@zeneraalstuff It was in the memoirs of an insider from the first Nehru Cabinet.
@zeneraalstuff Here it is, from M.O. Mathai’s 'Reminiscences'.
"One day the Maulana’s favourite Private Secretary came to see me privately. He told me that he was worried about the Maulana because he was imbibing half a bottle of whisky every evening.
Falls were not infrequent ...
"One day the Maulana’s favourite Private Secretary came to see me privately. He told me that he was worried about the Maulana because he was imbibing half a bottle of whisky every evening.
Falls were not infrequent ...
@zeneraalstuff "In fact he had broken his back in a fall and had to wear a metal plate to support his back. Since then an able-bodied man was always available to support the Maulana whenever he got up during and after his drinks."
@zeneraalstuff "As a departmental minister, the Maulana was a disaster, as Gandhiji had feared. He made no contribution to education. He left everything to the trio — Humayun Kabir, K.G. Saidayin and Ashfaque Hussain."
@zeneraalstuff Meanwhile, Sitaram Goel, still a Marxist at the time, added,
"In Delhi, the Maulana never attended a dinner party. He came to the PM’s house only for lunches in honour of important foreign dignitaries."
"In Delhi, the Maulana never attended a dinner party. He came to the PM’s house only for lunches in honour of important foreign dignitaries."
@zeneraalstuff "At Cabinet meetings, which were normally fixed at 5 p.m., the Maulana would get up at the stroke of 6, regardless of the importance of the subject under discussion, and leave. Soon he would be before his whisky, soda and ice … Nehru avoided seeing him in the evenings."
@zeneraalstuff These anecdotes are also referenced in @dharmadispatch's article "Atal Bihari Vajpayee: A Hero of India's Second Freedom Movement".
dharmadispatch.in/commentary/ata…
dharmadispatch.in/commentary/ata…
