The Hindu weekly magazine of Sunday 29th April 2007 carried an article on V K Krishna Menon, “An Unusual Life”. With his unusual writing craft the author, Shashi Tharoor sketches a subjective picture of the legendary statesman of yesteryears. The article, obviously meant for the Sunday reader, does not discuss the intricacies of politics of those days, but shows a profile of Menon from the view point of a twelve year old boy watching his father’s illustrious friend. I felt happy to read the article for one reason: Shashi is at last making amends for his calculated obliteration of the legendary Son of India. This towering mountain was missing in the landscape he had painted in his “From Midnight to Millennium”. Now that Shashi is not in the fray for UN Secretary General’s post, the selective amnesia in history is not of use to him any more. He can now feel at ease and have a fresh look at recent Indian history and think of rewriting his book without the fear of annoying the West.
Krishna Menon’s abrasive character is well known. In fact it is immaterial to us, the general public. The awe and wonder of watching the Himalayas do not diminish because it is bitterly cold out there. Bitter cold is no reason to deny its existence either. See what R.Venkitaraman, former President of India says about Menon’s abrasiveness: “Menon was arrogant, but only to those who tried to denigrate his country. His words were acid and bitter but only when he tore the mask of hypocrisy and laid bare the truth. He was harsh because he could not suffer mediocrity. Intellectually he was a giant and had the best in an argument, and it is the habit of the world to compensate for the loss with abuse”.
In the Indian subcontinent patriotism has been a subject of laudatory songs and not a quality widely practiced. Many patriots suffered from their own countrymen; Gandhiji was shot not by the British, but after India gained freedom. Sheik Mujibur Rahman of Bengala Desh, Liaqat Ali Khan and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan had laid down their lives for their patriotism. The process of gaining freedom of the country and the sacrifices made for freedom are quickly forgotten when the former oppressors begin placating the newborn government with crumbs of bread. Basic principles are swept under the carpet in the name of expediency and patriots are looked upon with suspicion. Patriots and their ideals become a nuisance and hindrance to those who wish to reap the monetary benefits of freedom.
When Krishna Menon insisted that defense production should be indigenous and started an array of massive public sector units like Ordnance factories, HAL, BEL, DRDO, Avadi Tank factory and laid the entire foundation of indigenous defense production he was faced with opposition from the top brass of the Forces who wanted expensive foreign equipment. Opposition from his own cabinet colleagues like Morarji and S K Patil was impelled by the private business lobby. Morarji as Finance Minister could withhold defence money despite parliamentary decisions, to a point of suffocating the indigenous production units at crucial times. Yet, Menon took the entire blame of non-performance of the armed forces. It was easy for this lobby to malign Menon because they controlled the print media. R.K Karanjia, editor of Blitz used to call it the Jute (Jhoot) press for two reasons: one, the money came from jute market; two, the lies (Jhoot) they were capable of spreading were horrendous. They used the age-old Nazi technique of repeating a lie until it became Truth. Menon’s ill health, medicines, tea drinking and frugal living were held against him as unpardonable vices by the Press, while chain smoking of “India Kings” and urine drinking of others were benevolently condoned. Those who raised hue and cry on his “corruption” but could not explain what he would do with the money meekly said he used it for his India-League activities. Is it not ridiculous to collect one rupee per month as salary and resort to corruption to find money for philanthropy? The MI5 papers released by UK on March 2, 2007 bear adequate testimony to what went on behind the curtain.
The lies manufactured and spread by the Jhoot Press in those days of tension and war with China, were swallowed by many innocent citizens of the country. Menon was too proud a man to defend himself personally. He did not create a faction of Congress Party to follow him to bargain for cabinet positions. He had always maintained that he wanted a principle in power rather than a clique in office. He couldn’t care even about himself being in power. It is hard in the modern times to discern such a state of mind. No wonder most people fail to understand him.
