Published: Sunday, May 9, 2010, 0:46 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_p-chidambaram-upa-s-own-iron-man_1380790
The babus in the North Block knew they were in for hard times when news of P Chidambaram's move from the finance ministry to the home ministry was confirmed in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. His reputation preceded him. This was a minister who read his own files, and didn't sign as his aides told him to. He knew the system, having been an old hand in the internal security ministry under the late Rajiv Gandhi in 1986. Back then, he had handled even the all-powerful department of personnel, controlling appointments and postings of bureaucrats.
Soon after taking over in November 2008, he introduced the biometric attendance control system and ensured that he himself reached the office at 9 am and was the first man to put his finger on the machine.
He asked all department and agency chiefs to prepare a daily progress report (DPR) and send it to him directly. He made them accountable by actually calling for surprise checks on the movement of their official cars. He would even call for the drivers' registers! One day he smilingly asked the chief of a paramilitary force why the stomachs of people in his force were sticking out. The message was loud and clear.
Narayanan's sideliningThe biggest indication of his success was the sidelining of MK Narayanan as national security adviser (NSA). Everybody had paid the price for the Mumbai terror attack, except Narayanan. The chief minister of Maharashtra had been removed, the state and city police chiefs were gone, Shivraj Patil was shown the door. But Narayanan had remained. Rather, his stature had grown with every failure on the security front.
Instead of focusing on the external security aspects, the NSA had gradually encroached on the powers of the Union home ministry, and Shivraj Patil had allowed this. So much so that even the Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief, who used to report to the home minister, started taking orders from the NSA. The Research & Analysis Wing (RAW)reported directly to the NSA. In fact, Narayanan created a situation where the chiefs of IB and RAW would not be able to meet the PM on a daily basis without his
signal.
Chidambaram prevailed upon 10 Janpath to end this anomaly. Narayanan was packed off to the Kolkata Raj Bhavan. The new NSA, Shiv Shanker Menon, has a mandate limited to foreign policy.
Chidambaram has not only outshone Patil, he has shown up a number of his predecessors. None of Chidambaram's predecessors in the hot seat of North Block, except for LK Advani, tried to create a 'hard man' brand image. Since Sardar Patel was Advani's role model, he loved being called Sardar Patel-II. But luck never favoured him and perhaps, he was too scared to implement his own "pro-active" policy in Jammu & Kashmir policy. The finale came when the Parliament House building was attacked directly under his nose in 2001.
Ups and downsBut Chidambaram's new reputation has its pitfalls. There are many who say he is arrogant, including the Raja of Raghogarh, Digvijay Singh.
Chidambaram doesn't suffer fools. He has degrees in statistics and law,and an MBA from Harvard. He showed his mettle in 1968 when he gave up the family business to marry the woman he loved even though his family was opposed to it.
Chidambaram had put in his papers in 1992 as minister of state for commerce after it became known that he and his wife Nalini had invested in a scam-tainted company.Nobody had sought his resignation then. But the then prime minister PV Narasimha Rao quietly accepted it, leaving him angry. He was rehabilitated in 1995 as Rao wanted to placate Sonia Gandhi. Chidambaram lost 3 years in the process.
Chidambaram, though, is no political rookie. He has an uncanny sense of political survival. In 1996, he dumped the Congress, realising that Rao would lose and joined the Tamil Maanila Congress of GK Moopanar, becoming finance minister in the government that followed. He got the same job in 2004, when the Congress returned to office.
This budget session in 2010 saw him emerging as a new troubleshooter, one who does not lose his temper like Pranab Mukherjee. He played the role of a Parliamentary affairs minister when it was needed most. It's brave to make this claim but, within the Congress, Chidambaram has narrowed the power gap between him and Pranab Mukherjee. As one of his supporters says, "He is approaching 70 and no novice. He was a minister with independent charge in the Rajiv Gandhi government at a time when Dr Manmohan Singh was a just bureaucrat."
Clearly, the gods are smiling on Chidambaram. Manmohan Singh didn't dare accept it when he handed him his resignation letter in the wake of the Dantewada massacre of 76 CRPF men by Maoists. This was not 1992. The times had changed, and so had Chidambaram's importance.
He is India's new internal security czar and the face of its war against terror. No home minister in recent history has acquired such an aura. If his predecessors enjoyed Z-plus security cover even after demitting office, he shunned it after taking over as
Home Minister.
