POSSIBLE AND IMPOSSIBLE

Former Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri passed away in January 1966. After his death, the Congress Party made Mrs. Indira Gandhi the Prime Minister. However, she remained in conflict with Morarji Desai (1896–1995), because he too wanted to be Prime Minister. After the 1967 elections, Morarji Desai was made Deputy Prime Minister.

But Morarji Desai considered the post of Deputy Prime Minister beneath him. So, the struggle continued. Former Information Minister Inder Kumar Gujral wrote that in 1969, Mrs. Gandhi, through him, offered Desai the position of President as a greater honour. Gujral says that when he presented this proposal, Desai immediately replied:

“Why not she herself?”

Meaning: let Indira Gandhi become President and make me Prime Minister instead. (The Times of India, July 12, 1987).

Events show that Morarji Desai eventually broke away from Congress. To become Prime Minister, he stirred the entire country. After the Janata Party’s victory in the March 1977 elections, he briefly became Prime Minister. But soon after, he faced political decline and never recovered.

The real reason for Desai’s failure was that he chased the impossible while ignoring the possible. If he had realized that, under the circumstances, the highest attainable post for him was the presidency—not the prime ministership—he could have avoided disgrace and failure. But by running after the impossible, he lost even the possible. Chasing the impossible deprives a person of what is within reach. On the other hand, one who accepts the possible not only secures it but may, in time, gain the impossible too.