My kites, my memories
(On birth and death anniversaries of N D Tiwari)
I grew up hearing many gossips about Congress stalwart late N D Tiwari from my father and others. But one big thing that was often said about Tiwari was that he used all his skills to please Sanjay Gandhi. A day after Tiwari died on his birthday at a Delhi hospital, I again read the same news about Tiwari’s sycophancy in a national daily (October 19, 2018) on page 3. “How can a big newspaper write such thing about a tall Congress leader like Tiwari,?” I murmured to myself.
Before coming to Dehradun, I only knew few things about Tiwari. Being a three times chief minister of undivided Uttar Pradesh was a big tag of Tiwari. Yes of course, he had held key portfolios of external affair ministry, finance and industry when he was the union minister for several occasions. And also the plum post of the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.
I will not hesitate to admit that my image of Tiwari was that of the sycophant of the Gandhi family only till my stint as a PTI correspondent began in Dehradun. I first saw him at the house of late Manorama Sharma Dobiryal just few months before the 2002 assembly elections. He remained quiet in the interaction with reporters. My colleague Akif Kazmi, who was then working in the Indian Express, was annoyed when Tiwari did not say anything against the BJP government in Uttarakhand headed by B S Koshiyari. “He is vey smart,” Kazmi commented after the interaction with Tiwari was over.
But in the run-up to the first assembly election in the hill state, I was quite sure that BJP will manage to come back mainly because it was being credited for the formation of the hill state. The initial results also indicated that BJP might bounce back. Harish Rawat, who was then the PCC chief, also conceded defeat few hours before the final result. But we at the PTI were not too sure what Rawat had just stated on a TV channel. I along with my wife Deepti waited for some more time at our office before the last shocking results tilted the balance in favour of Congress. By the afternoon, it was all clear that Congress with 36 seats in the 70-member house will form the new government. I rushed to congratulate Rawat and take his reaction. But I got a phone call from Delhi which suggested that N D Tiwari might be a surprise choice of the high command to head the new Congress government in the state.
I could not contact Rawat. And when we heard that Tiwari was indeed the new choice, the mood at the state Congress headquarters at Rajpur Road turned somber. Lal Chand Sharma and his supporters began burning effigies of Tiwari. A majority of the newly elected MLAs also gathered to vent ire against Tiwari’s nomination. But the high command remained defiant and Tiwari took oath at A M N Ghosh auditorium of the ONGC headquarters.
After two days, I got a surprise phone call on my landline number from Tiwari in the morning. “Mein Narayan Dutt Tiwari bol raha hun (I am N D Tiwari),” said the man from the other end. Initially I thought someone was playing a prank. But it was only Tiwari, who praised me for my writing skills also. “But where did he see my stories?”, I wondered.
After few days, we met Tiwari in a delegation at his newly constructed CM house (now demolished) at Cant Road. I could not resist myself to ask Tiwari about his achievements of the past. As soon as I asked the question, Tiwari looked at me very carefully with a serious glance. Holding his specs, he said “Maharaj NOIDA to aapne banaya hai (Mr you may have developed NOIDA).” The answer of Tiwari really stunned me. “Tiwari ji, it was you who developed such a vibrant city,” I said immediately. “Han, yeh NOIDA to aapne hi banaya hai (Yes, This NOIDA was indeed developed by you),” Tiwari again retorted. Thereafter, I kept quiet. I thought may be for this reason he is often called “Vikas Purush”.
One day senior journalist Jay Singh Rawat took a journalist delegation to meet Tiwari to seek a solution of the problem that he faced with the construction of his new house near Vidhan Sabha-Defence Colony area. When Tiwari came, Rawat promptly handed over the application to him. Tiwari in turn quietly handed over the application to his OSD Aryander Sharma. This was a unique Tiwari style to redress the complaint. But I took the application back from Sharma and gave it again to Rawat. “We all came for seeking immediate relief. So you please handover this application again to Tiwari ji” I told Rawat. At this point, Rawat also agreed and handed over it again to Tiwari. At this stage, Tiwari wrote something on the application. “Can be done through the media policy,” Tiwari wrote on the application. I strongly objected to this. “There is no such media policy in Uttarakhand sir. If there is any policy, we are not aware of it,” I said loudly.
Tiwari looked at me and said “then what can be done”. I said “sir you can either say yes or no to this application. If you want that Jay SIngh Rawat’s complaint should be addressed, then please write accordingly. Otherwise you can reject it also,” I again pleaded with Tiwari. At this point, Tiwari started fuming. Congress leader S P Singh, who was standing nearby in the hall, became the target of Tiwari’s wrath. “S P Singh, don’t waste your time in my residence. Please leave this place,” Tiwari yelled angrily. But I again asked Tiwari to look into the application of Rawat. Tiwari grabbed the application from my hand and immediately ordered its redressal. Thus the matter ended.
Once we went to Tiwari’s house around 11 PM for an official work of one my colleagues. I was told by Sharma that Tiwari is busy in his bedroom. I said “we will wait.” After nearly half an hour, a woman journalist came out of Tiwari’s bedroom which really shocked me. After sometime, I heard that this journalist also managed to get personal favours in terms of a business deal with the government.
In 2009, I went to Rudrapur in Kumaon region to cover a Nestle factory strike by its employees. During my stay there, I also talked to lots of stakeholders mostly factory owners and shopkeepers at Rudrapur. All the people whom I talked were of high praise of Tiwari. They all said whatever the development has taken place in these areas, the credit they gave to Tiwari only. So in other words, Tiwari was the undisputed leader of Kumaon region especially the Terai area of Udhamsingh and Nainital district.
During those days, Bajaj Auto owner Rahul Bajaj, while speaking at Yoga Guru Ram Dev’s function at Haridwar, said he had set up the factory at Pantnagar solely on the request of Tiwari. “Tiwari ji once rang me up to say that I should also set up a factory in Uttarakhand. I simply couldn’t say no (no) to Tiwari and immediately set up the motorbike factory at Pantnagar,” said Bajaj. I was told that Ratan Tata also set up a factory at Pantnagar on the personal request of Tiwari.
There are numerous more such incidents which I am privy to. But the main ones had been covered in this piece.
P.S. How can you forget “Nauchami Narayan” song of popular Garhwali singer Narendra Singh Negi which was a political satire on the government of N D Tiwari and became a rage at that time. Ends