Author: M. V. Kamath
Publication: The Free Press Journal
Date: March 11, 2001
Roses In December: An autobiography;
M. C. Chagla; Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai; pages 588; Rs. 925
Who, among the intelligentsia, and
even outside that charmed circle, has not heard of M. C. Chagla? Towards
the end of his life he became a legend; and even halfway through it, he
must have been among the best-loved personalities in the country.
No award is given for guessing why.
For one thing, as a judge, he was always known to have a soft corner for
the underdog. A poor man was more likely to win his case if it came before
Justice Chagla. Yes, he began his career on a low key as a professor at
Bombay's Law College. Then he became successively a Pune Judge of the High
Court and then its Chief Justice - the first Indian Chief Justice. He went
from success to success and made his mark at whatever he was destined to
be: Vice Chancellor of the University of Bombay, a member of the Law Commission,
Acting Governor of Bombay, ad hoc judge of the International Court of Justice
at the Hague, India's Ambassador to the United States and India's High
Commissioner in London and a member of the Nehru Cabinet serving first
as Minister of Education, and later of External Affairs. Few either before
him or after have achieved such distinction.
But for all that, there he was -
a modest, unassuming and caring man concerned about civil liberties and
freedom, who in the evening of his life, had the courage to stand up against
the Emergency, and dare the authorities to put him down. When he was past
seventy, he was persuaded by his son to write his memoirs. He took time
off, often to dictate from notes. He particularly remembered the line:
"God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December". He indeed
harvested roses in December, which is the title of this charming - and
revealing memoirs. It should surprise no one that this is the eleventh
edition! That is the measure of the excellence of this remarkable work
that recall another day and age. This edition carries a touching preface
by his son, Iqbal. It has the same stamp of excellence that is the hallmark
of roses in December. What is so charming about this autobiography is its
total transparency. Mr. Chagla is not shy about admitting to his 'failures',
if such they were. A ruling of his in an excommunication case was reversed,
for example, by the Supreme Court. Comments the author: "If one is permitted
to say so, I think the Supreme Court took too narrow and rigid a view of
the law, and refused to interpret it in a manner which would help the larger
public interest".
If ever there was a secular Muslim
in India Mr. Chagla is the one. And he had no qualms on that score. As
Education Minister it had fallen on him to pilot the Aligarh University
Bill in Parliament. Muslim sentiments had seen roused to a pitch of fanaticism.
The then Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri was very concerned. It turned
out that the debate was to continue on a Friday. Shastri wondered whether
Mr. Chagla was agreeable to postponing the debate by a day, considering
that Friday was for Muslims a day for prayers. Mr. Chagla was not agreeable.
Postponing the debate to meet Muslim sentiments he told Mr. Shastri, would
set a bad precedent in a secular country. What if other Members asked for
suspension of business on their own important festival days? He got his
way, but makes no song and dance about his secularism. Nor does he put
on an air of secular superiority. 'I am mentioning this' he writes in his
autobiography by, "just to underscore the point that Shastri's attitude
towards the minorities was not politically motivated'. As he saw it, Shastri
was not thinking of their votes or of the strength that his party might
acquire by the support of the Muslim minority but of maintaining cordial
relations with it. It is Mr. Chagla's greatness that he could be so understanding.
A lesser man would have attributed ill motives to the Prime Minister. What
is most endearing about Mr. Chagla's memoirs is his willingness always
to be charitable, even when he strongly disagrees with a colleague. He
had no reason to be happy with Indira Gandhi, especially after what she
did during the Emergency which he had opposed with all his might. But he
says of her: "I have never known another case in which a person has been
transformed with such dramatic suddenness from a mere novice to a master
craftsman".
The book abounds with anecdotes
as such a work is bound to be, considering the people Mr. Chagla knew and
worked with, starting from Mohammad Ali Jinnah and ending with Jawaharlal
Nehru. But throughout his life he retained his sensitivity and compassion
even under trying circumstances. His personal philosophy was simple.
He writes: "There is nothing I have
valued more than intellectual integrity, the right to call my soul my own,
to drawn my own dreams and sing my own songs. There is no sin worse than
sinning against the light whatever your light might be. Whether you call
it your light or your conscience, it is the only beacon by which you can
steer your bark through the rough and stormy sea of life..."
Indeed, the most revealing chapter
in this book is the last which is rightly described as. 'Personal'. What
did life teach him? He says that it taught him to be kind and compassionate,
to understand and not to judge, to build bridges across misunderstandings
and conflict and to be non-attached to life and all that pertains to life.
This shows that he lived this philosophy to the hilt. In ways that even
he probably did not quite realise, he was acting according to the tenets
of the Gita, of doing one's allotted work without desiring the fruits thereof.
Mr. Chagla writes about ideas, issues
and imperatives as he does about people and personalities and even when
he is critical he is gently, even sadly, so. Thus, when he strongly opposed
the 24th and 25th Constitutional amendments introduced by the Law Minister,
Mr. Gokhale he could write: "I confessed that it was to me a sad spectacle
an ex-Judge delivering the funeral oration on and performing the obsequies
of, Fundamental Rights which had been guaranteed to the citizens of India
under the Constitution'.
Roses in December is a book to be
read, and re-read and read all over again and digested. Where he writes
about the judiciary, administration, diplomacy or of life itself, Mr. Chagla,
brings to his work a sharp mind, a tolerant outlook and a sense of decency
and decorum that marks him out not only as a perceptive analyst, but as
a great gentleman and human being. Sometimes frustration creeps in and
even a sense of inadequacy. But that only reflects the essential humanity
of the man whose statue in the Bombay High Court - within the Court bears
these words: "A great judge, a great citizen and, above all, a great human
being".
And, in retrospect, with that said,
all is said. Shakespeare might have had such a man when he wrote: 'His
life was gentle, and the elements so mixed in him that Nature might stand
up and say to all the world: 'This was a Man'!
