Indian government employees do not engage in activities such as keeping diaries or writing memos during their tenure. Even retired top executives often don't write about their work-related experiences. Some like Neela Padmanabhan, PA Krishnan, Khushwant Singh have written them down as essays or fiction but they are not enough for historians. These are major reasons why contemporary historical events cannot be compiled. Judicial crime analysis reports such as the Gupta Commission Report, the Mandal Commission Report are a means of examining contemporary events and their consequences. However, Bishan Narayan Tandon served as Assistant Secretary in Indira Gandhi's office during the Emergency.
At that time it was functioning as the Prime Minister's Secretariat (PMS). Tandon was involved in politics for nearly seven years as the group's deputy secretary. From special-data August he wrote a diary almost every day. These notes written in Hindi were translated into English after 2000 as PMO Diary – I (The Emergency), PMO Diary – II (The Emergency).It was published in two volumes. Diaries begin with minor incidents in the Prime Minister's office during the Emergency. He has written in a very interesting manner how the Prime Minister's Office has worked to solve problems, big and small. In these notes we get not only an impression of the Emergency but also the personal characteristics of ministers who held government offices to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. News that has not been published so far is also reported in it.
One cannot help but be amazed to read how the dynamic force of power not only invisibly weaves intricate cobwebs but also swallows up even simple people who are not connected to the machinery of government. Bishan Narayan Tandon's preface and some pages of the diary have been translated into Tamil below. BNTandonOn I resigned from the post of Deputy Commissioner of Delhi and joined the Prime Minister's Office as Deputy Secretary. Before me, a friend named Sushital Banerjee held that position. After a month of working together and introducing me to the Under Secretary's office, he left for Washington to take up his new role. He forced me to keep a diary while he was working but couldn't. RS Pathak, a judicial friend and later Chief Justice of India, gave me the same advice.