It is always tempting to extol one’s own virtues or achievements. But that is the problem when one attempts to write his or her autobiography, the story of his or life. Because, ultimately the autobiography will be judged by whether the author has attempted a self-appraisal or indulged in a little self-praise. Autobiography is really a story about the author, but not for the author.
Writing an autobiography is a delicate balance act. The autobiographer has to choose between being boastful and being modest. Excess of each may diminish the value of the work. While an autobiography presents an excellent opportunity to tell one’s story, explain one’s decision, and advocate one’s ideals, all this must be seen as authentic with the words used and emotions displayed to the readers.
Viewed thus, the autobiographer’s challenge becomes all the more formidable when one happens to be a political leader. And that explains why of the three famous Indian leaders who wrote their autobiographies - “The Story of My Experiments with Truth” by Mahatma Gandhi; “Autobiography” by Jawaharlal Nehru ; and the 20-page “Waiting for a Visa” by B. R. Ambedkar – people only remember the one by Gandhi.
Therefore, it must have been a really challenging task on the part of Biswabhusan Harichandan, Governor of Chhattisgarh, while writing his 356-page autobiography, “Battle Not Yet Over “( Pralek Prakashan, 2023, Rs. 499). He wrote it in mother tongue Odia, but Dr. Bhagaban Jaysingh has translated it into English very aptly.
Harichandan has done a wonderful job. His content is rich, language simple and style of presentation excellent.
Harichandan has been an astute and articulate leader of Odisha. He was elected to Odisha Assembly five times between 1977 and 2009. He held positions of immense political importance such as the founder of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state. He was Cabinet Minister for four successive terms till 2009.He had held portfolios such as Law, Food and Civil Supply, revenue, Rural development, Labour, Housing and Employment, Industries, Animal Resources Development and Fisheries and Cultural Affairs. He served as Governor Andhra Pradesh before being transferred to Chhattisgarh.
Harichandan belonged to a family whose ancestors were great warriors. And that made him decide to join the Indian Army soon after his matriculation. And he was selected. His father, who had a great influence on his life, also supported his decision, though his mother was in no mood to see her son joining the Army. And she played a trick; she went to her mother-in-law to order her son (Harichandan’s father) to stop “Bishy” and arrange his higher studies.
What was Army’s loss proved to be the gain of Odisha politics. His political career in a way started in his college at Puri when as a student he became a part of the state-wide protests against then Congress government headed by Nabakrushna Choudhury agreeing to the recommendations of the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) in 1956 that allowed the “annexation” of Sadheikala and Kharasuan, the two Odia-speaking tracts in to the then undivided Bihar (now parts of Jharkhand. And this after the Chief Minister Choudhuri had threatened earlier to reign along with all his ministers in case Sadheikala and Kharsuan did not become part of Odisha. That he later succumbed to the central government’s pressure fuelled the fire of agitation that engulfed every nook and corner of the state.
Harichandan entered into active politics only during his practice as a young but promising lawyer in the Odisha High Court. Here he was inspired by his senior Dayasagara Nanda, then President of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. He joined the party in 1971, thus becoming a lawyer cum politician, a trend most noticeable in India. In fact, politicians with legal backgrounds have achieved wonders in India. Examples are aplenty – From Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and Ambedkar to modern day’s Arun Jaitley, Ram Jethmalani, P C Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal.
Harichandan has described eloquently his political journey through the Jayaprakash Narayan -led agitation in the 1970s, emergency during which he was imprisoned, the Janata party under whose government in the state he became a Cabinet minister, Bharatiya Janata Party, Janata Dal, and second but continuing stint in the BJP.
As I have said before, a good autobiographer is not the one who glorifies his role but admits his mistakes. And Harichandan has done this in his autobiography. He says he quit the BJP in late 1980s because of emotional outbursts just because he was felt insulted by two senior BJP leaders Keshubahi Thakre and Sundersingh Bhandari in the aftermath of the end of his second term as BJP President of the state. Of course, here, late Biju Patnaik, Odisha’s tallest leader so far, played the trick by saying that Harichandan should join him to serve the state which has always been neglected by every national leader, party and government. For Harichandan, it was a mistake though BJP always remained in his “heart”.
Harichandan has devoted considerable pages in describing his relationship with Biju Patnaik. It was a complicated relationship, of both love and hate. But it seems there was tremendous mutual respect between the two. Patnaik, even when opposed to the ideas of Harichandan (the converse was also the case), always supported Harichandan at the end. So much so that when Patnaik left the Janata Dal and sided with the rebel leader Charan Singh’s Janata(S), resulting in the change the state government’s nomenclature, Patnaik requested Harichandan to continue as the Minister even as the Janata Party member! That Harichandan did not keep his request and resigned is a different matter, though he had the opportunity of working later in the Biju Patnaik-led government in the early 1990s.
In his autobiography, Harichandan has revealed something that is perhaps not well-known. At least, it was news to me. According to him, after Biju Patnaik’s death , he ( he had returned to the BJP then ) had talked with many senior leaders of Patnaik’s party like former chief minister Nilamani Routray and the agreement was that the late leader’s party would merge with the BJP led by Atal Behari Vajpayee and L K Advani. Harichandan had apparently asked late Pramod Mahajan , who had come to Odisha to analyse the political situation, to convey this agreement to Vajpayee and Advani.
Whether Mahajan did this or not on his return to Delhi is not known, but Harichandan was disappointed to know the public announcement that the BJP central leadership has decided to have an electoral alliance with newly formed and Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal. Though he has not written so in clear words, it is obvious from the tenor of his writing that he was not exactly happy with serving under “inexperienced” and a rank junior Naveen as a minister for nine long years.
One conclusion of Harichandan in his autobiography will always remain debatable. Harichandan cannot accept his defeat in the 2009 Assembly poll, which proved to be his electoral waterloo. He never contested elections after that, to the best of my knowledge. Harichandan strongly believes that the state bureaucracy under Naveen tampered with the EVMs to ensure his defeat but also manage the “unimaginable” victory of the BJD.
But then , as we have been assured by the Election Commission of India time and again that EVMs cannot be hampered; in fact it threw challenges to political parties to prove publicly hampering the machine. No party came to take the challenge.
Overall, however, the autobiography is a superb reading. Few can dispute Harichandan’s nationalism and his simultaneous love for and commitment to the development of Odisha. The very fact that he has named the autobiography as “Battle not Over” means that he will continue his battle for protecting India’s fame and Odisha’s pride till his last breath.
By Prakash Nanda
(prakash.nanda@hotmail.com)
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