Book Review: Yashwant Sinha laments steady erosion of Indian institutions in his book

He has been a keen observer of the Indian scene for over 50 years, the first 24 of them as a member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and thereafter as a politician — first with the Janata Party, then the Janata Dal and finally with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Along the way, he became the first non-Congress Finance minister to present five regular budgets and two interim budgets. Now, as he contemplates the past after quitting the BJP last year, Yashwant Sinha laments the increasing politicisation of the bureaucracy and the steady erosion of Indian institutions.

“Since I have traversed the world of both bureaucracy and politics, people have often asked me about the relationship between the two. There is no doubt that it is one of the most difficult relationships in our democracy,” Sinha writes in his autobiography, Relentless: An Autobiography by Sinha.

This co-existence was once described as two swords within one scabbard and “since their jurisdictions are often not clearly defined, competition, leading to a clash, becomes inevitable”, Sinha writes in the concluding chapter titled ‘Musings’.

“In this struggle, the bureaucrat is often left to fend for himself, his service colleagues being reluctant to come forward to help him. Compromises become the order of the day and, with the passage of time, exceptions to this are becoming increasingly rare...With the increase in such clashes, some civil servants have even ended up paying the price for it while others have had to make compromises to survive and prosper,” Sinha writes.

In this context, Sinha singlesout two “watershed” moments in the history of the decline of the civil service in India.

The first was the 1967 general elections that for this first time introduced the concept of coalition governments consisting of “disparate political elements” in many North Indian states, including Bihar, with the ministers in these dispensations having “obviously been at the receiving end of the bureaucracy during the earlier Congress regimes”.

“So, as my experience has shown, they came determined to settle scores with the bureaucracy. This had a dreadfulimpact on its morale. Most bureaucrats caved under pressure and put up with the insults and humiliations heaped upon them. Some, like me, resisted and paid the price for it.”

The second was the 1975-77 Emergency declared by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi “when what was demanded was loyalty to a single individual and a single-family”.

“The Emergency did incalculable harm to the role, standards, norms, discipline and morale of the civil service. Afterthat, it has been downhill all the way,” Sinha writes.

“One pernicious side-effect of the politicisation of the bureaucracy has been its impact on the fairness of elections,” Sinha maintains, adding that even though the Election Commission has brought about a “sea change” in the manner in which polls are now conducted, “the scope for mischief remains and the attitude of the bureaucracy, especially a law enforcement agency like the police, can significantly influence the outcome”.

Noting that when he left the bureaucracy in 1984 to contest elections, it received very little attention in the media, Sinha writes: “Today, even a junior bureaucrat leaving his job to join politics is considered a big event. The ubiquitous media and the penchant on the part of many in the bureaucracy to seek personal publicity have completely changed the rules of the game.”

Through 40 chapters, the book traces Sinha’s journey from his carefree early days, his years in the IAS, with three political parties, his stints in the Finance and External Affairs Ministries and his split from the BJP. “I feel that there are a few traits in my character that make me rather unfit for the present day and age,” he says.