New Delhi:

The role and contribution of Mahatma Gandhi in India’s freedom struggle is well documented and he was “quite a complicated being”, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Wednesday.

“He had actually asked for mobilisation of India’s help for the war effort during the First World War,” Mr Puri said.

The minister was addressing an event organised in Delhi to release a book, titled ‘The Reverse Swing – Colonialism to Cooperation’, authored by veteran journalist and Prasar Bharati board member Ashok Tandon.

“One chapter (in the book) is on Mahatma Gandhi – an apostle of peace for Britons. We are all disciples of the Father of the Nation. His role in building India, creating a link between an elitist national movement and the masses, fusing that, (all that) is very well documented,” Mr Puri said.

With several friends from my college days & former colleagues as part of the distinguished audience, launch of the book ‘The Reverse Swing: Colonialism to Cooperation’ by another good friend for the past many decades, Sh @AshokTandon Ji turned out to be a reunion of sorts! pic.twitter.com/wtxXMNVEoA

— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) October 18, 2023

“But let me tell you Mahatma himself was quite a complicated being,” he said, adding, “While still in the UK, he (Gandhi) actually asked for mobilisation of India’s help for the war effort in the First World War. That’s well documented.” Puri said that Gandhi’s “initial life” in the UK, and his education prepared him for an “English-style barrister”.

“When he goes to South Africa, it is then the Gandhi that we know and the Gandhi who contributed to our national movement begins to mature,” he added.

Referring to the content of the book, Mr Puri said there is a chapter in it about how India overtook the UK to become the world’s fifth-largest economy.

“I think most of us relish that,” he said, adding, “When we become the third largest economy and we overtake Japan and Germany, I don’t think we will enjoy that much.” 

The Union minister said the Indo-British cooperation in the “aviation sector, telecommunications, all these” are relevant in understanding the dynamics of the current bilateral relationship between India and the UK.

The Indian-origin community in the UK has given “shape and content” to India’s relationship with the UK far more than what a diaspora can do elsewhere, he said.

“I hope the India-UK free trade agreement actually sees the light of the day,” he said.

Participating in a panel discussion on the book, Tondon, the author, talked about a chapter on the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre and said many, from the Queen to the British Prime Minister, have expressed regret over the incident but they have never officially apologised for it.

“Is it something to do with the British system that when you apologised for some crime and there is a provision for (giving) compensation?” he asked.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

In 2002, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee turned down the chance to become President, despite his team’s advice, stating that such a move would undermine India’s parliamentary democracy and set a dangerous example for future leaders, a new book by his media advisor claims.

Ashok Tandon, who served as Mr Vajpayee’s media advisor during his tenure as Prime Minister between 1998 to 2004, in his book The Reverse Swing: Colonialism to Cooperation, says it was the former Prime Minister who recommended APJ Abdul Kalam for presidency after KR Narayan’s term ended in 2002. The recommendation was met with surprise by Congress leaders but all parties reached a consensus after Samajwadi Party endorsed the idea.

The book quotes Mulayam Singh Yadav, the then-leader of the Samajwadi Party as saying, “Dr Kalam is my choice”.

Mr Tandon describes an episode when Mr Vajpayee’s team suggested that he be nominated as the NDA’s presidential candidate, leaving the prime ministership to LK Advani. But Mr Vajpayee worried that if a sitting Prime Minister were elected to the presidency, especially with a large majority, it would undermine India’s parliamentary democracy and set a dangerous precedent for future leaders.

“He warned that an incumbent Prime Minister becoming a President with the help of a majority in the Electoral College wouldn’t augur well in a parliamentary democracy like India and would set a very dangerous precedent and that he would be the last person to support such a move,” the book reads, according to a report by Indian Express.

“I remember, Sonia Gandhi, Pranab Mukherjee and Dr Manmohan Singh came to meet him. Vajpayee virtually surprised them by disclosing officially for the first time that the NDA had decided to field Dr APJ Abdul Kalam for the Presidential election,” Mr Tandon writes.

Following Mr Vajpayee’s surprise announcement, Mr Tandon writes, there was a stunned silence before Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s voice cut through the stillness. “We are flabbergasted by your choice,” Mrs Gandhi said. “We have no option but to support him. But will discuss your proposal and take a decision.”

Former vice president and BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu was quoted in a PTI report from 2004 making a similar claim that he had suggested Mr Vajpayee take the President post but the latter again refused.