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National

Sharada Prasad dead

Special Correspondent

H.Y. Sharada Prasad

NEW DELHI: H.Y. Sharada Prasad, media adviser to former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, died on Tuesday afternoon following a prolonged illness. He was 84. He is survived by his wife and two sons.

His last rites were conducted at the Lodhi Road crematorium in the evening in the presence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul Gandhi, Congress treasurer Motilal Vora, Indira Gandhi’s physician K.P. Mathur, and several other dignitaries.

Known mostly for his long association with Indira Gandhi, the Bangalore-born and Mysore-educated writer began his professional life as a journalist. After working with the Express group, he joined Publications Division as Assistant Editor and went on to edit Planning Commission’s journal ‘Yojana.’ It was during his stint at ‘Yojana’ that Indira Gandhi picked him to join her staff.

Recalling his association with Mr. Prasad, the former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh said: “I have known him since 1965. During the five years I worked at Indira Gandhi’s secretariat, we used to meet every day. Thereafter, we worked together at the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund and Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust.”

Mr. Prasad, according to Mr. Natwar Singh, was the only person in Indira Gandhi’s office who did not call her “madam.” “She, in turn, always referred to him as Sharada Prasadji though he was eight years junior to her. He was a man of sterling character, great compassion, great scholarship and great humility. He is the kind of person who comes once in a hundred years. He never raised his voice, offended anyone or compromised with the principles he believed in. He was god’s own good man. I salute his memory.”

Another colleague at the Prime Minister’s Office Bishen Tandon described him as one of the “finest human beings I have come across in my life; a rare human being who was outstanding in all walks of life.” Besides being a speech writer for the Prime Minister, his role as media adviser brought him in close contact with several senior journalists of those times.

“He would never exaggerate, never downplay,” remembered Inder Malhotra who also interacted with Mr. Prasad while writing Indira Gandhi’s biography. “He never tried to pull a line. He was an absolutely fine source of news because he never misled you. If he could not answer a question because he could not disclose some information, he would say so.”

In his condolence message, Vice-President M. Hamid Ansari said in Mr. Prasad’s death, the country has lost an eminent commentator on contemporary issues and the concerns of the common citizen. Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting Priyaranjan Dasmunsi remembered him as Indira Gandhi’s speech writer and media interface.

Though it was his stint at the Prime Minister’s office which brought Mr. Prasad into the limelight, his public role began at a young age when he participated in the freedom struggle. He was the Joint Editor of the Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru and has authored several books on his own; the last of which was titled “The Book I Won’t Be Writing.”

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