Post Script: Krishna Menon never got the recognition he deserved. There was a “Krishna Menon Square” in his home town (Calicut) where his statue adorned a vantage point in the city center. This statue was covered by a wall and surrounded by trees in the name of beautification. No one can see him unless one goes deliberately into the remote corner of the park. There he stands, turning the other way!! This appeared symbolically similar to what Shashi Tharoor did in his book. Instead of admiring or hating Krishna Menon just ignore him, with the hope that he would gradually go into oblivion.
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Krishna Menon’s abrasive character is well known. In fact it is immaterial to us, the general public. The awe and wonder of watching the Himalayas do not diminish because it is bitterly cold out there. Bitter cold is no reason to deny its existence either. See what R.Venkitaraman, former President of India says about Menon’s abrasiveness: “Menon was arrogant, but only to those who tried to denigrate his country. His words were acid and bitter but only when he tore the mask of hypocrisy and laid bare the truth. He was harsh because he could not suffer mediocrity. Intellectually he was a giant and had the best in an argument, and it is the habit of the world to compensate for the loss with abuse”.
In the Indian subcontinent patriotism has been a subject of laudatory songs and not a quality widely practiced. Many patriots suffered from their own countrymen; Gandhiji was shot not by the British, but after India gained freedom. Sheik Mujibur Rahman of Bengala Desh, Liaqat Ali Khan and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan had laid down their lives for their patriotism. The process of gaining freedom of the country and the sacrifices made for freedom are quickly forgotten when the former oppressors begin placating the newborn government with crumbs of bread. Basic principles are swept under the carpet in the name of expediency and patriots are looked upon with suspicion. Patriots and their ideals become a nuisance and hindrance to those who wish to reap the monetary benefits of freedom.
When Krishna Menon insisted that defense production should be indigenous and started an array of massive public sector units like Ordnance factories, HAL, BEL, DRDO, Avadi Tank factory and laid the entire foundation of indigenous defense production he was faced with opposition from the top brass of the Forces who wanted expensive foreign equipment. Opposition from his own cabinet colleagues like Morarji and S K Patil was impelled by the private business lobby. Morarji as Finance Minister could withhold defence money despite parliamentary decisions, to a point of suffocating the indigenous production units at crucial times. Yet, Menon took the entire blame of non-performance of the armed forces. It was easy for this lobby to malign Menon because they controlled the print media. R.K Karanjia, editor of Blitz used to call it the Jute (Jhoot) press for two reasons: one, the money came from jute market; two, the lies (Jhoot) they were capable of spreading were horrendous. They used the age-old Nazi technique of repeating a lie until it became Truth. Menon’s ill health, medicines, tea drinking and frugal living were held against him as unpardonable vices by the Press, while chain smoking of “India Kings” and urine drinking of others were benevolently condoned. Those who raised hue and cry on his “corruption” but could not explain what he would do with the money meekly said he used it for his India-League activities. Is it not ridiculous to collect one rupee per month as salary and resort to corruption to find money for philanthropy? The MI5 papers released by UK on March 2, 2007 bear adequate testimony to what went on behind the curtain.
The lies manufactured and spread by the Jhoot Press in those days of tension and war with China, were swallowed by many innocent citizens of the country. Menon was too proud a man to defend himself personally. He did not create a faction of Congress Party to follow him to bargain for cabinet positions. He had always maintained that he wanted a principle in power rather than a clique in office. He couldn’t care even about himself being in power. It is hard in the modern times to discern such a state of mind. No wonder most people fail to understand him.
Post Script: Krishna Menon never got the recognition he deserved. There was a “Krishna Menon Square” in his home town (Calicut) where his statue adorned a vantage point in the city center. This statue was covered by a wall and surrounded by trees in the name of beautification. No one can see him unless one goes deliberately into the remote corner of the park. There he stands, turning the other way!! This appeared symbolically similar to what Shashi Tharoor did in his book. Instead of admiring or hating Krishna Menon just ignore him, with the hope that he would gradually go into oblivion.
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