'Every Government Bugs Rashtrapati Bhawan'

The relations between Giani Zail Singh and Indira Gandhi had started turning sour right from the day Zail Singh occupied Rashtrapati Bhawan. Perhaps, Zail Singh was waiting for this day and he started exerting pressure on the Government to act on his advice at least in the matter of Punjab, which for Indira Gandhi was very difficult. 

There is a tradition that whenever the President goes on a foreign tour, the Prime Minister goes to the airport to see off the President and timings for arrival of President and the Prime Minister are fixed keeping in view that the Prime Minister does not have to wait for the President to arrive, for long, not more than five minutes or so. But in the case of Zail Singh, he started arriving at the airport late deliberately every time he had to go out of the country, so that the Prime Minister kept waiting for him. This was very irritating for Indira Gandhi and she knew that Zail Singh was doing it deliberately. Even during their meetings at the airport, many a times, Zail Singh used to make it a point to show a cold shoulder to Indira Gandhi. 

As Dr. P.C. Alexander, her then Principal Secretary, has mentioned in his book Through Corridors of Power, an incident noticed by many including Dr. Alexander of 22 October 1984, when Zail Singh was going to Mauritius, only nine days before her assassination. Indira Gandhi had broached the subject with Zail Singh about his changed attitude and she wanted to discuss with him, to which Zail Singh had said he too was unhappy which he would like to discuss with her if "I come back alive." This only shows the height of the differences which the two had reached, for which Zail Singh was more responsible than Indira Gandhi.

Soon after Operation Blue Star, one day Giani Zail Singh rang me up and asked me to see him urgently. In fact, for some time, I had been avoiding him because the way he was destroying Punjab and encouraging all sorts of elements. I was reluctant to go but on his pleadings, I went to the Rashtrapati Bhawan to meet him. I was escorted to the first floor of his family suites, where we had a long chat. He was very apprehensive for his personal security. I told him as President of the country, he had plenty of security cordon for himself and nobody can come near the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Moreover, he was the Supreme Commander of the Army and he is protected by the army also. He was again and again looking towards the fan, fearing the room might be bugged, which in fact was and I came to know of it only later that day. I told him that he was made President of the country by Indira Gandhi ignoring all the opposition. So why was he fighting with her? I said that if he thought by pressuring her, he could have a deal with her to have second term, he was mistaken. He will not get that because he had already become very controversial. I advised him to have good relations with her and seek her help in getting some land for a farm house, where he should settle down and all the politicians will come to him to seek his advice. He will become an elder-statesman. 

Those days I was writing for the Indian Express and I used to go to the PMO and meet Dr. P.C. Alexander, almost once a week. I never went to anybody else's room. I used to ring up Dr. Alexander's PA and fix the time for the meeting before going. I had never gone there without appointment. When I returned from the Rashtrapati Bhawan, a little later I got a call from Dr. Alexander's office and he spoke to me and said: "How is it that we have not met for a long time? I said we met just two days ago, his reply was, "That is too long a period; why don't you come today at 3 p.m. for a cup of tea with me?" I agreed and the moment I entered his room, he stood up and said: "Hats off to the man who can talk to the President of India in this language. He said, "You are a friend and I would not hide: I want to tell you that I have full tape of your conversation with the President." He said nobody had ever talked to the President in this language, and asked what prompted me to talk like this. I was taken aback and I understood that Rashtrapati Bhawan is bugged and whatever the denials by the Government, every Government keeps an eye on the functioning of the Rashtrapati Bhawan and most of the staff at junior level for service, etc. is always from the Intelligence Bureau. 

Zail Singh as Home Minister knew all this and then IB Director, TV Rajeshwar, was his trusted man. Since those days, I was writing on sensitive matters, like terrorism and the Home Ministry, I knew that for a long time my own telephone was put under observation and I used to be very careful in talking on the phone, especially more to protect my sources of information in the Home Ministry and at other political level. Initially, Dr. Alexander's disclosure that he had full report of my talk with the President had shocked me but later on I realised that every government has been doing this. Even Zail Singh was always apprehensive that his rooms were bugged and generally, he would talk on sensitive issues either in a corner of his study or take the visitor to the gardens. I had noticed this a number of times.

This portion has been extracted from G S Chawla's Bloodshed in Punjab with permission from Har-Anand Publications. Another extract from the book will be published on February 06, 2016.