Books | The Need to Survive And Triumph Politically, to Wrest Power or to Retain it, Have Been Strong Driving Forces of Decision-Making at the Top

Neerja Chowdhury, author of How Prime Ministers Decide

What prompted this book? Did you visualize it as a record of India’s contemporary history?

During the years when I was writing on Indian politics, which included writing about prime ministers, I realised that the real story about how they made decisions did not come out—the pulls and pressures they were subjected to, the machinations and manipulations that went on behind the scenes, the backstabbing—though often there were also flashes of wisdom. This was a story that needed to be told.

What was the process of conceptualization? Since the book is based on not only your own observations/ interactions, but interviews with others, how did you decide which aspects to include and what to exclude?

I decided to scrutinize specific decisions by six prime ministers—decisions whose impact had lasted beyond the term of the prime ministers. In the case of Indira Gandhi, for instance, I decided not to look at the creation of Bangladesh or the Emergency for a lot had been written about them. I decided to look at why Indira Gandhi went in for elections in 1977—when there was no compelling reasons for her to do so, for she seemed to be on top of the situation. This is a subject which continues to tantalise analysts even today. Did Nehru’s daughter overpower Sanjay (Gandhi’s) mother? Or were there other factors at play—which I have looked at.

I was also fascinated by how Indira Gandhi bounced back to power only after 33 months after the rout of the Congress party in 1977—winning over her arch opponent Raj Narain to her side, neutralising Jayaprakash Narayan, who led the Bihar movement for total revolution and who had called for her resignation, marginalising Babu Jagjivan Ram who could have stopped her march back to power. And how she Hinduised her persona and politics (even reaching out to the RSS)—to offset the loss of support of the minorities to the Congress during the Emergency.

As I have said, I chose to look at decisions which had a long-term impact on society and the country’s politics.

Since you have written with the benefit of hindsight, were your personal opinions already formed before you approached the subject, or did you make new discoveries when you commenced work on the book?

Of course, I had my personal opinions. But I trie