate. Though the political situation was somewhat different this time, the BJP still benefited from the division of votes. I announced my political sanyas; I would not contest another election in the future.
Excerpted with permission from Five Decades in Politics, Sushilkumar Shinde and Rasheed Kidwai, HarperCollins India.