Alexander's memoirs will tell it all

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI, MARCH 19. Dr. P. C. Alexander, Maharashtra Governor, and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister during Indira Gandhi's tenure, would publish his memoirs in which he talks about how the PMO was run, is run and should be run. Also Dr. Alexander, longest serving Governor since Independence, would comment on politicians.

He would disclose details on issues of which little is known. For instance, why things happened that did in Punjab. It would be a ``tell-all autobiography'' but it would have to wait as his term as Governor ends in two years. In his previous book, My Years with Indira Gandhi, he had to remove some parts he had written.

Right now, Dr. Alexander is ready with India in the New Millennium to be released in April-end, probably by the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, for which he has put in a request.

When he was chosen to be the Principal Secretary in Indira Gandhi's office, Dr. Alexander was a stranger to her but later gained her confidence to take up a few ``unspecified'' political assignments. His main function was to ``get the work done, sorting out problems''. But in some cases, Dr. Alexander told a select group of journalists here, some officials mixed up politics and their responsibilities. ``I did not do that.''

If a civil servant there ``cooked up files to enable the desired decision, then he is not doing his job. I call it intellectual dishonesty''. No files should be dealt with in anticipation of a line of action but independently. The political head could overrule a line of reasoning and conclusion. It is the responsibility of the top bureaucrat to ``keep the dignity of the office and his own integrity intact''.

When he met some journalists on the eve of his 80th birthday he said, ``my personal view is that it is difficult for a Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister to completely keep out of politics and it would be dishonest if I say that it is possible.'' In his case, often Indira Gandhi used him as only a ``sounding board'', but he recognises that ``drawing a line between the two - politics and other work - is very difficult.'' In the U.K., for instance, the job is purely bureaucratic; here it is not.

Responding to questions, he said he was optimistic that despite the present lows in legislative fora, ``a vibrant democracy where a voter corrupts but votes against corruption will bring back by punishing the guilty''. Legislatures are not a forum to register protest but a place to reflect the people's views on their behalf.

Not just the politicians who fill the legislature but even bureaucrats seem to be disdainful of legislative processes where no meaningful discussion take place. Budget demands are passed in a minute showing no accountability and this is dangerous. Even civil servants do not take matters of the legislature seriously because they know there may be no vote. But he swears by parliamentary democracy because it is accountable while presidential form is stable.

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