Paran Balakrishnan: A paean to ex-prime ministers

MY WORD!

Jawaharlal Nehru once remarked that Indian prime ministers would always be carried out of office feet first. It goes without saying that times have changed beyond recognition since Nehru's heyday.

His great-grandson has just won a seat in an era when Indian politics has become fractured, corruption is flaunted in the face of the electorate and regionalism is the order of the day.

Nevertheless, there's one welcome development that must be applauded. Indian prime ministers "" even the elderly ones "" don't necessarily leave office feet first.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee has just left office seeming in better health than when he entered it. And a lengthy interview with P V Narasimha Rao recently has served as a reminder that the novelist prime minister is alive and kicking even if the hangers-on have long abandoned their posts by his side.

We now have six former prime ministers who are still alive to tell the tale and living out comfortable retirements. Some like Chandrasekhar are on the political sidelines.

Others like V P Singh are still in the thick of things, trying to make their influence felt as deal-making senior statesmen. Only H D Deve Gowda, the most unexpected politician to climb into the top job is still exerting his influence in Karnataka. By all accounts Deve Gowda enjoys being the kingmaker of Karnataka more than he enjoyed his days on the gaddi in Delhi.

What are the perks of being an ex-prime minister? These days, there's a small pension that helps even if it doesn't meet all the expenses.

There's also the doubtful pleasure of having security men accompany you on all journeys both in India and abroad. I once interviewed V P Singh a few years ago while he was undergoing dialysis in London. The ubiquitous security men were outside the dialysis room and smiled benignly as I went in.

Nehru couldn't imagine an Indian prime minister out of power. As a titan of the Independence struggle he couldn't dream of being unceremoniously evicted from office and being a nobody the next morning. And a fall from power can be a brutal experience.

Consider how the British treat their fallen political heroes "" it's a tough British tradition that prime ministers leave their comfortable Downing Street homes within 24 hours of resigning. Here we usually give them a free home on the grounds of security.

Should we worry about the dominance of the Gandhis and dynastic politics coming back to the fore? Several foreign journalists and analysts believe it 's an unhealthy sign that India hasn't been able to wean itself from dependence on the Gandhi family. They insist that it isn't possible to compare George Bush Senior and George Junior or even consider the Kennedys and the Gores.

The Gandhis have ruled for 37 years since the British ran down the Union Jack for the last time in India and that's not a short period of time.

But this country has been a democracy for 57 years and we've managed without the Gandhis since 1989. During that time Narasimha Rao and Vajpayee in particular have proved that a stable government can run for five years (in Vajpayee's case almost) without the Gandhi magic.

So, is there a danger that the dynasty is taking root once again in this country? The Indian electorate has shown itself to be scant respecter of celebrities or powers-that-be who've grown accustomed to the authority and perks of the kingdom in Delhi.

Back in 1977 even Mrs Indira Gandhi found herself turfed out by the voters of Rae Bareli. This time round too the roll-call of the fallen is lengthy starting with Murli Manohar Joshi. Rahul Gandhi and Sonia forget that at their peril.

The fact is that democracy has taken deep root in this country. Vajpayee didn't expect to go on television on Thursday saying his farewell to the nation. He, and the other five living prime ministers who were also given the thumbs down by the electorate are proof that Indian democracy is alive and bursting with vitality.