By Dr KK Paul
For decades India had been in the forefront of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. We had been able to develop a strong anti-apartheid sentiment amongst a large number of countries and had used it to give this movement a push at almost all the international fora like the NAM and UN, etc. In this context we had also been championing the cause of Nelson Mandela’s freedom as he had been in prison for nearly three decades.
The momentum built by Smt Indira Gandhi was taken forward by Rajiv Gandhi when he organised the Africa Fund summit at New Delhi in January 1987 to further the cause of those oppressed and discriminated against in South Africa and mobilise support for Nelson Mandela’s release across a wider spectrum of nations.
Finally, the hard work put in by the Government of India at various levels in the international arena yielded positive results when South African President FW de Clark decided to dismantle the apartheid apparatus and release Nelson Mandela. This was great news indeed for us and its impact was such that the then Prime Minister, VP Singh, who had been in office just for a couple of months immediately decided to share this good news with all the countrymen. As such, word was conveyed to Doordarshan that the Prime Minister would address the nation.
But for the Asian Games held at New Delhi in November, 1982, the modernisation of television in India might have been further delayed. First came the colour TV followed by the equipment for the outdoor coverage of the games. We, however, still lagged behind in certain crucial areas particularly in our news telecasts as our newscasters on TV were particularly handicapped in the absence of modern equipment and teleprompters. With due respect to Protima Puri, her contemporaries and successors, presentation of news earlier used to be simple paper reading. With the introduction of teleprompters, the presentation of news underwent a complete metamorphosis.
It was sometime in February 1990, late in the evening, that a message was received that the Prime Minister would be visiting Doordarshan Kendra on Parliament Street. Since we used to reside at Mahadev Road, which was just behind the Doordarshan Kendra, it did not take me more than 3-4 minutes to reach the venue. Just then a message was received that PM had already left. It was almost a surprise visit at short notice and, as a result, all the security arrangements could not be put in place, but as the premises were protected the extent of risk was considerably diminished.
On arrival, the PM was received by the top brass of Doordarshan and immediately conducted to the studio. A copy of his speech was already available there and had been set up on a table. The Prime Minister was briefed by the technical staff that he should only look into the camera and read the text as it appeared. May be out of sheer habit, while rehearsing, the PM picked up the paper and started to read from it. He was immediately corrected and conveyed again that he was only to focus on the camera and not to do any paper reading. He was also explained the full mechanism of how a teleprompter functioned. Thereafter, the PM adjusted quickly and, unmindful of the people around, chuckled and remarked instinctively, “Toh yeh baat hai, main bhi hairan tha yeh log itna sab itni jaldi kaise rutt lete hain.”
(Krishan Kant Paul is a former IPS officer, who served as the Commissioner of Police, Delhi from February 2004 to July 2007. Following his retirement from civil services, he served as Governor of Meghalaya, Manipur and finally Uttarakhand. He also held the charge as Governor of Mizoram and Nagaland briefly, as an additional charge during this period).
