The insider Quotes

“I think the most sacred right of man is to be happy.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“So I came to care not so much for wealth, as such; I came to believe that the basic need is happiness. And I shall fight a system that equates happiness with wealth and proceeds to build social relations on the basis of that preposterous proposition”
― P V Narsimha Rao, The Insider

“Today, in view of the rising political consciousness and the high cost of forcible occupation, we are no longer in an age where war can be used as an extension of foreign policy. This is the age of coercive diplomacy, when the projection of forces in intimidatory, deterrent and defensive roles has become an inextricable aspect of international relations.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“Close studies reveal that the debacle of 1962 didn't occur for want of men and equipment., for there was enough of both, but it was rather spread out all over India. It may not have been available at a particular place, because we had to face the situation rather suddenly and we didn't have time.

General Thimayya, then COAS, wrote an article in July 1962 that as a soldier, he couldn't envisage India taking on China in an open conflict on its own because China's military strength, with the full support of the USSR, exceeded India's military resourced a hundredfold. The only way to counter Chinese aggression on the border, according to him, was to attack the enemy in the Himalayan passes, which were practically impossible to cross for six months of the year.
Here, the Indian Army could make full use of its manpower and light equipment against a Chinese force deprived of the use of its heavy equipment including tanks and heavy-calibre artillery.
In case the Chinese got through to the plains and foothills, guerrilla tactics would have to be used to harass their lines of communication.
The Indian Army's superior firepower and manoeuvrability would then have to be brought into play to defeat the enemy forces.

As Air Chief Marshal Arjan Singh later pointed out, there was insufficient appreciation of the problems of operating aircraft from high altitude airfields. If those problems had been thought through, there wouldn't have been as much reluctance to use Indian air power in support of our operations in 1962 as there actually was.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“Sardar Patel, in as early as 1950, drew Nehru's attention to the threat posed by China.
In a detailed letter containing some truly prophetic formulations about China's intentions and plans, he warned JN of the dangers of complacency and strongly urged a serious reconsideration of the entire China policy and the various steps that needed to be taken to meet the new situation.

The Sardar said, in his letter:

"Thus, for the first time after centuries, India’s defence has to concentrate itself on two fronts simultaneously.

Our defence measure have so far been based on the calculations of a superiority over Pakistan. In our calculations we shall now have to reckon with Communist China in the north and in the north-east, a Communist China which has definite ambitions and aims and which does not, in any way, seem friendly disposed towards us. In my judgement, the situation is one in which we cannot afford either to be complacent or to be vacillating.

We must have a clear idea of what we wish to achieve and also of the methods by which we should achieve it. Any faltering or lack of decisiveness in formulating our objectives or in pursuing our policy to attain those objectives is bound to weaken us and increase the threats which are so evident.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“Anand was on tour in a distant village when the shattering news of the Chinese invasion was announced. Within hours, there was an astonishing metamorphosis in the prevailing atmosphere. Except for the lone troubled voice that came from the radio, there was a numbed silence all around. Every citizen was in the grip of an indescribable mixture of anger, anguish, a sense of disappointment, and above all, a feeling of unity with every other Indian.

Just when Anand was about to leave, a lad of about ten came forward. He put his hand in his shirt pocket and produced a twenty-five paise coin. He held it out tentatively and stammered, "This is my contribution to defeat China..."
Anand accepted the coin and hugged the boy. He controlled his emotion with some difficulty.

The gesture electrified the atmosphere. For the first time faces brightened somewhat. "Why not raise a fund in the village?", said the Sarpanch.
"Yes!" interjected the villagers. "We must give and give and give until it hurts! Each a little more than he can afford to."

God! Does this country need the threat of external aggression to unite it internally? wondered Anand, as his car turned into the highway.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“From 1959 onwards the situation on the border with China became increasingly tense. It soon became a cause for national concern.
In the letters Chaudhury received from Jawaharlal Nehru, about China, he had a hunch about the divergence of views between Nehru and Sardar Patel.

The NEFA Reverse, which occurred on 20 October 1962, rocked India's political and military foundations. The nation reacted with anger to the absoluteness of this event.

