Zail Singh Quotes

Being able to stand up to injustice throughout once life, in the midst of great social change and upheaval, requires a robust and unconquerable spirit. One president of modern India had such spirit in ample measure. In his life time he challenged feudal princely power and foreign domination, and fought against communalism and social injustice. He was recognized as a learned and aristocratic personality but was also someone who was completely unassuming and a friend of the poor and downtrodden. He successfully combined as all these exceptional qualities

He was a close political confidant of Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister from 1966-77 and 1980-84, who engineered his selection as President by the electoral college. Critics said this was a result of what they called his sycophancy, but the move was more widely seen as an attempt to calm Sikh militancy in Punjab.

He was a very strong man and he could fight his own battles, but the Operation Bluestar was one that shook him and brought tears to his eyes. Four days after Operation Bluestar, when he visited Golden Temple and Akal Takhat Sahib, he came back devastated and in deep anguish. He was shaken by the damage caused to the sanctum sanctorum.

At one stage, Venkataraman had agreed to become prime minister but he never told me this directly.... Once the news of his being in touch with the dissidents was leaked out, he was offered the presidency and that was the end of it.

He [Rajiv Gandhi] reacted in a lukewarm manner, saying that he was reviewing the situation. Ultimately, the army was called in but told not to open fire.

All I could do was to ask the prime minister of the country not to allow the blood of innocents be spilled for the crime committed by two misguided security men.

He refutes as a canard, the allegation made by two BBC men in their book that it was he who had brought Bhindranwale to the political centre stage. Another "fantastic lie", spread by his detractors was that he had touched Bhindranwale's feet. He attributes all this calumny to Darbara Singh.

In a dramatic move, he withheld his consent to a Bill to amend the Indian Postal Act of 1898, saying that it was too sweeping in its scope. He felt that the Government wanted arbitrary powers to intercept postal communications indiscriminately. This created a big sensation and memories of Indira Gandhi's infamous Emergency were revived. Obviously, the President was hitting Rajiv Gandhi where it would hurt most.

Darabara Singh blamed him [when he was Home Minister] for encouraging Sikh religious leader, Jarnail Singh Bindranwale, in his militant activities. … Darbara Singh said that when Bindranwwale had visited Delhi with his gun totting supporters, arrangements were made to arrest him on the national highway on his way back to Punjab, but he [Zail Singh] as Union Home Minister, cancelled these orders.

He named Gandhi’s son, Rajiv, to succeed her, but he soon fell out of favour with the new prime minister. He further inflamed the government by refusing to sign into law a 1987 bill permitting official censorship of private mail.

Dissent was not a crime but the opposition must appreciate the good actions of the government. Politicians and politics without principles is poison. Casteism, regional chauvinism, communalism and the custom of dowry were the greatest enemy of welfare and progress of the country.

In anguish, I asked the prime minister what our intelligence agencies were doing all these months when the arms build-up was going on. And why action had not been taken to apprehend Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the extremist leader. I asked her if any police officer had been taken to task for negligence of duty in allowing terrorists to smuggle arms into the temple [Golden temple, Amritsar] for almost two years. She had obviously no plausible answer. With a distant look in her eyes, she replied feebly that it was the duty of the Punjab government to take care of these aspects.

The year 1984 was the most painful year for my father. He was deeply hurt both by Operation Blue Star and the anti-sikh riots. His agony was that despite being the supreme commander of Indian defense forces, he was neither consulted before Operation Blue Star nor could he, in spite of his best efforts, stop the riots against innocent Sikhs.

I am not in the habit of making forecasts; but when I do I am usually right. I forecast that he will be the most popular President that India had so far. He is first Sikh, the first Punjabi, and the first person belonging to the backward classes to occupy Rashtrapathi Bhavan.

No one actually brought me any money. But there were many commitments made...Chandraswami said he knows some Sultan. He wanted me to contest for the second time. Somehow, this fellow had a dislike for Rajiv perhaps because Rajiv refused to encourage him.