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However, when I checked with my
son, he reminded me that I was getting on in age. Mantriji had
later, much like the minister in the BBC's serial, had become paradhanmantri
after some episodes. My doubts were set at rest when I
reached page 54 of the first volume. The behind-the-scene
manipulations that saw Suryaprakash Singh emerge as the surprise
consensus candidate for the top job reminded me of K. Kamraj,
who as Indian National Congress President had managed Lal
Bahadur Shastri's nomination as Prime Minister after Jawaharlal
Nehru's death in 1964. However, in the case of our mantriji the
manipulation was done by the suave and soft-spoken Cabinet
Secretary Rajnath Mathur (played by Jayant Kripalani in the
serial).
The strength of
the two-volume book lies in being able to sustain the flavour,
including that of the Indian samosa (pun intended), of
the English-to-Hindi adaptation-to-English translation. The
adaptation for Indian television was done by Purushottam Agarwal.
The English version has been done by Monisha Shah, who had done
the Hindi adaptation of Ji Mantriji. By ‘English
version’ I presume the publishers mean the translation into
English of the adaptation from English into Hindi. Yes, it is
all very confusing. I am feeling groggy trying to put it
straight. Never mind, don't get into the nitty gritty. Go ahead,
enjoy the book.
Believe you me
after reading the two volumes I am better informed about how the
politicians and the bureaucrats manage the game of fooling
everyone all the time. The reason why both the English and Hindi
versions of the serial were popular is because they presented
the reality not as an angry statement, but as a series of
hilarious episodes, often more stark than truth itself. Both
Suryaprakashji and Mathur Sahib, and the crafty Kaul, who
appears to be on his minister's side as his personal assistant
but is actually with his bureaucratic colleagues, in the
administrative services.
If you have as
much contempt for politicians and bureaucrats as I have, there
is no reason why you should not enjoy Ji Pradhanmantriji.
We all have our theories about who is responsible for all that
we see wrong with the system. You will find glimpses of your
theories being played out by Suryaprakashji, Mathur Sahib and
Kaul. Corruption is the flavour of the season. The exposure of
the tip of the iceberg of corruption has caused so much turmoil.
Imagine what would happen if the iceberg itself was exposed. The
people would celebrate. The Mathur Sahibs would, of course, try
to make key witnesses drop some important names while recording
their statements before a magistrate!
I have a
personal reason for having enjoyed the two volumes of Ji
Pradhanmantriji. I believe that politicians have a vested
interest in keeping the people ignorant and poor. Give the
people the tool of awareness and the means to improve their
economic status and they would reject most of the present crop
of politicians. The bureaucracy on the other hand has a vested
interest in keeping the present stock of politicians in power.
To under the reason meet Mathur Sahib when he is in the company
of fellow-bureaucrats checking out the weak points in the
strings that help them control the politicians without letting
the latter become aware of it. Suryaprakashji as Pradhanmantri
always takes independent decisions in the national interest as
subtly, sometimes not subtly, dictated by Mathur Sahib.
The book may find a larger
readership if it were to be translated in the regional
languages. After all the Suryaprakashs and the Mathurs can be
found all over England and India because both the countries
share identical political and administrative structures.
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YES
Prime Minister? That is an easy one. It is the name of the
hugely popularly spoof on the cog-in-the-wheel relationship
between the British bureaucracy and its political masters. If
memory serves me right the BBC started with Yes Minister, and
later upgraded the serial to Yes Prime Minister.
