'My Interview Was On Day Emergency Was Revoked': Jaishankar Recalls UPSC Journey

New Delhi, Jul 20 (PTI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday reminisced about his entry into the civil services, saying his UPSC interview in Delhi took place on March 21, 1977 -- the day the Emergency was lifted.

"(1977) Election results were coming from the previous day... The sense of the defeat of the Emergency rule was coming into understanding. In a way, that is what got me through the interview," he said in his address at an event here.

Walking down memory lane, Jaishankar, then 22, said he had returned from the interview with two key takeaways -- the significance of communication under pressure and that important people may be living in a "bubble".

In his address to a gathering of the fresh batch of entrants to the civil services, the EAM termed the UPSC examination akin to an 'Agni Pariksha' (trial by fire), and said it is a "very unique" testing system in the world to select candidates for the services.

The real challenge is the interview, Jaishankar said, and cited his own UPSC interview that took place 48 years ago.

"My interview was on March 21, 1977. That was the day the Emergency was revoked. Revoked! So, I go in for an interview at Shahjahan Road... First person that morning," recalls Jaishankar, now 70.

Nearly a month ago, the Modi government marked the 50th anniversary of the imposition of the Emergency by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, with events held across the country to recall what its leaders called a "dark chapter" in Indian democracy.

The 21-month Emergency was imposed on June 25, 1975 and lifted on March 21, 1977.

The Janata Party, a coalition of opposition leaders, emerged victorious in the 1977 elections, handing a defeat to Indira Gandhi, and Morarji Desai became the prime minister.

Jaishankar said, in the interview, he was asked about what had happened in the 1977 elections.

Citing his association with JNU as a student and his subject of political science, the EAM reminisced, "I was lucky." "We had taken part in the 1977 election campaign. We had all gone there and worked for the defeat of the Emergency," Jaishankar said.

So, in response, "I forgot I was in an interview", and at that moment, "my communication skills somehow came together," he added.

Jaishankar, a veteran diplomat who earlier served as foreign secretary and has widely travelled, said at that time, to explain to people who were "quite connected, sympathetic to the government, what had happened, without offending them, was actually quite a challenge".

And, the second thing he said, he learned that day, of this "Lutyens' bubble".

"These people were really shocked, they could not believe that this election result had happened, whereas for us, the ordinary students, we could see that there was a wave against the Emergency," the EAM recalled of the interview experience.

From that day, he said he learned how to communicate under pressure and to do it without offending people.

"How do you persuade, how do you explain. This was one carry-away. The second carry-away was that important people may be living in a bubble and not realising what is happening in the country," the Union minister said.

And, people in the field, because students like him who were part of the campaigns, and had visited places such as Muzaffarnagar, "we had picked up a sense on the ground", but, people sitting in Delhi, with all the information from all the systems, "somehow they missed it," he said.

In his address, he also asked what the barometer is to assess a successful democracy, saying it is not by voting record or voting percentage.

"To me, a successful democracy is when opportunity is given to the entire society; that is when democracy is working. They have the right to express themselves, but it is not a few people, on behalf of the whole society... expressing themselves," Jaishankar said, without elaborating.

He exhorted the gathering of successful UPSC candidates to remember that they are all "entering into a service".

"This Amrit Kaal of 25 years is your era. Your era, because you will have to work, you will have to deliver, and you will be the beneficiaries of this era, you will be the leaders of this era," the EAM said.

He urged them all to contribute to the vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047.

"I want you to think 20 years ahead... When we move towards the journey of Viksit Bharat, what will be your contribution? And, the mindset that you have to bring to realise that dream of making a developed nation," he added.

He emphasised that good governance is also related to national security.

To new entrants to the civil services, he emphasised that "representing India abroad, representing India before the world, is the greatest privilege, the greatest honour that any Indian can have".

The EAM said he had "no doubt that by 2030, we will become number 3, economically. But, moving to number 2 and eventually up, will be a big deal, and it will be tough, and will need big, national efforts".

