Jottings - Slice of life - 341 ( T.N Seshan ( 1932 - 2019) - The man who epitomized and demonstrated the spirit and power of a public office in a democracy)

The Millennials of India may not know T. N. Seshan. It is possible that many were born just after the cataclysmic changes this daring civil servant brought to the Indian electoral system, the undaunted courage he displayed in encountering and altering the perception of what an Election really means in a democracy, and the seminal role he played in exposing the deeply entrenched arrogance and audacity of unrestrained political power. If the younger generation experienced a much more organized, sane and law-abiding election in 2019, it is so because this strict brahmin took it upon himself to reform and revise the way elections were run in India. Between the years of 1990 - 1996, T. N. Seshan was the rockstar of the Indian bureaucracy. As Election Commissioner, his name was splashed on the front pages of mainstream new papers, and almost every day Seshan's official actions or deliberate straight no-nonsense talk would provoke an angered politician to denounce him on the pulpit, or vociferously seek his dismissal. Seshan lived at the edge and threaded the eye of the needle as Election commissioner. During those years Seshan was also one of the most sought after speakers in all public forums. His Brahmanical style of speaking, the razor-sharp arguments, the integrity of his moral position would elevate and educate the thousands who thronged to listen to the portly man who wouldn’t mince words on issues of national importance. Seshan, almost single-handedly and against all odds, lifted the corrupt and highly rigged election machinery that had come to plague Indian democracy under the Congress and the coalition governments, to a state of relative decency and democratic decorum. The cleaned and refurbished electoral system we see today is to a large extent the legacy of Seshan.

India is the largest democracy in the world, and running a national election is a job of gargantuan proportions. Nearly a billion people vote over thirty-eight days in seven phases across a million polling stations manned by around twelve million election workers from the Federal and the State governments. Nearly a half a million polling booths in villages known for its vulnerable social and economic conditions, are marked as politically sensitive and monitored for unfair election practices. A whole range of transport mechanisms, on a war footing, has to be mobilized to move people to the polling stations including hundreds of trains and thousands of buses, cars and bullock carts. Hundreds of thousands of political miscreants and unruly elements of society have to be taken into preventive custody. On a daily basis the expenditure books of political candidates have to be scrutinized with a hawk’s eye to prevent misuse and bribery, and steady flow of information from the field to the top echelons of election management must be streamlined, ensure the quick decisions are taken on the legitimacy of the poll, or to determine the legality of the candidate. In no other country do elections pose such a daunting task than India. The sheer diversity of the country, the congenital ignorance of laws, appalling negligence in education, the dishonesty and farce of politicians and the insatiable greed for political office, makes the entire election process intricate, extensive and almost impossible to manage with precise efficiency. Understanding the gravity of the electioneering mechanism, the Indian constitution provided for the Election commission to manage this quinquennial drama, and the Election commissioner as its commander-in-chief of the operations. On paper, no doubt, the role of the Election commissioner is an extremely powerful role, with the entire government machinery at his disposal, and the incumbent empowered to make unbiased decisions; but in reality, the commission had over course of time, become a titular organization headed by men who had completed the primetime of their careers, and sought appointment to the post of an election commissioner as a figurehead, instructed by their sponsoring masters only to manage the logistics of the election, and turn a blind eye to the spirit of it. But a democracy cannot sustain without meaningful elections. A free, equal, and egalitarian election is the backbone of a mature democracy, and in the early 1990s India was ripe for an electoral reformation, and as always, history throws up the right man at the right time to do the job. T. N. Seshan, forged in the fire of the Indian administrative service, tempered in the political atmosphere of the times, and hot from key cabinet positions in the national government - was ready to inject discipline, rigor, and freshness into the drooping Indian electoral system.

Seshan was born in 1932 and spent his childhood and teenage in Palghat-a beautiful, quiet town at the border of Kerala and Tamilnadu. Both Malayalam and Tamil are official languages there, with Malayalam taking precedence. The term Palghat brahmins usually refer to a group of Tamil Brahmins who speak a unique dialect of their mother tongue with an accent and syntax that leaned perilously close to Malayalam. It is easy to caricature people from this region in audio-visual arts; all that the characters have to say is “ ohh’” with a short or long inflection at the end, and the audience would gasp in recognition of a Palghat brahmin. Seshan was the last of the six siblings. Both his schooling and college education were done in Christian institutions; which perhaps contributed to his good grasp of the English language and life long love of literature. In the early days of Indian independence, it was the dream of every educated Indian to join the Indian Administrative Service ( IAS). In the absence of elite engineering colleges and not many other options, and the urgent need for a strong administrative cadre to manage this vast country, the best of the young minds were encouraged to drift towards a professional career in the government. It must have been good to be in the Indian administrative service those days when the republic was new, freedom and progress in the air and the future incandescent with potential. Seshan has no problems getting into the civil service. However, his progression in the administrative cadre was not spectacular by any measure. During the initial twenty years, it was the regular journey from an apprentice administrator to the assistant collector to head of a few governmental agencies, to the secretary of the Atomic energy commission in 1969. The Seshan during those years was just another bureaucrat doing his job well and efficiently, with no indication of the fiery temperament and idealistic zeal he would later manifest.

It was in the late 1970s that Seshan shed off the image of a docile officer, and began asserting his individuality. he held a number of postings in quick succession, and all of them invariably ended with the difference of opinion with the leaders. He incessantly moved from one city to another. It was becoming clear that Seshan was trouble anywhere, but there was no denying that he was good at the job and challenging responsibilities kept coming his way. In 1989, he was given the highest post a civil servant can hold - the 18th Cabinet secretary of the Indian Republic. In 1990, the coalition government under Prime minister Chandrasekhar appointed Seshan as the Election commissioner. A momentous decision, and one that would change the professional trajectory of Seshan’s life forever. Before his tenure ended in 1996, Seshan would become a household name, and his role embodied all that was best in the civil service. He was determined to clean the electoral system, and the measures he sometimes took were drastic and exaggerated. Seshan crossed swords with ministers, parliamentarians, police, rigid bureaucracy and even the prime minister himself. But sometimes such theatrics are required to rouse a nation from its somnambulistic behavior. He created a code of conduct fo elections, mercilessly pursued politicians who took advantage of money and power to sway voters, unsympathetically debarred candidates with criminal records from contesting no matter where the pressure came from, and above all, Seshan ensured that the colossal election machinery and the millions who ran it were given the dignity and respect it deserved in the largest democracy in the world. That is no mean task for an individual.

After retirement, Seshan more or less disappeared from public life. He had lived and worked enough in those six years to last for a lifetime and more. Apart from the occasional lectures, and heading committees and trusts, he settled down in Chennai with his wife. The couple had no children, but the love of the nation more than compensated for this inadequacy. It is interesting to note that Sreedharan - the man behind the metros in India, and Seshan are both from Palghat, studied in the same school, but parted ways in college. In temperament, integrity and work ethic, both share the same gene. Relentless in their convictions, and unsparing in upholding the dignity of public service, and men of great personal discipline. Perhaps, the soil of Palghat has something unique about it that two such worthy sons rose from it. Seshan’s beloved wife of sixty years, Jayalakhshmi Seshan passed away last year, and a year later Seshan will be laid to rest.

In 1996, Seshan won the Ramon Magsaysay award for his contribution in revitalizing the electoral system. During an interview, shortly after that he nonchalantly commented and I paraphrase “ I had never conducted an election in my career. During my tenure, I went with two principles: zero delays and zero deficiency. These were the only two guiding factors I was interested in implementing as best as I can”.

God bless...

yours in mortality,

Bala