Name P. Haksar | Spouse(s) Urmila Sapru | |
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Full Name Parmeshwar Narayan Haksar Religion Hindu (Kashmiri Pandit) Education London School of Economics and Political Science | ||
P N Haksar, Indira Gandhi के चाणक्य, जिन्हें Sanjay Gandhi ने बेइज्जत किया | Political Kisse
Parmeshwar Narayan Haksar (4 September 1913 – 25 November 1998) was an Indian bureaucrat and diplomat, best known for his six-year stint as Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's principal secretary (1967–73). In that role, Haksar was the chief strategist behind his inexperienced prime minister's rise to near-absolute power in the mid-1970s. After this he was appointed deputy chairman of the Planning Commission and then the first-ever chancellor of New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Contents
- P N Haksar Indira Gandhi Sanjay Gandhi Political Kisse
- Jairam Ramesh P N Haksar was a Moral Compass for Mrs Gandhi
- Personal life
- Early career
- Civil services
- Administrator and strategist
- Books
- References
An advocate of centralization and socialism, he was a Kashmiri Pandit who became Gandhi's closest confidant in her inner coterie of bureaucrats, the "Kashmiri mafia". Prior to this, Haksar was a diplomat of the Indian Foreign Service, who served as ambassador to Austria and Nigeria.
Jairam Ramesh: P. N. Haksar was a Moral Compass for Mrs. Gandhi
Personal life
Haksar was born in 1913, Gujranwala (now in Pakistan) in a Kashmiri Pandit family. He studied Sanskrit at home and obtained an M.Sc. from Allahabad university, Uttar Pradesh. He went on to study in the London School of Economics. As a student of Allahabad university, he was a resident of Mayo Hall & made frequent visits to the Anand Bhawan, the house of Motilal Nehru. Parmeshwar was a voracious reader of art history & also a connoisseur of paintings. During his interlude in London, UK, he was influenced by Socialism and become associated with the Marxists.
During the latter years of his life, Haksar became associated with the Delhi Science Forum, initiatives on human rights, and opposition to neoliberal policies and secularism. He lost his eyesight during the last 10 years of his life. Haksar died at the age of 85, on 25 November 1998.
Early career
Haskar had already made his mark as a lawyer in Allahabad, before he moved to the Indian Foreign Services in 1947. and was quite close to fellow-Kashmiri-from-Allahabad Jawaharlal Nehru. A one-time student at the London School of Economics, he was a junior colleague of V. K. Krishna Menon at the India League in London.
Civil services
P. N. Haksar served as the Ambassador to Nigeria & Austria. In the 1960s, he also served as a Deputy High Commissioner in London. After twenty years of diplomatic service, he was appointed as the secretary to the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. In 1967 he replaced L. K. Jha as Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He authored the 'Stray Thoughts Memorandum' at the Congress Working Committee meeting in Bangalore which ultimately led to the defenestration of her political rivals like Morarji Desai. Till the time he moved out from the position of Principal Secretary to Indira Gandhi, Haksar exercised significant influence on the formulation of domestic & foreign policies. As Principal Secretary, Haksar fashioned Indira Gandhi's decision about the timing and level of support to be given to Bangladeshi freedom struggle.
Administrator and strategist
Haksar was noted for his strategising on the nationalisation of banks, insurance & foreign oil companies, the 1971 Indo-Soviet treaty and the liberation of Bangladesh. He is also the chief architect of the Shimla accord with Pakistan, as he is of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW)