https://www.newindianexpress.com/lifestyle/books/2023/oct/08/high-and-mighty-2621160.amp
The New Sunday Express Magazine dt. 8 October 2023
nil nisi bonum ….” Goes the Latin dictum that means “Of the dead nothing but good is to be said.”
My own impression about the man’s abrasive working style are all drawn only from old press reports I’ve read.
I’ve no first hand knowledge as some other eminent ex-bureaucrats still living amongst us today might have had with Seshan. But I think in a way Seshan with his “arrogance, ego and bullying ways” was perhaps way ahead of his times by about 3 decades.
I suspect if he’d been alive today and also held a powerful position in the government, his “in-your-face” and rude style of working would be par for the course given the general culture prevailing today in the entire environment and ecosystem of organisational governance everywhere in the country, be it government or corporate or any other bureaucracy.
Seshan would’ve have today been hailed in public as a “tough, non-nonsense go-getter, go-to man” and his “bullying“ or “bull-dozer” ways of functioning would perhaps be even acclaimed as his greatest strength.
Back in the 1980s in our cultural environment, Humility and self-effacement were still considered a cardinal virtue in govt. bureaucrats who were expected to remain nondescript at all times . No longer.
Seshan today I feel would’ve fitted in so splendidly into the prevailing governance culture and style.
In fact, Seshan is admired even today amongst the baby-boomer and millennial generation. After reading the article in the The New Sunday Express Magazine above a few messages from friends I received on WhatsApp stoutly defended him! Here are a few QUOTES :
1. I think he was an arrogant and opinionated guy no doubt. All his other positions not withstanding, he did fix CEC permanently. They became a force to reckon with.
2. Yes. But that Seshan was pompous and arrogant was known to one and all. But a intelligent , smart and incorruptible officer
But then aren’t 98 percent of the Bureaucrats pompous and arrogant and think no end.of themselves .
3. He probably was sent to the EC possibly as a punishment posting. As in those days before him, it was a toothless institution. But he changed it for good for ever.
“Nil nisi Bonum” is undoubtedly still being respected here in India ! Thank God for that!
But then some after reading the review of Seshan’s published book might say this too:
It may well be true that 98% of bureaucrats in government are quite “pompous and arrogant and think no end of themselves . And also that Seshan did change the CEC of INDIA for the good and quite lastingly too … Nonetheless, it must be acknowledged that unlike Seshan few “arrogant bureaucrats” after retiring went on to also write pompous autobiographies for posterity. And finally it’s not really Seshan’s CEC career that has been reviewed in the Sunday Express magazine . It’s his autobiography.
Regards,
Sudarshan Madabushi