Muchkund Dubey : Many–Splendoured Personality | Vijay Kumar

TRIBUTE

The passing away of Muchkund Dubey at the ripe age of 93 years on 26th June, 2024 is a terrible loss to rarefied domain of diplomacy and public intellectualism. His death also represents the irretrievable loss to the civil society. Muchkund Dubey was born in a poor Brahmin family, and rose in his life only through hard work, fierce determination and tenacity. He had lofty goal and noble purpose, and slogged hard to realize the same. He was a man of soaring idealism. He qualified prestigious IFS (Indian Foreign Service) in 1957, and retired by becoming Foreign Secretary – the capstone in the IFS service. Muchkund Dubey was, perhaps, the only Foreign Secretary, who served under three Prime Ministers – V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar and P.V. Narasimha Rao. Even after retirement, Narasimha Rao government appointed him as a main negotiator for TRIP negotiation. As a diplomat, Muchkund Dubey advocated the interest of global south. His robust sense of independence came to the fore when he, as a foreign secretary, rejected the initial demand of U.S. GOVT for fuelling it’s military aircraft at Bombay airport during first Iraq War in 1990. Sensing his objection, U.S. diplomat altered the tone and tenor by converting into proper request with all diplomatic niceties, and only thereafter, permission was accorded. His independence, however, was grounded in national interest and tempered with pragmatism rather than ideological blinker. No wonder, he effusively welcomed Indo-US Nuclear Treaty of 2007 through his erudite and prolix article, published in Mainstream.

After retirement from exalted foreign service, he joined JNU and taught International Relation for eight years and earned professorship – a rare combination of diplomacy and academic pursuit. There are many ambassadors, but there is only professor amongst diplomats – an exceptional distinction he achieved.

The passion for academic pursuit was always latent in him and his retirement from foreign service and joining JNU led to its full-blown manifestation. He continued to teach, even after retirement from JNU, in SAARC University and newly created Central University in Sikkim. His multi-faceted talents came to the fore after his retirement, and perhaps because of these versatilities, his intellectual outlook was not pigeonholed into rigid and dogmatic ideology.

The most lasting legacy of Prof. Dubey is ‘Common School System’ report, authored mainly by him, in 2007, when Bihar Government appointed him as Chairman of the Three Members Committee. He infused his entire energy and intellectual resources in preparation of the weighty report that influenced and shaped subsequent reports prepared by the Central Government, which paved the way for enactment of the Right to Education Act, 2009. The Right to Education up to the age of 14 years as a fundamental right was incorporated in the Constitution by 86th Amendment in 2002, but it was to be made operational only through proper legislation. It is the ‘Common School System’ report, principally authored by him, that acted as a catalyst for the passing of Right to Education Act in 2009. Prof. Dubey was passionate with right to education and pursued this with zeal, almost till his last breath. Prof. Dubey, in course of championing the cause of Right to Education, was of the firm view that ‘Bharat ’ cannot become Vikshit (developed) unless it is literate. It was his life-long lamentation that successive Central and State Governments failed to implement the Right to Education in right earnest.

Prof.Dubey was a workaholic till his last breath. He continued to read, write and espouse the cause of Right to Education, even when it started affecting his health, and he was also terribly pre-occupied with the ailments of his wife and younger daughter. It is, perhaps, psyche and inherent trait of workaholics to beat their personal blues through pre-occupation with the work.

The Obituary cannot, wholly, be detached from the personal touch. My acquaintance with Sri Muchkund Dubey started around 2005-2006, and the common link was the ‘Mainstream’ magazine and its Editor, Sumit Chakravartty. I started writing for Mainstream on constitutional issues in early 1990s, and I have contributed more than hundred articles since then. Prof. Dubey was also writing regularly for Mainstream, and we were introduced to each other by its Editor Sumit Chakrabartty.

Ever since the outbreak of Covid-19 in March 2020, coinciding with his wife’s ailments, and his own deteriorating health, he stopped attending outside parties and functions. My last Book, “The Theory of Basic Structure : Saviour of the Constitution and Democracy†was scheduled to be released on 10th July, 2023 in IIC. I went to his CSD office and handed him an invitation card. Initially, he was reluctant and told me that he had stopped attending late evening functions and parties. As I pressed hard and implored earnestly, he agreed to attend only main function and excused himself for skipping the Dinner. The main function started around 6.30 p.m. and lasted for almost one and a half hours during which key note address was made by Prof. Upendra Baxi, which itself lasted almost one hour, and thereafter Dinner started. To my pleasant surprise, Muchkund Dubey turned up with his retired IFS colleague and other professor of CSD and attended not only main function but was present during Dinner also and left around 10.00 p.m. I was overwhelmed by deep sense of gratitude, and would treasure it in my memory till my last breath.

On 27th May, 2024, he called me and expressed his desire to see me. We met at IIC Annexe for almost two hours. It was on that day, I noticed, first time in my acquaintance with him, a sense of depression. In fact, he started the talk by saying he called me as he was feeling depressed. I tried to cheer him up by saying that when you became depressed, we would drop dead, as you are the precious source of inspiration and encouragement.

No mortal life can be free from unfulfilled desire. I am aware of, at least, two unrealised wishes of him. He was ardent defender of U.N. and started writing a book on it. I had the privilege of lending him one of the most authoritative works on U.N. by acclaimed Austrian scholar of international law: Prof’ Hans Kochler. He was also penning down his memoir and worked on it, almost till his end. Both these book remained unfinished, as Covid 19, his wife’s illness and his own failing health, effectually, dashed his endeavour.

Muchkund Dubey had multi-splendoured personality. He was at once Diplomat, Professor, Author, Columnist, Public Commentator and Intellectual, polyglot, Social Activist and concerned and enlightened citizen. His masterly translation of Lalon Shah Fakir’s poem from bangla into hindi would, in course of time, would immortalise his oeuvre. It is given to gifted few to excel in so many areas. Muchkund Dubey did. Common School System is valuable legacy left by him, and demand for its full and strict implementation by his followers and associates would be true tribute to his great life.

(Author: Vijay Kumar, Senior Advocate & Author Of “The Theory Of Basic Structure Saviour of The Constitution And Democracy†)