BENGALURU : A common statement you may hear if you mention V K Krishna Menon’s name would be something like: ‘The man responsible for India’s loss to China in 1962’. But with his new book, politician Jairam Ramesh sets out to present the former defence minister, or as he refers to him – “the most consequential, controversial and compelling Indian political figure” – in all his multiple colours. “I didn’t want to present him as a hero or a khalnayak,” Ramesh, a Congressman and Rajya Sabha MP, tells CE, during the launch of his book, which took place at Takshashila Institution.
Titled A Chequered Brilliance: The Many Lives of VK Krishna Menon, the book, insists Ramesh, is a narrative biography and not a judgmental one. Explaining how there’s more to Menon than the happenings of 1962, he adds, “He wasn’t the only one responsible for the outcome. The military leadership was equally at fault, but Menon had to take the heat because if he didn’t, Nehru would have to.”
According to Ramesh, Menon played an integral role before and after 1947, but perhaps his most important one was that of a confidante, ally and soulmate of Nehru. “He left behind 60,000 pages of letters, notes and memos. In the letters I quote, Nehru really bares his soul, his thoughts, fears, impressions of people, to Menon. He even wrote about Indira or ‘Indu’ and Feroze. They wrote to each other about everything under the sun,” explains Ramesh.
While research for this book began in October 2018, these letters weren’t made public until February this year. “I spent six hours a day, five times a week, from February till July at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library to go over the letters. If the library was open during the weekends, I’d spend those two days there as well,” he says. The 744-paged book took only three months to write. Or as Ramesh likes to say, “Thanks to Mr Modi, I have a lot of time.”
‘CAA is fundamentally unconstitutional’
When asked about his views on NRC and CAA, Ramesh firmly says, “CAA is fundamentally unconstitutional and NRC would be a disaster that would make many demands of the poor and migrant sections of our society to produce documentation to prove their Indian citizenship.” According to him, these issues are merely ways to polarise society and divert attention from real issues: Low growth and high inflation. “In Assam, over 19 lakh people found themselves to not be on the register.
What will the government do? We don’t even have an extradition treaty with Pakistan or Bangladesh,” he adds. Speaking about the ongoing protests in the country, Ramesh says, “It should remain unorganised. Let it be spontaneous upsurge of intellectuals, students, farmers, women and people’s anger. The moment political parties come in, it will be a case of death.”