India's former IAS level government officer has now departed from this world, we as Indian citizens pray for the peace of his soul and also pray to God that he is born again in India and this time he becomes the Prime Minister of India. His full name was Tirunellai Narayana Iyer Seshan.
He was born on 15 December 1932 in Palakkad district of Kerala before India's independence. He became more famous by the name of TN Seshan. Seven years after India's independence, in 1955, he was selected as IAS for Tamil Nadu cadre. Seshan soon became known for doing his work with seriousness and responsibility, he did his duty within the ambit of the Constitution and was not afraid of anyone at all in doing this. He used the authority of his post fearlessly throughout his life. He was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1996 for discharging government services with honesty.
TN Seshan was elected as the 10th Chief Election Commissioner of India in 1990, when Chandrashekhar ji was the Prime Minister of India and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi also wanted Seshan to take up the post of Election Commissioner this time. Although it was not easy for both the Prime Ministers to convince Seshan for this post, still TN Seshan was elected Chief Election Commissioner on 12 December 1990 and he held this post continuously till 11 December 1996. Who knew that Seshan was going to create history for India as the 10th Chief Election Commissioner? If it was known that a person who is heavy in body will be heavier in deeds than his weight, then Seshan might not have become the Election Commissioner. Whereas before assuming the post of Chief Election Commissioner, Seshan had been the 18th Cabinet Secretary in 1989.
The then Cabinet Secretary of that time was Vinod Pandey, who went to Seshan with a proposal for TN Seshan to become the Chief Election Commissioner. When Cabinet Secretary Pandey asked Seshan to take up the post of Election Commissioner, Seshan replied, "Vinod, have you gone mad? Who would want to go to the Election House?"
After the then Cabinet Secretary Vinod Pandey received a befitting reply, Subramanian Swamy, who was TN Seshan's mentor, came up with the proposal of Chief Election Commissioner for Seshan. Swamy had taught Seshan at Harvard University. Subramanian Swamy repeated the same proposal and said, "Would you like to become the next Chief Election Commissioner of India?" Swamy kept explaining to Seshan for hours. But, TN Seshan neither accepted the proposal in clear words nor gave the good news of accepting it. Rather, indirectly, making a final excuse, in the language of a capable officer, Seshan sought time from his mentor and India's Prime Minister Chandrashekhar's emissary Swami. This can be called the last step of Seshan becoming the Election Commissioner or not.
After this, Seshan talked to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on phone regarding this proposal of the Government of India and asked for permission to meet him, after which, after a lot of yes-no, TN Seshan was chosen as the Chief Election Commissioner of India.
When Tirunellai Narayana Iyer Seshan (TN Seshan) was chosen as the Chief Election Commissioner of the Election Commission of India, Seshan started making one blast after another after assuming office. His blasts were so big that they shook the politics of India. All the chairs of the society came into action. First of all, he broke the tradition of interference by the Prime Minister in the Election Commission. The Election Commission of India was declared a completely autonomous institution of the Government of India. He started taking decisions independently.
When former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, Seshan postponed the Lok Sabha elections without asking the then government. This was not an ordinary decision in Indian politics. It had never happened before that the Election Commission took a decision on elections without asking the Prime Minister, which Seshan did in one go.
On 2 August 1993, this man proved to be a boon for the Election Commission of India. On this day, Seshan announced that no elections would be held in the country until the government recognizes the powers of the Election Commission. Not only this, he did not allow the election to be held for the Rajya Sabha seat of West Bengal. Due to which Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu was very angry and Union Minister Pranab Mukherjee had to resign.
Fed up with the decisions of India's Chief Election Commissioner TN Seshan, the political leaders of India thought it better to find a solution to this. As a result, two more new election commissioners were appointed for him. It is said that at that time the political leaders of India were afraid of two things, first God and secondly the name of TN Seshan. A statement made by Seshan in an interview that "I eat politician for breakfast" is still mentioned with great pride on the political platform of India.