"Today’s disruptions are tomorrow’s conventions" ❤️

When a Chief Election Commissioner (T. N. Seshan, an MCC-ian) had the guts to challenge his boss – The Govt of India

When the TN Governor was accused of behaving like a ‘Super Chief Minister’

The “Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai” Song Controversy in Bollywood

When the Congress PM Rao deputed the BJP Leader Vajpayee as Leader of a Delegation to Geneva

This day, 32 years ago, from my personal diary entry

12th January 1994

#memoriesfromdiaries

Five newsworthy events had happened on this particular day.

The first one is a sweeping allegation by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu against the Governor.

The news refers to a severe escalation of the on-going political conflict between the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa and the State Governor M. Chenna Reddy.

Jayalalithaa, as CM of Tamil Nadu, had written a strongly-worded letter to Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, officially demanding the Governor’s recall, accusing Channa Reddy of attempting to function as a “Super Chief Minister.”

She alleged that the Governor was summoning top officials, including the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police, directly to the Raj Bhavan to review law and order without keeping her (the elected head of government) informed, thereby undermining the authority of the elected state government.

In fact, the trigger was the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor of Madras University. The State Government (Jayalalithaa’s cabinet) had recommended a panel of names for the post. However, Governor Chenna Reddy, in his capacity as Chancellor of the University, rejected (or ignored) the government’s nominees and sought to appoint a candidate of his own choice.

Jayalalithaa viewed this as a direct violation of the convention where the Governor usually acts on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers! She eventually amended the Universities Act to remove the Governor as the Chancellor of state universities, and stripping him of the powers he was using to ‘disrespect’ her.

Till date, this episode remains one of the most cited examples of Governor vs. Chief Minister conflict in Indian political history.

The second one relates to the Chief Election Commissioner’s battle with the Govt of India.

T.N. Seshan, an illustrious alumnus of MCC, was a highly brave and conscientious IAS Officer, known for his aggressive electoral reforms and strict enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct, which angered many political parties.

To keep a check on Seshan’s ‘unilateral’ authority, the government issued an ordinance converting the Election Commission from a single-member body to a multi-member body, thereby appointing two additional Election Commissioners, M.S. Gill and G.V.G. Krishnamurthy, and stipulated that all decisions would be made by a majority vote.

Seshan however wasn’t happy. He felt that it was meant to paralyse his official powers, and hence approached the Supreme Court.

Although, Seshan won this battle temporarily, he eventually lost the war. In its final judgment delivered in July 1995, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the multi-member commission. This established the current system where the CEC and other Election Commissioners have equal powers and decisions are made by majority vote.

This episode gets lots of space in Seshan’s Autobiography titled, Through the Broken Glass: An Autobiography.

Moreover, the recent Telugu political action film titled, “Game Changer” (starring Ram Charan and directed by S. Shankar) is heavily inspired by T.N. Seshan’s life and career – where the protagonist is depicted as an uncompromising IAS officer who strives to clean up the electoral system and clashes with corrupt politicians!

Resembles Seshan’s real-life crusade to a tee!

Also, there were a string of advertisements that capitalised on Mr. Seshan’s “Mr. Clean” image. Gwalior Suiting by GRASIM had come out with an advertisement that said,

‘You can’t buy me, but you can buy this suit’, 😊

that speaks volumes to the integrity of the legendary IAS Officer from MCC.

The third one is on the heavy fire exchanged between Indian and Pakistani troops at the border.

The fourth one is about TN Ministers all set to hoist the National Flag on Republic Day.

The fifth news item is on the Information and Broadcasting Minister asking Filmmakers to avoid sex, violence in Films.

The then Minister of Information and Broadcasting, K. P. Singh Deo, made this statement in the context of the 25th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which was being held in Calcutta, because of the sudden government crackdown on ‘vulgarity’ in Indian media at the time. He used the platform to urge filmmakers to exercise "self-restraint" and “social responsibility.” He argued that while censorship laws existed, the industry itself needed to avoid excessive sex and violence to protect the "cultural fabric" of Indian society.

The primary trigger for this call, was the massive public and political outcry following the release of the film Khalnayak in mid-1993, which featured the song “Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai”.  The song and the movie were widely condemned by conservative groups, politicians, and women’s organizations as obscene and “vulgar,” sparking court cases and parliamentary debates about the decline of moral standards in Bollywood.

Eventually, this put enormous pressure on the I&B Ministry to tighten censorship guidelines.

Deo was also worried about the ‘cultural invasion’ from the skies. He was referring subtly to the early stages of a media revolution in India, when private satellite channels like Star TV and Zee TV had just entered the market, (in 1993-94) thus breaking the state monopoly of Doordarshan.

The government was worried about uncensored foreign content and bold Indian music videos beaming directly into homes. His call to avoid sex and violence was not just about cinema halls but about this new ‘cultural invasion’ that beamed unregulated flood of content!

The takeaway?

Well, there is a famous saying in media that today’s news is the “first rough draft of history.”

The first draft of this day and time, ran pages and reems on T. N. Seshan and his fights with politicians. He was often called “arrogant”. The India Today Magazine had even titled their 15 June 1994 Issue as, “Seshan versus the Politicians”. Connect the dots! And you find that, today he is not seen as a “disruptive bureaucrat” but as the “Father of Electoral Reforms.”

Even history books now divide Indian elections into two distinct eras: the “Pre-Seshan” era and the “Post-Seshan” era.

So proud to note that an MCC-ian is remembered today as the person who single-handedly gave the Election Commission a spine, turning it from a toothless government department into a powerful constitutional body!

Today’s disruptions are tomorrow’s conventions.

Today’s revolutions become tomorrow’s traditions.

Today’s chaos turns to tomorrow’s order.

Today’s radical thought becomes a routine thought tomorrow.

As for us, literary beings, writing becomes a major source of effecting disruptions!

We call them – intellectual disruptions through our writing and research!

So why do we need disruptions in writing – especially intellectual disruptions in academic writing and research writing?

Without disruption, societies stagnate, injustices thrive, and we fail to perceive newer realities.

Status quo is good, in as much as it acts as a stabiliser for society.  However, it can also become a prison. Writing and research are the two primary tools we use to break the bars of that prison house!

One of the foremost duties of the student and the teacher, in academia, is to disrupt the status quo – by killing the bad idea!

Therein lies the power of the writer! 

Wait! What? 

Yes, a writer is indeed a disruptor! 😊

PS: You may want to read more on Seshan on our past blogpost HERE.