When Indira Gandhi mistook haathi for haath

NEW DELHI: Everybody knows that the open palm (haath) became Congress (I)'s election symbol after the Election Commission decided to freeze cow-and-calf (gai-bachchda), its earlier mark of representationin 1978. But few are aware how the party came to agree on its new symbol. Now a just-released book details the hilarious telephone conversation between three senior Congress leaders — Indira Gandhi, Buta Singh and Narasimha Rao — that led to the decision.

"Indira was out in Vijayawada, with Rao, when Buta was asked by the Election Commission to pick an election symbol.

The choices were an elephant, a bicycle and an open palm.

Buta was not sure which symbol he should choose, so he booked a trunk call to seek Indira's approval," says author Rasheed Kidwai in his book, '24 Akbar Road'. He was the AICC general secretary then. "The line was not very clear or, perhaps, Buta's Hindi pronunciation was so thick that Indira kept hearing haathi (elephant), instead of haath (hand).

She kept saying no to it even as Buta kept trying to explain that it was not the elephant, but the open palm symbol that he was advising her to pick. The comedy of errors continued till an exasperated Indira handed the telephone over to Rao. In a matter of seconds, Rao, master of more than a dozen Indian and foreign languages, understood what Buta was trying to convey. He shouted, "Buta Singhji, panja kahiye, panja' Indira was relieved, took the receiver and said, Haan, haan, panja theek rahega (yes, yes, the open palm symbol will be appropriate)."

The book, which describes itself as "a short history of the people behind the fall and rise of the Congress, goes on to add, "Initially, the hand symbol was ridiculed.

Some Congressman felt that it would remind voters of traffic policemen, but deep within her, Indira and her key associates were pleased because earlier critics had compared the Congress's cow and calf symbol to Indira and her son Sanjay."

Indira Gandhi kept hearing 'haathi' , instead of 'haath', during a phone conversation with Buta Singh. She kept saying no to it even as Buta Singh kept trying to explain her that he meant the open palm not the elephant as the poll symbol.