“The girl wants me…” Sam Manekshaw recalls the time when he was Indira Gandhi’s go-to person.
📹: Parzor Foundation.
📹: Parzor Foundation.
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00:00I said, hello Prime Minister. You seem worried. What's wrong? He said, I've got problems.
00:06So I said, oh, cry on my shoulder. What are your problems? Ah, you want to know about Murajibhai.
00:12You've been dying to tell that story, haven't you?
00:19I couldn't go anywhere when people would ask, when are you taking over?
00:26One evening at four o'clock in my office, I was having tea when Mrs. Gandhi rang up.
00:36She was in Parliament House and she rang up and said, Sam, are you very busy?
00:44And I said, Prime Minister, the Army Chief is always busy, but never too busy to talk to his Prime Minister.
00:51She said, can you come over? And I said, I'm having tea here. She said, oh, I'll give you tea.
00:58I said, I have good tea here. You give me muck. She said, oh, come over. I said, okay.
01:03I got hold of the ADC. I said, the girl wants me. Come on, get the car.
01:07The girl wants me. I always knew I'd talk like that.
01:12So we got into the car, went to Parliament House.
01:16She was sitting in her office in a kidney-shaped table.
01:21She was an actress. She was sitting down like this.
01:25I walked in in my breezy way. I said, hello, Prime Minister.
01:29You seem worried. What's wrong? She said, I've got problems.
01:33So I said, oh, cry on my shoulder. What are your problems?
01:37And she looked me straight in the face and said, you are my problem.
01:42So I said, now what have I done? Have I made a speech? Have I done something stupid?
01:48I said, what have I done now? She said, everybody says you are going to take over from me.
01:54So I said, and what do you think?
01:59She says, you can't. And I said, oh, you think I'm so incompetent?
02:04I didn't mean that, Sam. You wouldn't.
02:09She has a long nose. I have a longer one. I put my nose next to hers.
02:14I want to tell you I have no intention or even a thought
02:19of getting involved in politics or taking over.
02:24As long as I command my army without interference. Okay, you have told me enough about
02:29Mrs. Gandhi and myself. –Morarji Desai. –Ah, you want to know about Morarji Bhai.
02:35You've been dying to tell that story, haven't you? –I've got two or three stories about Morarji Bhai.
02:41When I became army chief, Morarji Bhai was the finance minister in Mrs. Indira Gandhi's cabinet.
02:49Then he became prime minister. Mrs. Gandhi lost the election, became prime minister.
02:54One day he said, I believe you drink. So I said, yes, I have. You mustn't drink.
03:00Very bad for you. So I said, prime minister.
03:06I come to my prime minister. He said, you mustn't drink. I go to a party and I talk to a pretty girl.
03:12My wife says, you mustn't talk to her. I'm a field master. Is life worth living?
03:17He says, your wife is quite right. Drinks and pretty girls will ruin you.
03:22I said, they haven't ruined me so far.