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The first time Abbas saw Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was at the Aligarh
Railway Station. "Ek badi rangeen aur toofani sham thi woh
I still remember". Abbas Sahab says. Panditji had come on one
of his visits to the Aligarh Muslim University. The scene was unbelievable.
It seemed like every man, woman and child had forgotten all about
their lives and homes and come out to the railway station and all
the other areas surrounding it. They had heard of Panditji as some
sort of a divine leader, even a saint, a sadhu, a mahatma out to
save people. They couldn’t miss this once-in-a-way chance to
have just one glimpse of him. Abbas further remembered how he and
some boys his age perched themselves on rooftops and all the nearby
tree-tops not to miss that "divine opportunity to see a man
who was no ordinary man but a man among men, born to serve and save
an entire mass of people who were forced to make suffering their
way of life.
Panditji had one look at the boys on the trees who looked like sparrows
from where he was positioned. He smiled and waved out to them and
the boys were jubilant, excited and energetic jumping from one branch
to another. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had waved out to them!!! What
more could they expect!
And little did the teenager in Abbas realise that he would one day
be a dedicated, disciple of Panditji. He admired and respected all
the leaders leading the struggle for freedom but it was Panditji
who caught him in his spell completely. He " looked angelic,
almost like someone who had been sent by the Almighty to work for
the poor and down-trodden human beings living amidst conditions
which would make animals scared and squirm. Abbas grew in to one
of the most respected journalist in the country, a journalist admired
by none other than Panditji himself.
Then every one else. Abbas was thrilled to know that Panditji took
his writings and his advice on every subject very seriously. The
people, only the people and their needs and comforts mattered alike
both to Abbas and Panditji. That was one reason why Panditji even
found time to write letters to Abbas and Abbas promptly wrote back.
What those letters were about and where they are now, I don’t
know, no one knows. They would have been a treasure if I or any
one else had them now. Abbas was very concerned when the Indo-China
war broke out in 1962 and simultaneously felled the one time giant
called Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who crumbled in the face of a traumatic
situation, a great betrayal and tormenting defeat. Within weeks
after the defeat which the sick and sensitive Panditji couldn’t
take, he passed away at exactly 1.50 pm on May 27, 1964.
The whole country wept. And what I remembered most was the constant
breaking down of a man called Abbas who till then I always considered
an iron man.
Abbas was very close to Panditji and is family till the very end.
He was a silent witness to Panditji’s grooming of his daughter,
Indira (he also called her Priyadarshini or Indu) to follow in his
footsteps which his critics found a very great weakness. Indu grew
into a Nehruvian disciple besides being a loving daughter. Her father’s
whisper was a command for her. She imbibed all that she could from
him while he was incharge of any storm that faced the country. Indu
was also taught to have faith in one man who would always be of
help - his disciple, Khwaja Ahmad Abbas. Indu took his advice seriously
and Indu and Abbas frequently exchange notes on various matters
of state. Abbas was the only man who had the guts to keep the country
and its people going by putting into his writing what Indira believed
in. His critics vehemently criticised Abbas for becoming a women’s
chamcha but Abbas didn’t mind a wit. He had a promise he had
made to Panditji. Indira soon ruled the country "like the only
man in the cabinet" like the leading journalist, Frank Moraes
described her.
Abbas treated the Gandhi family like his own. He saw Indira’s
son Sanjay going wayward. He gave him a piece of his mind from time
to time but only saw Sanjay growing into a rougher, tougher goonda
trying to grasp power at any cost. Abbas saw danger. He tried talking
to his mother about him but Sanjay was, by now a man made of sterner
stuff. What he said was final. Neither his mother nor his mother’s
followers like Abbas mattered to him. Abbas was shocked to see the
grandson of Panditji grow into a goon. Sanjay took a strange dislike
for Abbas and never answered him any of his letters. Abbas had a
very soft and sensitive relationship with Rajiv and he never realised
at that time that Rajiv, an ordinary Indian Airlines Pilot, would
one day play a very important part n Indian politics. Rajiv knew
the importance of Abbas. His mother also made him understand and
he understood. Their relationship gradually declined mainly because
of Sanjay whose behaviour and principles didn’t suit Abbas.
A very great relationship which also played a very great part in
the history of India, a friendship was slowly coming to an end which
was more bad then sad, for every Indian.
Ali Peter John
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