In the words of Brig. John Dalvi, "1962 was a national failure of which every Indian is guilty. It was a failure in the Higher Direction of War, a failure of the Opposition, a failure of the General Staff (myself included); it was a failure of responsible public opinion and the Press. For the government of India, it was a Himalayan Blunder at all levels.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“Elections became an occasion to wage war, an opportunity for both groups and individuals to settle scores.
Anyone could change his party at will. Anyone could desert any party at any time and re-enter it later, at his convenience.
Candidates in some northern states captured polling booths like enemy military posts in war.
The true spirit of democracy became a tattered illusion and a pathetic shadow of autocratic ambience that had existed in the country for centuries.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“An interesting tailpiece to this agitation was provided by a Tamil MP from the party carrying on the anti-Hindi movement.
Anand knew him very well, having met him several times in Delhi.
One day, the MP arrived at Palam airport from Madras at the same time as Anand was about to leave Delhi for Afrozabad. They happened to meet in the VIP lounge.
The MP was accompanied by his teenage son, whom he introduced to Anand.
Then, with some amount of paternal pride, he said, "You know, he is studying in Delhi and always comes first in his class in Hindi!"
Surprised, Anand said, "And you don't know a word of Hindi and agitate against it all the time!"
"This is politics, you see?", said the MP.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“Anand remembered an adage which he had heard at the law college, that the troubles of a litigant in India begin after he obtains a decree and wants to get it executed.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“Anand's father said to him, "Look son, we've had no Lakshmi (wealth) in the family, ever. We had only one, Dhairya Lakshmi (the wealth of courage). Don't ever forsake her, or you will have nothing left to sustain you...”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“From the age-old climate of strict purdah enforced until recently in the state, the sudden change to increased personal freedom began to be seen as indistinguishable from promiscuity.
When the people saw a man and woman together, any man and any woman, they would make barbed comments that reeked of sexual innuendo.
Malicious tongues were desperately and subconsciously trying to violate social barriers by touching on this forbidden subject.
For some it was also, perhaps unknown to themselves, a manifestation of repressed anger at the transgression of accepted codes that prevailed from the beginning to the end of people's lives.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“In the high-profile political field, almost every important development could be traced to a clash of egos, sometimes necessary and beneficial, but often leading to catastrophe.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“To do good seemed to take a great deal of effort, like moving a mountain, while to do seemed easy.
Worse still, many people took evil as the expected norm - until it was publicly detected in the actions of the person in power. Then it was played up relentlessly till it was out of all proportion to reality. Often, the person involved was ruthlessly crushed as a fly under a sledge-hammer.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“To keep choosing between the one kind of damage and the other was unprofitable. Wisdom lay in preventing or avoiding damage altogether, of both kinds.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“The nation as a democratic entity, was where man's most potent institution, the state, assumed critical importance.
If the state deployed its power to step up the hiatus (between desire and capability) further, the organism would break at some point.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“The press. I believe that each one is as good as the best in the profession. However, their difficulty is that their job essentially lies in describing the way things go wrong.
Most reporters subconsciously believe that all ministers are nitwits, or ought to be if they're true to type.
Journalists relish the performance of ministers who mess up with wrong answers and cringe for publicity.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“The caste factor loomed larger with every passing day, and Indiraji and everyone in the high command had noticed it. This unmistakable trend had appeared in the political process and threatened to overwhelm it eventually.
A casteless society thus seemed to be impossible, at least in the short run, as matters stood. It was a grotesque irony for a party which proclaimed castelessness as its creed.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“Chaudhury was further struck by the fact that each politician came to be identified by his or her main or only vice, which shrouded all the virtues.
In the political field, frailty was the banner held aloft over each person's chariot, announcing only vulnerable points to the wide world.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“In the group game, sometimes the last to join earns the greatest value because he's the one who scores the goal eventually.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“The Central leadership had neither permanent friends nor permanent foes in the states. It only had a stock of permanent tools. No two of them were alike and no one agreed with the rest, ever.

Each gloated over his own 'pull' in Delhi and ran the others down for having 'fallen from grace'. They furnished regular reports to the Centre about each other's nefarious activities, exaggerated out of all proportion. Each of them waxed eloquent about the supposed CBI investigations ordered against the others.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“Appearance, make-up, not the real you; that was what politics was all about.
Chaudhury became an expert in the nauseating art of political make-up.

He learned how to mouth his party's ideology ritually and endlessly, without believing a word of it.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider

“The great attraction of public life seemed to be its expanding frontiers, its flexible horizons. It was a realm of infinite possibility, a task that was never concluded, a challenge that never abated.”
― P.V. Narasimha Rao, The insider