The chair was secondary for Morarji Desai

A stubborn man with a cruel face, a man who stuck to his ideas and principles regardless of the situation, and a man of obstinacy and discipline who lived almost a century. This is how history remembers Morarji Desai.

But should it be just that?

This year, we remember Bapuji, as we call him at home, on his 115th birth anniversary. Though he had only 24 birthdays since he was born on February 29, 1896, he lived up to the ripe old age of 99. He was around during World War I and II, was a freedom fighter in the Indian Independence struggle and the Nav Nirman movement, and was there when his finance secretary, Dr Manmohan Singh, liberalised the country’s economy.

It was believed that once Desai had made up his mind, it was impossible to change it. But Shanti Bhushan, the law minister in his cabinet and a well-known senior advocate at the Supreme Court, told me something different: “When a cabinet minister had a view which differed from Morarjibhai’s, he didn’t impose his views and dismiss it. If logic and reasoning was shown, then he would go with the opinion of the minister and not his own.”

What was confused for being adamant was his deep-rooted belief in what was right and wrong. Bapuji stuck by his core principles that grew from his struggles through life from a young age, his inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi, and his devotion to God. He knew the Bhagavat Gita verbatim and always turned to it when in doubt.

Reputed journalist Karan Thapar once wrote that Morarji Desai was the most hated man in Doon School when he came visiting in 1968 because he insisted on delivering his speech in Hindi and criticised the boys for shaking his hand instead of the greeting him with a ‘Namaste’.

For Desai, democracy and freedom of the people were paramount. During Emergency, he was kept under house arrest. Then Indira Gandhi sent an emissary with an offer to set all political prisoners free as long as they adhered to everything she had to say. He sent the follower back with the message, “Keep your offers. I will outlive you anyway.”

In 1977, when he became prime minister, India wasn’t growing at 8% nor did it have billions of dollars in reserves. But he managed to feed our people without them burning a hole in their pockets. He is remembered as the “person that made ration shops irrelevant.”

In 1978, his aircraft crashed in the forests of Assam. The pilots died on the spot, my grandfather Kantibhai’s leg was hanging by a few ligaments. After being rescued, he addressed the nation, attended parliament, and continued his work. A week later, my grandmother Padmaben saw that the left side of his chest was black and blue; his pen had pressed against his chest and cracked three ribs during the crash. He had told no one. He was 82 and still continued his work, unfazed.

Though building relations with neighbouring states was important, Morarjibhai would never compromise on the sovereignty and integrity of his nation. WikiLeaks cables have now revealed that when Morarjibhai spoke to an American official, he said, “If Pakistan has nuclear bombs, we will smash them!” and he truly meant it. Desai was not a soft prime minister, he was tough and everyone knew it. Yet, years after he had retired form politics, Pakistan honoured him with the ‘Nishan-e-Pakistan’, its highest civilian award. He was the first Indian to receive it.

The Janata Party had a clear mandate in 1977. Desai was India’s first non-Congress prime minister and who led a coalition government that, till then, was unprecedented. He resigned two and half years later insisting that he would not hold on to power by ‘any means necessary’ such as wooing defectors and resorting to undemocratic means. His office as PM did not matter, how best he could serve the country was more important. And holding on to a seat of power was against the principles he stood for.

In my eyes, his relevance in the evolution of Indian polity has become increasingly significant today. The values and principles he strived to uphold all his life  in the face of utmost adversities are the crying needs of our times. I realise today that Morarji Desai was more than just the prime minister of India.