Non-fiction: Books that remain banned Published September 10, 2010 comments Join our Whatsapp Channel Add Dawn as a trusted source M. O. Mathai, an Indian civil servant, served as Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru's senior assistant for well over a decade (1946-1959). He joined Nehru at his hometown of Allahabad, and when Nehru became the prime minister after independence, Mathai moved with him to Delhi and lived in the prime minister's house. He had daily interaction with Nehru and thus had the unique opportunity of observing the first Indian prime minister at work at close range. All papers that needed Nehru's attention had to be first cleared by Mathai, who claims that he never attempted to influence any of Nehru's decisions, but then goes on to relate numerous instances when he prevailed upon him to change his mind. Mathai resigned from his powerful position in 1959 amid allegations of misuse of authority and there are indications that he departed with ill feelings for many of those he had been associated with. Two decades after his resignation Mathai was catapulted into unanticipated fame and achieved notoriety when he authored two controversial books, Reminiscence of the Nehru Age (1978) and My Days with Nehru (1979), relating to his experiences as special assistant to the prime minister. The books contained many revelations of a personal nature — not all complimentary — about Nehru and a host of other powerful political figures of the time. The books caused a furor when they were released in India and were subsequently banned. At the time of their publication Nehru had already been dead for over a decade and the author himself did not live much long. He died of a heart attack in 1981.For some time now I have been curious about the books that had aroused so much controversy in India so many years ago. However, I discovered that the books were no longer easily obtainable. They have been out of print since 1979 and my attempts to locate them in libraries around the Washington area were uniformly fruitless. They are also not listed on any publisher's catalogues. After some research I discovered that the US Library of Congress, the world's greatest depository of books, had copies of both books in their collection. But there was a problem. The library ordinarily does not loan out books except to senators and congressmen, while to others it grants only limited reading privileges. After over a month my county library finally succeeded in locating old copies of the books at university libraries in Maryland and New York and borrowed them for me.More than three decades have passed since the books were published and all those once so dominant on India's political firmament who figure so prominently in the books are long gone. Also gone with them are any possibilities that the accounts of events as told in the books can be either refuted or corroborated. Mathai claims that he originally intended the books to be published after his death, but had to accelerate the timetable when he learnt during the emergency rule imposed by Indira Gandhi that his house would be searched and his documents confiscated and destroyed. Even so, he writes that he had intentionally held back two chapters as their contents were likely to be embarrassing to a person who was still alive. Mathai has an engaging writing style and the two books, abounding in fascinating stories, historic anecdotes and entertaining quotations are highly readable. Surprisingly, he has little or nothing to say about Pakistan or its troubled relations with India. What generated most controversy in India regarding the book was the revelation of Nehru's romantic involvement with several women, among them Padmaja Naidu, daughter of Soorojni Naidu, Mardula Sarabhai, Lady Mountbatten, and others who remained unidentified. The book, however, includes no salacious or sleazy details about these affairs. The information suggests that Nehru, a widower, was an easy and, at times, willing target of women who pursued him relentlessly, a common experience for many celebrities and powerful men. In the case of Nehru and Lady Mountbatten, all evidence, especially their correspondence which was uncovered after their deaths, suggests that the relationship was platonic, based on shared interests and commonality of views. Overall, Mathai's characterisation of Nehru is highly complimentary and he portrays the former prime minister as a thoroughly secular man, free of any religious or factional biases. In the wake of the partition he waged a lonely battle against rising religious fanaticism in the country at personal risk to himself. In contrast, Sardar Patel, the deputy prime minister, was a communalist with a vision of India that was parochial and dramatically opposed to that of Nehru's. The two frequently clashed and their disputes had to be settled by Mahatma Gandhi. Nehru, who was an agnostic, had requested in his will that his body be cremated and part of the ashes thrown into the Ganges 'to be carried to the great ocean that washes India's shores.' The rest he wanted sprinkled over the plains and fields of India where the peasants toil so that they became an eternal part of the soil. While most of his wishes were carried out, his body, in contravention to his wishes, was given some religious rites.Mathai comments on a spectrum of influential Indian politicians, including Maulana Azad, Morarji Desai and Indira Gandhi, most of whom he treats with varying levels of disparagement. He alleges that Azad sympathised with Muslims and tried to support them, often unsuccessfully. Giving rare praise, he credits Azad with uncommon courage and the singular ability to speak to Nehru without fear. The prime minister on his part showed great respect and affection for him. Mathai reserves his most vehement and scathing comments for Krishna Menon, who served as India's defence minister during the Sino-Indian war and was at one time Nehru's favourite. He accuses him of being a drug addict involved in unethical, shady financial dealings and claims that the major responsibility for India's ill-preparedness to face the Chinese rested with him.How much trust can be placed in the contents of the Mathai's narratives? We shall never definitively find out as the books were withdrawn before they could be critically and dispassionately examined by those with the knowledge to render a judgment. However, the books highlight the fact that political leaders, however powerful and influential in their time, are all human with the attendant frailties and weaknesses, but these should not keep us from appreciating their other overriding qualities.
