New Delhi: The multipurpose hall of the India International Centre in New Delhi was resounding with claps and cheers as the crowd chanted ‘more’– a 200–page long book on Sushil Kumar Shinde’s life was not enough was the consensus. The audience, the panellists, and the moderators, everyone wanted ‘a sequel’ from senior journalist Rasheed Kidwai who has written an autobiographical account of the former Maharashtra Chief Minister in the book ‘Five Decades in Politics’.
The launch of the book, published by HarperCollins India, seemed more of a Congress media event. The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge spoke almost twice as much as Shinde himself did, while senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and educationist Vijay Dhar also shared their thoughts on the book. In his 40-minute-long speech, Kharge also took the opportunity to take potshots at RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sushil Kumar Shinde, who hails from Solapur in Maharashtra, had an illustrious career in politics. He started as a bailiff in the sessions court of Solapur, and eventually joined the Mumbai Police as a constable. He joined the Congress party in 1971 and served as media advisor to Sonia Gandhi in Amethi in 1999. He was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2003 to 2004, and Governor of Andhra Pradesh from 2004-06. Shinde then came to Delhi to serve as the Union Power Minister in 2006 and then as the Home Minister of India in 2012.
“A career spanning across 50 years in politics cannot be surmised in a 200-page book, you ought to have missed some points. Not just Shinde ji’s thoughts, other politicians such as myself would have also liked to share our opinion and anecdotes about Shinde ji in the book. You must write a sequel,” Kharge said, addressing Kidwai.
Kidwai, who took the stage and sat next to Shinde, himself did not get even a minute to address the audience. He was almost erased form his own book launch, except by Shinde who thanked him for embarking on this project, and persuading him to come to New Delhi for the launch. But, Kidwai pulled the big names in the Congress for the book launch on the strength of his extensive historical work on the party.
One left the launch with knowledge of Shinde’s jovial nature, his relationship with senior journalist and moderator for the event Rajdeep Sardesai, the role he played in shaping the career of Digvijaya Singh, and his bonhomie with Kharge. But what brings Kidwai and Shinde together? Why was Kidwai chosen to write the account of a lifelong politician? That remains a mystery.
The book was launched in Hindi as well as English, with the help of the Prabha Khaitan Foundation.
The ever-smiling politician
The cover of the book, which was projected behind the panellists, has a picture of Shinde beaming ear to ear. The senior politician had the same warm smile at the event.
“Shinde ji was different from your everyday politician. He always had his doors open for journalists in Maharashtra’s mantralaya, and always had this smile on his face,” Sardesai noted while opening the ceremony.
Other panellists also swooned over Shinde’s warmth and smile, which hasn’t faded throughout his gruelling career spanning half a century. “He has smiled and conquered, always,” said the executive publisher of HarperCollins India, Udayan Mitra.
Rajdeep Sardesai shared some nuggets of memories from his days as a reporter at NDTV, to show how collaborative Shinde was.
Sardesai had gone to Amethi, Uttar Pradesh to try and secure an interview with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in 1999. There was no accommodation in the town then and Sardesai said Shinde very kindly shared his room and offered his bed to him, even sharing his hot water for a bath early morning.
“In this age when politics has become more and more polarised, when politics is about them v/s us, when politics is about enmities, Sushil Kumar Shinde is a reminder that there was an age where you could be rivals, where you could contest against each other but would maintain some of the finer qualities of being human beings. And I think that is why he stands out and has built so many friendships over the years,” Sardesai said.
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‘Never played the Dalit card’
Both Sardesai and Kharge noted and even praised the fact that Shinde, hailing from a Dalit community, never played the ‘Dalit card’ to gain political mileage.
When Shinde took the stage, he spoke in Hindi, saying, “When you want to express your thoughts, sometimes things can’t be expressed in other languages, it would have been better if I could speak in Marathi but Hindi is equally good”.
Shinde also joked about his trips to Kashmir as the Home Minister, thanking Vijay Dhar for his counsel. “People used to say I am so brave to go there and give a lecture at Lal Chowk as Home Minister, but meri kitni fatti thi (how scared I was) nobody knows,” the politician said as the crowd erupted in laughter.
Shinde addressed Kharge as his lifelong colleague, especially as a colleague who also comes from the scheduled caste community.
“To reach the heights I reached after starting as a blue collar worker. For it one just has to weather all the storms quietly, one shouldn’t be ashamed of the work they do. When you go up the ladder, you require my support, and I got the support of Rajiv (Gandhi) ji and Sonia (Gandhi) ji. I don’t have words to express my gratitude towards Sonia ji,” he said.
“Who could have thought Maharashtra would have a scheduled caste Chief Minister? It is not an easy feat. Yes, Sushil Kumar Shinde is fair… looks like a brahmin… but it is still tough to take such a decision. Only Sonia Gandhi could have done such a thing,” Shinde added in a lighter vein.
The event ended with an almost 40-minute long lecture by Kharge, during which Sardesai was sitting on the edge of his seat – it was past 8 pm by the time Kharge concluded and Sardesai clearly had somewhere else to be.
Right after the speech, Sardesai left in a hurry, while the leaders stayed behind for press interviews.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)
But Kharge plays the Dalit card at the drop of a hat. Auch a shameless person!