8 ISSUES AND INSIGHTS MUMBAI | 3 AUGUST 2019 > The interests General Ershad was not unlike Rajiv Gandhi Both men were political innocents. In a sense, they were softies sounding anti-feminist, he argued that Hasina Wazed could never become presi- of the Revenue career: Being consul-general in Australia’s and the simplicity of his lifestyle matched dent because only a man could lead a busiest city was preferable to an Indian post- the unimpressive architecture. Yet, every- Muslim nation at prayer. he tragic pass- ing. In fact, it was precisely this aspect of thing about Ershad seemed to provoke crit- Perhaps this was wishful thinking. Kamal ing away of V G Ershad’s persona — call it his weakness if you icism. Bangladeshis said he lived in the can- Hossain put it down to ignorance. “He’s never T Siddhartha, the will — that was endearing in so far as any- tonment for reasons of security. They said heard of Razia Sultan!” was the latter’s dry founder of the Cafe thing about a head of state can be endearing. the little boy toddling about the living room comment when I told him afterwards. Coffee Day empire — I couldn’t imagine the tragically murdered wasn’t really his son but adopted. Some sus- Whatever the reason, it was a gross miscal- and a lot else besides Ziaur Rahman with whom I had had one dis- pected him on account of the time he had culation. Ershad also believed he had scored — has led to much dis- astrously explosive meeting ever being so spent in India. It was widely hugely over Bangladesh’s “India cussion on whether indulgent to a subordinate. claimed that the homely Mrs Despite tales of lobby” (meaning Hasina) by India and the Indian Bangladeshis didn’t appreciate the Ershad had been formally violence, human extracting Rajiv Gandhi’s prom- state is growing less allowance I was prepared to make for Ershad declared First Lady so that she rights abuses, ise to involve Nepal in tripartite friendly to entrepre- WHERE MONEY TALKS on account of his humaneness. A rich Dhaka could have her own office to corruption and talks on sharing the Ganga- neurs, industrialists SUNANDA K. DATTA-RAY businessman whom I had first met at the receive businessmen without womanising, Ershad Padma waters. It was another TICKER and business. home of Ershad’s high commissioner in New having to share her cut with was luckier than miscalculation. When it didn’t Siddhartha men- Delhi with whom he was on the friendliest middlemen. She was compared Gandhi. He died happen, a senior Bangladeshi MIHIR SHARMA tioned, in what eneral Ershad, who died the other terms was holding forth once at a dinner par- with Indonesia’s Tien Suharto peacefully in his diplomat explained that India appears to be a note he day, is unforgettable for me for a rea- ty in London on the military dictatorship at who was popularly called bed in the fullness couldn’t afford to face left behind, that he was facing harassment from the income Gson he would never have guessed. For home. He flew into a rage when I interjected “Madame Ten Per Cent”. of years Bangladesh and Nepal at the tax authorities. The I-T office has strongly denied this, but all the vilification, he was an innocent, not that while it was true Ershad was a military Ironically, Suharto was same time because it claimed this is not being generally believed. Many see their decision unlike Rajiv Gandhi. That was confirmed man, if his mild rule was a dictatorship it was someone Ershad admired. He told us that upper riparian rights with the former, and to block Siddhartha’s access to his Mindtree shares at a when some time in 1988 or 1989 the a vegetarian dictatorship. The Bangladeshi evening he was discussing with the lower riparian rights with the latter. Ershad time he needed to sell them as targeted harassment. Bangladesh deputy high commissioner in at once exploded that jealous Indians resent- Indonesian strongman some constitutional could never have anticipated that an Indian But the concern being expressed today goes beyond Calcutta called on me to say he had been ed the progress Bangladesh had made despite means of permanently involving the army, high commissioner who translated his poems the specifics of this case. It feeds into a general fear that transferred to Sydney. Chatting over coffee, being denied democracy. his country’s most efficient institution, in would oppose tripartite river talks tooth and was born at the time of the government’s anti-black mon- he let slip his President had wanted him to Apart from press conferences, I met Bangladesh’s governance. He needed a nail and work relentlessly on Rajiv to renege ey rhetoric, which then