The DayAfter seldom shied from raising controversies that were considered necessary in the national interest. In March 1987, we raised a controversy that is as relevant today as it was then. Our cover story was "Are Chief Ministers Necessary?"

The questions we raised about the institution of chief ministership took up some of the basic issues of governance in the country. To make or mar the democratic set-up and the federal system, the chief ministers played their role, sometimes good, sometimes bad and sometimes indifferent. The issue we posed was: "Are the chief ministers less corrupt and dishonest than the politicians operating at the national level? Have the chief ministers not been responsible for organised violence, graft, robbery, nepotism, horse trading and perpetuation of both extra-constitutional and dynastic cliques?"

We had featured in our pictures some of the famous chief ministers of that time and specially those who had participated in the ‘Opposition Conclave’ of 1983 after which the much-debated Srinagar Declaration’ was made in October of that year.

The participants in the ‘Conclave’ included the leaders of the then Congress(S), the Congress(J), the Rashtriya Congress, the Janata Party, the Democratic Socialist Party, the CPI(M), the CPI, the DMK, the Telugu Desam, the Janvadi Party, the Forward Bloc, the Sanjay Rashtriya Manch, the Akali Dal, the Revolutionary Socialist Party, the Republican Party of India, the Assom Jatiyabadi Dal, the J and K National Conference (Farooq faction) and the United Front.

The moving spirit behind the conclave were several chief ministers and ex-chief ministers. Some of them are no more with us and others have gone into the mists of history. But those still around must look back and wonder whether another such conclave is necessary today to once again size up and assess the quality and quantity of governance that honourable chief ministers are providing their people. I cannot help recalling the names of some that we had listed as participants and organisers of that conclave which provided us a motivation to discuss the institution of chief ministership. Notable among them were Sharad Pawar,
R. K. Hegde, Biju Patnaik, H. N. Bahuguna, Jyoti Basu,
E. M. S. Namboodiripad, Nripen Chakravarty, N. T. Rama Rao, Parkash Singh Badal, S. S. Barnala and Mir Qasim. Of course, there were others too but these gentlemen named were either chief ministers at one time or the other or still occupied the august post of the chief minister in one State or another. And most of them had also the distinction of being ex-Congressmen.

Our story had raised some other questions too which can be easily raised even today. We had posed: "The question would again arise: Is it necessary to have chief ministers? Can the country afford their burden? Can we replace the present system at the State level? They add an element of conflict of interest which is neither in the public interest nor conducive to the growth of maturity and wisdom of Indian democracy and polity.

The history of Indian politics would read like a thriller if some competent historian with a special sense of humour would dare undertake the burden of writing it. I would only like to point to some of the personalities and premises on which our investigatory story on the institution of chief ministership was based in the March 1987 issue of The DayAfter. I quote:

"It would be interesting to examine the tone and spirit behind the so-called ‘ Srinagar Declaration’ as well as the political record of the members of the drafting committee responsible for it. The committee members included Ashok Mitra of the CPI(M), K. P. Unnikrishnan of the Congress(S), Ragunath Reddy of the Democratic Socialist Party, Mohammad Shafi of the National Conference, S. S. Barnala of the Akali Party, I. S. Upendra of the DMK and Harbans Singh Bhalla of the Congress(J). Many of them later changed their political loyalties and either joined the Congress-led by Rajiv Gandhi or featured in splits, expulsions or floor crossings within the parties they represented then.

The ‘Srinagar Declaration’ in fact epitomised the Indian political mentality of placing all the blame for the political ills in the country on those who came before us, notably the Indian National Congress, of which most of them were themselves original products. To keep the old issue alive and raise them anew, I would like to offer one more quote from that story about that interesting and controversial declaration whose original creators were to be involved later in many mutual political fracas. But then there seemed to prevail some kind of a curious consensus. This recall will at least refresh the minds of some of them that were there in Srinagar in the October of 1983. I quote:

"The Declaration which had as many as 31 clauses was mainly designed to place the entire blame for the ills of the States at the doorstep of the Centre. The very last clause of the Declaration showed the spirit of beggary and bullying which ran through the entire deliberations of the so-called ‘conclave’. It read : We should also urge that the Union Government be pressurised to assume the responsibility for ensuring the supply of 15 to 20 major foodgrains, industrial raw materials and essential commodities all over the country at uniform prices. The concept of national unity loses much of its lustre if essential articles are not equally accessible in all States, or if some of them are available at uniform prices all over the country while others are not. The Centre should seek the co-operation of the States so that these deficiencies are corrected. The States admitted they were deficit in foodgrains after 37 years of Independence. They were dependent on the Centre that hardly had any farming operations of its own. Then what was the record of the States’ leaders in improving the plight of the farmer and his farming so that people could be fed better and cheaper? What had been the chief ministers, who put their signatures to the Srinagar Declaration, themselves doing all these years? The pity is that history habitually repeats itself in our country and the same questions will be raised again and again with different political parties adorning the seats of power in the States and at the Centre."

As usual, the March 1987 issue of The DayAfter also had several trend setting and thought-provoking investigatory stories for its readers. Our Bureau did a story on ‘The Metal Hunters of 2000 BC,’ a Mediafocus on ‘Seeking the Truth’ by Walter Lippmann, a revealing story from China entitled ‘Corruption Threatens Reform,’ an investigation into ‘Problems of Civic Organisations and The Rights and Duties of Citizens,’ an interesting story about ‘Blind Cricket’ between Australia and New Zealand. The Good Morning India column greeted the three States of Mizoram, Arunachal and Punjab. The occasion was the visit of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to the newly-formed north eastern States under the chief ministership of Laldenga and Agong Apang and to Punjab under the Chief Ministership of Surjit Singh Barnala, where peace had at last returned after the signing of the Rajiv-Longowal accord.