 "'How Prime Ministers Decide?' I A sex scandal and Indira Gandhi's comeback saga")
How the country’s first sex scandal involving the son of a top politician came as a bonanza for a beleaguered Indira Gandhi, out of power in 1978, helping her to stage a great comeback. Indira was reportedly woken up at past midnight by her son Sanjay, shown a sleazy set of 15 photographs that subsequently triggered a chain reaction resulting in the downfall of the Morarji Desai government. Neerja Chowdhury, an award-winning journalist, columnist, and political commentator, in her yet to be released How Prime Ministers Decide? [Aleph Book Company] has given a graphic account of a sex scam involving Suresh Ram, the then defence minister Jagjivan Ram’s son. Explicit photographs of Jagjivan Ram’s 40-year-old married son Suresh Ram and his amorous mistress, a teenager then, Sushma Chaudhury indulging in lively flagrante delicto sexual acrobatics had reached Indira thanks to liquor boron Brigadier Kapil Mohan. The Indian Territorial Army Major then, Kapil Mohan had earlier served as a full-time director in Sanjay’s pet Maruti car project and even brought industrialist Sitaram Singhania to invest in Maruti on the basis of the balance sheet that Singhania found investment prospects to be good. The author, relying on some sources, who has incidentally turned hostile to the present-day Congress, gives a vivid account of what had transpired after the “nefarious activities” of Suresh Ram, shot with a ‘Polaroid camera’ reached to Sanjay Gandhi at 12, Willingdon Crescent. The source’s account, who surprisingly has amazing and photographic memories of the events that occurred 45 years even now, is reproduced by the author verbatim. Sample this: Sanjay was woken up around 1 am. “‘Yeh koi aane ka waqt hai (Is this a time to come)?,’ he fumed. ‘I told him about the accident and handed him the photographs.’ He looked at them, ‘Tu kya mujhe pornography dikhane aaya hai (Have you come to show me pornography)?’ ‘Yeh pornography nahin hai, yeh Suresh Ram hai (This is not pornography; this is Suresh Ram).” Interestingly, the FIR Suresh Ram filed on the fateful day of 21 August, 1978 at the Kashmere Gate police station, tells a different story. Suresh had alleged that he had been kidnapped the night before (20 August 1978) by a dozen hefty men. “Apparently, his Mercedes Benz had been followed by two taxis in New Delhi. When they reached a lonely spot near Nigambodh Ghat, his pursuers overtook him, forced him to stop the car, jumped out and whipped out their revolvers. They opened the door of the car, and made the young woman sit at the back. They forced Ram to drive to Modinagar; and he and the woman were taken to a room inside a school. They asked Ram to sign blank papers. When he refused, they beat him up until he lost consciousness. They were told they had both been photographed in compromising positions,” Neerja writes while giving the ‘other version’.
Seasoned Neerja Chowdhury, in her narrative, leans more on maverick leader Raj Narain and his associate Om Pal Singh’s account which claims that they found photos in the glove compartment of Suresh Ram’s Mercedes Benz at the Western Court. Raj Narain, himself a minister in Desai cabinet then, had turned against the prime minister and his ministerial colleague Jagjivan Ram who was seen as ‘number two’ and a possible successor to Desai. The sex scandal, however, sealed Jagjivan Ram’s fate and the towering Dalit leader missed the chance of becoming prime minister when Desai was unseated. Going by Neejra Chowdhury’s account, a desperate Jagjivan Ram had even made an effort to buy peace with Raj Narain. “The meeting was arranged by Kapil Mohan at his house. Though Kapil was close to Indira Gandhi, he had equally good relations with Ram, and others across the political spectrum. Suresh Ram would visit him, as would Kanti Desai, Morarji Desai’s son,” explains Neerja before tilting towards the tell-tale source’s running, first person commentary and eidetic memory, “That night, ‘Babuji Raj Narain ko manane aaye thae (Jagjivan Ram arrived to try and bring Raj Narain around).” Jagjivan Ram’s attempts to strike a bargain with Narain failed. After 20 minutes,’ When the defence minister left dejectedly, Raj Narain reportedly quipped gleefully, “‘Aaj yeh kaboo maen ayae (Today he has been caught out), ’ adding, “Babu Jagjivan Ram offered me anything I want—money, CMship of a state, anything at all in return for the photographs.’ Apparently Jagjivan Ram also told him, ‘Mein PM banane wala hoon, kisi ko mantri banana ho toh batana (I am going to become PM soon, let me know if you want anyone made minister),’ Despite all the blandishments offered by Jagjivan Ram, no deal was struck between him and Narain. Neerja Chowdhury concludes the scandalous episode narrating how the next morning (on 22 August 1978) the phone rang at 2, Telegraph Lane, the home of Krishan Kant, who was then a Janata Party MP. It was 9 am. “The family was sitting at the dining table having breakfast. The phone was in Kant’s bedroom and he went there to answer it. The call was from the defence minister’s residence. When he returned to the dining room he remarked, ‘Ek aur bete nae apne baap ko duba diya (One more son is the undoing of his father).’ The writer is a Visiting Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation. A well-known political analyst, he has written several books, including ‘24 Akbar Road’ and ‘Sonia: A Biography’. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .