Yashwant Sinha - Relentless: An Autobiography

RELENTLESS

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

RELENTLESS

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Yashwant Sinha

BLOOMSBURY INDIA

Bloomsbury Publishing India Pvt. Ltd

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First published in India 2019

This edition published 2019

Copyright Yashwant Sinha 2019

Pictures Yashwant Sinha 2019

Yashwant Sinha has asserted his right under the Indian Copyright Act to be identified as the Author of this work

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ISBN: HB: 978-9-3869-5035-2; eBook: 978-9-3869-5036-9

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I really had no desire or plan to write an autobiography. Some time ago, however, I was approached by Rajiv Beri of Bloomsbury to take up the task. I was reluctant at first, but then we started discussing some of the events in my life over a cup of tea, its twists and turns and ups and downs. Rajiv Beri felt that they were interesting enough to merit a book. So, it was agreed that I would undertake the task of writing my autobiography, and soon the necessary arrangements were put in place by Bloomsbury. Thus began yet another journey, which also had its twists and turns like much of my life. Slowly but surely the book started to take shape and here it is.

My thanks, therefore, are due, first of all, to Rajiv Beri and his distinguished colleague Praveen Tiwari of Bloomsbury for planting the seed of this idea, and also for holding my hand throughout this exercise. I am also grateful to them for providing the necessary secretarial assistance through Satya Misra without whom this book may not have seen the light of day. The editor of the book, Preeti Singh, deserves my very special thanks for working painstakingly on the manuscript, giving me valuable advice, doing research on critical issues, especially where my memory failed me, and encouraging me to include incidents and events from my life that came up during our discussions.

And last but not the least is the contribution of my wife, Nilima, an author herself and, in this case, almost the co-author of the book, its in-house editor, a critical but willing adviser and an equal partner in crime.

My children Sharmila, Jayant and Sumant and their respective spouses Ashok, Punita and Vaishali have been forthcoming with their advice and suggestions whenever we approached them for their counsel or information on specific issues or incidents. Our grandchildren Rishabh, Devansh, Tarushi, Aashir and Sidhhant have all been a great help with their comments, criticism, linguistic advice and plenty of encouragement whenever needed. My grateful thanks to all of them. I hope my lifes tale will be of interest to them.

CONTENTS

I t was a cold evening in faraway Narsinghpur, a district town in Madhya Pradesh. I shivered as I sat on a wooden chowki under the open sky. As the sun set, and the evening progressed, the weather turned colder. I pulled the blanket tighter around me.

The evening soon turned into night and the cold intensified further. I covered myself with yet another blanket. Hunger began to gnaw at my stomach and I looked up, my eyes pleading for something to eat. I must have looked no different from one of the beggars that one sees on the streets of India, as someone put a roti with some vegetables on it in my outstretched hand.

Here was a former collector, sitting on dharna in front of the present collectors office with a crowd of farmers. A former finance minister was away from Delhi for the first time in two decades on Budget day. What a strange sight it must have been in Narsinghpur that dayon the first of February 2018.

I wondered what would life have been like for me had I stayed back in Delhi that day and not come to Narsinghpur?