“Dadu, where is your mask?” Eshra Patel (7) sharply asked. “Wear it immediately.” And grandfather obeyed her command. Then she turned towards two guests. “Uncle, please wear masks. If you don’t have it, I will get it,” she said. This writer and another common friend smiled and wore the masks, although we were maintaining social distancing by sitting at a gap of five feet from each other in the sprawling drawing room. Eshra went away but she would peep into the room again to check whether everyone was following Covid-19 protocols.
This was the residence of senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha Member, Ahmed Patel (71), who died of Covid-19 and subsequent complications on Wednesday. This writer and a noted lawyer and former Rajya Sabha Member, R.K. Anand, had gone to meet Patel, some days before he got coronavirus, in the first week of October. Eshra, daughter of Patel’s son Faisal, had become her Dadu’s guardian during the pandemic.
This writer knew Patel for nearly 35 years. We had clicked as friends as we both were low-profile. I first came to know him when he was a young Lok Sabha Member and I was covering the Congress for the Hindustan Times in the 1980s. A Gujarati journalist friend, Vijay Sanghvi, took me to the house of Najma Heptulla, then Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha (now Manipur Governor). Apart from Patel, the late President Pranab Mukherjee (who was then a rising Congress star) was also there. All of them used to often meet over lunch. But Patel and PranabDa stopped visiting after she drifted to the BJP.
Patel had earned friends across party lines. Prime Minister Narendra Modi used to call him fondly “Babu Bhai”. Once Modi had recalled that as Gujarat Chief Minister he had telephoned Patel in Ahmedabad and told him “Babu Bhai, I am coming to your house and as I am a vegetarian I will eat khichdi.” Though both Modi and Patel were politically poles apart, PM on Babu Bhai’s death acknowledged the loss of a sharp mind. Modi tweeted, “Saddened by the demise of Ahmed Patel Ji. He spent years in public life, serving society. Known for his sharp mind, his role in strengthening the Congress Party would always be remembered. May Ahmed Bhai’s soul rest in peace.”
Patel was a backroom boy, who handled the party crisis, intrigues, and funds with a deft hand. He did not believe in drum-beating his achievements. He avoided public glare and seldom gave interviews to the media.
Patel was a man of few words. He worked silently. That was the key to his success since his arrival in New Delhi’s corridors of powers in the late 1970s from a small village in Bharuch, Gujarat, after winning local body elections there. Though Patel kept his doors open for everyone, friends and enemies, he virtually worked from behind the closed doors to protect the trust between him and visitors at his corner bunglow at 23, Giyaraha Murti Marg. The entrance and exit to his two adjoining meeting rooms had double doors, for maintaining privacy. No word of conversation could be heard outside. A large picture of late PM Rajiv Gandhi hung in one room and in inner room a charkha was placed on a table.
Patel had enemies but they were more in the Congress. Many leaders were jealous of his close proximity to late PM Rajiv Gandhi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, whom he served as political secretary for long. Many leaders eyed the treasurer post that he had occupied for long because of his capability to collect funds from corporate houses. Once a senior woman leader got a damaging news published in an Indore newspaper against Patel. She gave the clipping to Sonia Gandhi, who after reading it threw it in the dustbin and said, “You also believe in such yellow journalism.” The woman leader realized her efforts to replace Patel were over. In the recent years, a young Maharashtra leader tried his best to grab the treasurer’s post by carrying out a disinformation campaign against him in media but failed. Some party leaders had campaigned that Congress “Prince” Rahul Gandhi did not like Patel. Initially, they succeeded. But Rahul Gandhi understood Patel’s loyalty to the Gandhi family. Patel was given full control to handle the messy Rajasthan crisis when Sachin Pilot revolted against Ashok Gehlot. Rahul Gandhi went to attend Patel’s funeral when he was laid to rest on Thursday next to his parents’ graves at his native village Piraman near Bharuch. Many Congress CMs owed their survival to Patel, who was virtually a bridge between the party leaders and the Gandhi family. Now that channel has snapped. The million dollar question is who would don the treasurer’s cap at a time when Congress is passing through a major political crisis and is facing a resource crunch.
Patel’s untimely death has shattered his trusted personal staff, which comprised of only one Muslim and the rest were Hindus. Joginder Singh, loyal household worker, said, “Our world revolved around Patel Saheb. He treated us like family members.” Personal secretary Zeaul Haque said, “Patel Saheb was our godfather and guardian.” Another long-serving secretary, Sanjiv Mahajan, said, “Patel Saheb was like our umbrella, protecting us and taking care of our welfare.” As a friend of friends, Patel used to help politically and financially but discreetly. Some months after I retired from my last newspaper, the Tribune, in 2013, he hesitantly asked, “Can I be of some help?” I smiled and said, “No. Thanks.” He insisted, “Please don’t hesitate.” Again, I smiled and said “No, thanks.” He said, “We have known each other for over three decades. You are the first person and first journalist who has refused my offer of help. Many, including hard-core BJP supporting media persons, have come and taken funds on one pretext or another.”
Once, in 2013, I casually mentioned to Patel, “It seems the Americans are against the Gandhi family.” He asked why. I said, “A US diplomat met me and is meeting other journalists and influential party leaders and inquiring about Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi’s health and habits and asking who else besides you could influence the high-command.”
After a fortnight, Patel telephoned me late in the night to ask whether I would like to meet Sonia Gandhi. As a professional, I said yes. Next morning, I had an hour-long personal meeting with her. He never asked what happened at the meeting. With poker face, he heard when I said, “The Lady told me she is not afraid of the Americans!”
Man Mohan can be contacted at rovingeditor@gmail.com