In the next 20 years of your service, you have to know that "big changes" will be coming. The coming era will be of AI, drones, space and EV and green hydrogen, he asserted.

The external affairs minister said in the Indo-Pacific region, "Our capabilities should be such that whatever challenges come, India is ready to step forward and assume responsibility, we call it a first responder. How do you prepare India to be a first responder?". 

New Delhi, Jul 20 (PTI) Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju has alleged that the basic purpose of the Congress and some other parties criticizing the Waqf (Amendment) Act is to keep Muslims as their vote bank, and asserted that the Modi government believes in "appeasement to none, justice to all".

With the Supreme Court in May reserving interim orders on three key issues after hearing both sides in the Waqf case, Rijiju said he will not make any preemptive statement right now with regard to the matter which is pending in the apex court.

"But let us make one thing very clear. The job of Parliament is to make laws. The Supreme Court can definitely interpret it in the right way," Rijiju told PTI Videos in an interview.

"We are very confident that whatever we have done is as per law and as per the provisions and spirit of the Constitution. I am very confident that the role of Parliament will not be taken away," he said.

On AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi's criticism of the new Waqf law, Rijiju said he doesn't want to criticize Owaisi for his opposition to the Waqf (Amendment) Act because he made the remarks against the legislation out of compulsion.

"The main problem is what I tell you. Some of these leaders, including the Congress party, have treated the Muslims as a vote bank. When you start taking and making a community as a vote bank, then you become irrational.

"Then you put them into one bracket, that good or bad doesn't matter, they will all be rhetorical," the minister said.

So, those who criticized the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, are only trying to keep the Muslims poor and ensure that they remain as their vote bank.

"Our thinking is opposite to that. Ours is appeasement to none, justice to all," Rijiju said.

There are many within the Muslim community, lots of groups, women, children and backward communities who have not gotten any benefit out of the Waqf properties, the minister told PTI on Friday.

"So, India's Waqf properties you know very well are the highest number of Waqf properties in the world. More than 9,70,000 Waqf properties are there which must be put into use for the purpose for which those properties were created," Rijiju said.

He pointed out that under the provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, "we are to handle through the mutawallis and the waqf boards proper management for the welfare of the Muslim community, especially the poor." "These (Congress and some other leaders) people know that if the Muslim community becomes better, prosperous then they will be more educated, have more understanding and they will not be the main vote bank for anybody," Rijiju said.

"So, the basic purpose of Congress and some of the other leaders criticizing the Waqf (Amendment) Bill is to make Muslims as their vote bank and to keep them poor all the time," he said.

"Otherwise, tell me one reason why they should oppose the Waqf (Amendment) Bill? On a rational basis, they cannot," he said.

On the Collector being given more powers under the new law, Rijiju said, "We are making the rules, now it's in the final stage. There is no final authority to any officer. It is only responsibility being given to certain officers. If there are disputes between the government lands and the private, the collector has to decide, but the appeal has to be made to an officer which is higher than the collector. Otherwise, what is the job of the collectors? Collectors are there for revenue purposes primarily." "So, if you don't trust collectors, then who do you trust?" he said.

Reiterating its observation on the presumption of constitutionality in favour of the law, the Supreme Court in May reserved interim orders on three key issues after hearing both sides in the waqf case.

The Centre has strongly defended the Act, saying waqf by its very nature was a secular concept and can't be stayed given the presumption of constitutionality in its favour.

Moreover, though waqf was an Islamic concept, it was not an essential part of Islam.

The Waqf (Amendment) Act was passed by Parliament in April and subsequently came into force through a government notification.

While the BJP-led NDA had rallied in support of the Bill, the opposition INDIA bloc united in opposing it.

Several Muslim bodies and opposition MPs had moved the Supreme Court against the law, which the ruling alliance has described as a force for transparency and empowerment of backward Muslims and women from the community. The Opposition has slammed it as unconstitutional and claimed that it infringes on the rights of Muslims. 

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)

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