blossomed into a draconian law. invite me to Dhaka but he had ignored the Ershad only once. My wife and I were visit- prime minister, he said, to receive and see on his commitment. In the last Union Budget, the finance minister announced instruction. Hosting the editor of a national ing Dhaka at the end of 1985 — making an off visiting VIPs: Being busier than the US Both men were political innocents. In a that the super-rich would pay more in tax. This is in gen- Indian daily might have meant additional excuse of the launch of the South Asian president he didn’t have time for airport sense, they were softies. But despite tales of eral not a problem for many people. But, again, the mes- publicity for Ershad. Association for Regional Cooperation — duties. He spoke of Islam not as a believer violence, human rights abuses, corruption saging around the tax increase — a return to the noises I guessed his sympathies lay with the when he invited us home to tea after the cap- but as someone who acknowledged the and womanising, Ershad was luckier than made by the Centre’s faux-socialists in the Indira Gandhi Awami League. I also realised he could afford tains and kings had departed. He lived in a most important unifying and driving force Gandhi. He died peacefully in his bed in the era — was disturbing. Put that together with other meas- to flout his President and still prosper in his modest bungalow in the cantonment area for his people. Apologising to my wife for fullness of years. ures in the Budget and since. For example, companies now will be vulnerable to criminal prosecution if they fail to spend 2 per cent of their profits on corporate social COFFEE WITH BS > MANU S PILLAI | AUTHOR & HISTORIAN responsibility. How is a mandatory payment out of profits anything less than a tax? And why is the government levying a tax on companies for the benefit of NGOs? This is merely a way to direct more cash to the ideological affiliates of the ruling party, and to siphon away share- holder money to build up a Hindutva-vadi establishment in parallel to the state. Placing history in context The Budget also included increased powers for some tax officials — men of the Customs, for example, are now Pillai tells Uttaran Das Gupta how he is trying to find balance in more than a hundred pages of crit- given the power to detain individuals if they perceive a ical material. All my work involves threat to the “interests of the Revenue”. Some things the conflicted landscape of history the archives. But I don’t write like have definitely gotten better over the past few years — an academic.” Pillai says many there has been a concerted attempt to reduce the initial istory is a battlefield — not with the ambient music and the which was a seat of Brahminical historians are doing great work, human-to-human interaction in the tax process for only for those fighting in large turnout. The reason why it is orthodoxy. Brahmins claimed which often remains confined to example. But it is also true that there is a widespread H these battles, but also for so popular becomes obvious when that they were superior, being academic circles. “It is essential sense that the government intends to wring business for those chronicling it, that is, the his- our order is served. born from the head of the cos- to bring it to a wider audience,” every paisa it can. High officials of the government and torians. A few years back, I “I have been out since morning mic creator. Phule asked: he adds, “because everyday senior members of the ruling party have been complicit reviewed a book, The Ivory Throne, recording another podcast,” Pillai ‘Does this mean the cosmic history is being mutilated for in creating that impression. about the House of Travancore in says, “and will be going to Khan creator menstruates through political purposes.” The simple truth is that India can ill afford this sort of Kerala and its extraordinary regent Market for a book signing after his mouth?’.” Similar questions For politicians, he says, atmosphere at the moment. We are going through a years- Sethu Lakshmi Bayi. The tome ran this.” Being a famous author is hard were asked by Kabir or Basava context is a bad thing. “They long crisis of investment from which we have yet to recov- well into 700 pages and it took me work, isn’t it? — both of whom feature among need grand narratives, things er. Unless private investment increases, India will not a while to read it, but the intricate I have read Pillai’s latest book the dramatis personae in in black and white — but there return to the high-growth path that is necessary to create narrative blew my mind.