Makhan Lal Fotedar had shed copious tears when the disputed structure was razed down at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. This confession is enough to establish the presence of deeply embedded seeds of slavery inside this Kashmiri Pandit, born in Mattan (Anantanag) in 1932 (died in 2017). Fotedar never once set his feet in Ayodhya, Mathura or Kashi for darshan, but recounts with fond nostalgia his visits to Ferghana and Samarqand, cities of Babar and Timur. For someone who felt such deep loyalty towards the Mughals, it is but natural to expect would felt beholden towards generations of Nehru-Gandhi Parivar. Fealty towards the Family, and misplaced secularism manifested as appeasement of minorities represent the sum-total of Fotedar, the man and the politician.
Strangely though, Fotedar did not have much time or regard for Rahul Gandhi, who he felt, lacked grooming and temperament to lead the Congress in 21st century. As one of the two witnesses (other being MA Rajan) of Indira Gandhi’s will, he was quite vocal about Priyanka being the Iron Lady’s choice as her political successor. Rajiv Gandhi had taken this revelation good humoredly, but Sonia Gandhi didn’t quite like this piece of information when it was made known to her sometime before 2009. Fotedar even felt that this was why she had gradually distanced him from the Family affairs.
Fotedar was the Political Secretary of Indira Gandhi from 1981-84 and then also served Rajiv Gandhi in the same capacity for three years. He also served in the Rao Cabinet as Minister of Health and Family Welfare, but resigned in the wake of Babari Masjid demolition. Fotedar has unequivocally blamed PV for whatever happened on 6/12/92, alleging that Rao chose to do nothing despite having ample time and intel about the intention of Kar Sevaks. Later, Fotedar, Arjun Singh and ND Tiwari formed Congress (T) to safeguard their secular credentials.
Here is a prince among wheeler-dealers who sees his own hand behind Vajpayee’s projection as the PM face by the BJP, Rao’s elevation to the leadership of Congress party, Sonia’s plunge into active politics in late 90s, R.Venkataraman’s and Pranab Mukherjee’s selections as Congress candidates for the Highest Office, and even in the formation of UPA. Yet in his later years, that is after the elevation of Sonia as Congress President, the same Fotedar struggled to find himself a Rajya Sabha birth from either Delhi, MP, UP or Rajasthan, and was left without a government bungalow, and had to finally locate to his own house in Gurgaon.
Fotedar’s take on the politics of Kashmir is quite revealing and informative. He introduces various historical figures like Hari Singh, Karan Singh, Sheikh Abdullah, GM Sadiq, Gopalswamy Aiyyangar, Ram Chandra Kak, Mehr Chand Mahajan, Maqbool Sherwani, Bakshi Ghulam Moihammad, Syed Mir Qasim, and Mirza Afzal Beg, and analyses their contributions and motivations. He also delves into how the Special Provisions and later constitutional changes were introduced and worked upon. After his graduation, Makhan Lal went to Allahabad to pursue further education, where he befriended Shiv Nath Katju, and through him, his father, Kailash Nath Katju, India’s home, justice and law minister, who later introduced Fotedar to Nehru and Indira. He worked as official polling agent of Nehru in 1952 elections. Fotedar began his political career with National Conference, and later moved to Congress when it was launched in the state in 1965 after G.M. Sadiq had merged the Conference with it. When Moi-e-Muqaddas (a hair from the Prophet’s beard) was reportedly stolen, Fotedar played a key role in crisis management. He doesn’t mention how ethnic cleansing of Hindus was reported from East Pakistan and Calcutta on this matter. He displays quite some sensitivity for this was a matter of faith, but betrays no such large-heartedness in issues related to issues of faith related to Hindus.
Fotedar is among the last of the Kashmiris who were enlisted to run the Family affairs- PN Haksar, DP Dhar, PN Dhar, KN Katju being more illustrious among them. If PN was virtually number two in the Indira Cabinet, DP played a stellar role during 1965 and 1971 Wars, and was positioned in Moscow to conjure up the Indo-Soviet Treaty in August 1971, without which India could not have felt confident enough to break Pakistan. DP was taken ill during the Shimla Conference, and Fotedar believed this to be the main reason for India’s underwhelming performance in the talks.
ML rightly points towards the flimsy grounds on which Indira was disqualified from Lok Sabha, considering that Yashpal Kapoor had already resigned from service before he served in Madam’s election effort. He then goes on to defend Emergency in the name of efficiency and discipline. Why did the Supreme Court give Indira only 20 days to continue as the PM and make alternate arrangements, whereas she could have remained at the post for six months without being a member of the either House?
After two terms as MLA from Pahalgam, Fotedar gradually moved to Delhi politics and served as Indira’s election agent at Rae Bareli in the comeback election of 1980. The next destination was Akbar Road from where Fotedar, along with RK Dhawan, carried out the commands of the Parivar. In Chinar Leaves is provided a vivid description of how various CMs, Governors and Ministers were selected and removed, how the ruling party generally functioned, how Rajiv was elected after Indira’s demise, and how Mr. Clean ran the administration. As a political journal, this book has quite some value for the author has a nice manner of putting things. Fotedar also throws light upon Punjab turmoil, tragedy and accord, Assam Accord and the Mizo problem. He was a key crisis manager who helped the Family cope with the assassinations of Indira and Rajiv within a space of seven years.
Chinar leaves turn colour and fall in autumn. Tourists flock to Kashmir to watch the spectacle. Reverentially, Fotedar compares Chinar to Indira- stately, majestic and deeply Kashmiri in essence. He has written about Indira’s shraddha towards Hariparbat and Sharika Mata (Kuldevi), how she was very comfortable in the presence of Kashmiris. Fotedar drops subtle hints about Rajiv relying upon Sonia while making political decisions, often using her as a sounding board. Before her death, Indira asked Rajiv to avoid doing two things in future – to not bring Teji Bachchan’s son into electoral politics, and to not induct Madhav Rao Scindia in his Cabinet. She had also instructed ML to ensure that Sonia, who had very strong stars, should always remain with Rajiv and accompany him on domestic and foreign tours for the sake of his protection. Rajiv flouted all three of her instructions, and paid dearly. It was Scindia who scuttled Sonia’s plans to form the government in 1998, by impressing upon Amar Singh and Mulayam the need to stay away from the proposed Congress-led government. This is one such book, where anecdotes and conversations about momentous occasions are casually dropped in eminently readable form. Fotedar’s account serves to round up the picture of post-independence Indian politics.
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Abhinav Pancholi 