August 24, 1998

K R Narayanan's decision to reschedule the Independence Day-eve broadcast draws criticism. But presidential aides say it is part of his attempts to innovate.

By Ashok K Damodaran

On Tuesday, August 11, the telephone on the first floor of the presidential press office at Rashtrapati Bhavan never stopped ringing. For much of the afternoon, a senior officer was busy fielding calls from journalists keen to know if President K.R. Narayanan had cancelled the traditional Independence Day-eve broadcast to the nation. Such anxiety was triggered by reports in some newspapers that in opting for a TV "conversation" over the customary August 14 broadcast to the nation, Narayanan had "defied tradition" and managed to "raise eyebrows in political circles".

For over 50 years as a scholar, diplomat, academic and politician, prudence has been the key word in Narayanan's lexicon. Long-time associates say he is cautious to the point of being dull. But in recent months, Narayanan has seemed to be in a tearing hurry to shed this image. On February 12, he became the first President to cast his vote in a general election when he queued up with commoners at polling station No. 52 in the President's estate. More recently, he allowed at least two private television channels into Rashtrapati Bhavan for "exclusive interviews". A month ago, he celebrated his first year in office by hosting a reception for Delhi's bloated journalist fraternity. And last Saturday, on the 51st Independence Day, he hosted what was among the biggest parties the capital has seen -- the guest list was in excess of 5,000. There were no cries of presidential excess.

What set the rumour factories in Delhi working overtime was his decision to skip the traditional August 14 broadcast for a "conversation" with a journalist who does not hide his distaste for the ruling party at the Centre. Last August, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of Independence, Narayanan, who had been in office for barely three weeks, had for the first time in 49 years substituted the address to the nation with a nationally-televised speech from Parliament's Central Hall. The President's office has clarified that Narayanan has not dropped the address this time too, but merely rescheduled it for the next day to mark the formal end of the golden jubilee celebrations. Rashtrapati Bhavan has over 500 requests pending for interviews with the President from newspapers and TV networks in India and abroad, including some from organisations in Germany, Portugal, Luxembourg and Turkey, countries he is scheduled to tour next month. "It is impossible for the President to accede to so many requests," the source says, adding, "Considering the significance of the occasion, the President agreed to give an interview and he decided it would be on Doordarshan." It was, however, made clear to Doordarshan that the choice of the interlocutor lay with the President, though when Doordarshan suggested the name of The Hindu's N. Ram, Narayanan readily agreed.

Still the rumours didn't cease. Much was written about how Narayanan had in recent times said or done things to provoke the Central Government: that he had chided the Government for its hawkish anti-China stance in the aftermath of the Pokhran nuclear tests; that he had expressed his reservations to the Government over reports of clandestine construction of a temple in Ayodhya; and so forth. These circles even saw his granting of an interview to a journalist with known left-wing credentials as a natural extension of the President's instinct to embarrass the Government. Sources close to the President, however, rubbish such insinuations. "Ram is an eminent editor. When his name was suggested, the president readily agreed," says one aide.

Such familiarity has, however, sowed seeds of doubts. Perhaps not without reason. Ram loves the BJP as much as Mulayam Singh Yadav does, and makes no bones about it, like the Samajwadi Party leader. Recently, he organised a series of lectures against the "BJP bomb" and even had novelist Arundhati Roy parade the streets of Delhi to protest the May 13 explosions. Fears were even expressed that the doughty Ram would put the President through the wringer over the nuclear policy of the Government of which Narayanan is the titular head and that he may draw the President out to say uncomplimentary things about the Government.

While Ram's views about the BJP and the bomb are well known, ironically, it is the President's views on the subject that are less publicised. A report in a national daily on July 29 quotes defence expert K. Subrahmanyam as saying, "as director (China) in the Ministry of External Affairs, Narayanan had as early as 1964 recommended that India exercise the nuclear option soon after China had first exploded a bomb in October 1964". It's a statement that Rashtrapati Bhavan is yet to contradict. More recently on July 28, at the birth centenary celebrations of K.S. Krishnan, a contemporary of Nobel laureate C.V. Raman, in Bangalore, while defending the Government's decision on nuclear blasts, the President stated: "It is my belief that India's nuclear weapon capacity demonstrated recently will act as a catalytic agent in international efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons from the face of the earth."

Elsewhere, questions were asked about the propriety of the President granting an interview. Critics noted that no occupant of Rashtrapati Bhavan had ever granted a formal interview and that, at best, they restricted themselves to off-the-record briefings to friendly journalists. A presidential aide readily concedes the point but asserts that in the past Presidents, somewhat less circumspect than Narayanan, had triggered needless controversies by making reckless comments during informal interactions with journalists. "That seems very unlikely in a television interview. The President will not say anything that will be inappropriate," he says.

However, the concerns voiced in sections of the media were not shared by the BJP. "We are not worried about what the President will say on television. We are more worried about what Jayalalitha will do," a party leader said on the morning Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee despatched Defence Minister George Fernandes and BJP leader Pramod Mahajan to Chennai for the umpteenth patch-up bid with Jayalalitha. No alarm bells were pressed in the Government either. "Ram may be a brilliant and incisive editor, but the President is wise and experienced and will detect a trap when he sees one," the party leader added. There are even suggestions that the whole controversy was triggered by a television news channel which, peeved at its own request for an interview being rejected by Rashtrapati Bhavan, planted the seeds of conspiracy theories in the minds of fellow journalists.

Like the BJP, the President also appears least ruffled by the controversy. But comparisons with his predecessors will not be out of place. For example, it should not be forgotten that Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed left a permanent blot on the presidency by signing the Emergency proclamation without even raising his little finger. Giani Zail Singh remained oblivious to the dignity of his office while indulging in a public feud with the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi to settle a personal squabble. In comparison, Narayanan, who started out as the quintessential rule-book President, has brought in some innovation to an office so set in dogma. A presidential adviser sums it up thus: "In these times of political uncertainty, the President has to go about the job in his own way, irrespective of the carping critics." Narayanan too perhaps realises there is a price to be paid for being his own man.

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