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THE NATION:
RAM JETHMALANI
Media-Soiled
Allegations
The
attorney-general's support to some questionable aspects of the telecom
policy; his stand in the MS Shoes case; and the attorney-general accepting
a fee from the Hindujas when government interest was involved. "The
attorney-general would naturally be hostile towards a law minister who
reads the law, understands it and makes no departures for his friends."
Of the last member of the triad of his "assassins", Jaitley,
he is uncharacteristically controlled in his contempt: "You are young
and clever; in fact cleverer than I was at your age."
Cleverness
is the last thing that can be said about the book too. It's plain assault
and loads of self-righteousness, his greatness italicised and others'
villainy in bold letters, and a lengthy appendix that should have ideally
been not in a book but in the waste basket of a newspaper library. This
book is smaller than its author-in charm as well as intellect. Transparency
of governance is a lofty gloss. The real thing is Jethmalani himself-his
ego, his misdirected energy. The explanation lies in Jethmalani's brand
equity itself. This migrant from Pakistan has an uneasy relationship with
power. He was at his best whenever he played the dissident, whenever he
pitted himself against power.
Remember
his heroic stand against the Emergency? Or his "barking "days
during the Rajiv Gandhi regime? Ten questions a day, and Rajiv Gandhi
couldn't come out with anything better than "Should I reply to every
dog that barks?" Jethmalani "barked" back: "Dogs only
bark when they see a thief." When Chandra Shekhar was voted out in
Parliament, Jethmalani was one of those who demonstrated against Shekhar.
A permanent rebel he is, but his causes are not always worthy of the rebellion.
And the rebel within was active even while he was in power. Power aggravated
the self-destructive rebellion. It's said that some trusted friends manipulated
his fighting self. Also, Jethmalani's struggle against the chief justice
is seen as a combat between Mumbai and Delhi.
Friend Fali
S. Nariman writes in his foreward to the book: "Unquestionably, he
has a Big Ego; but even his enemies (and he has many) cannot fault him
for being cold or chicken-hearted. All-in-all, he is a Big Man."
When a big man makes others small, as in this book, he loses a bit of
his bigness.
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