Defence minister Pranab Mukherjee in his office in Delhi. Picture by Rajesh Kumar

New Delhi, May 24: Pranab Mukherjee, 69, is seated in the room occupied by George Fernandes, 74, till last week but he has not yet occupied the chair vacated by his predecessor. To his right is the member of Parliament from Murshidabad, Adhir Choudhary, who helped in the campaign to elect him from Jangipur. His Man Friday is Bengal Congressman Pradyot Guha. The only thing remotely military in Mukherjee in his avatar as defence minister is his ability to rebuke.

“I am not concerned with image or self-projection,” he cuts a questioner short.

It is difficult to visualise Mukherjee ridding himself of his crisp kurta, dhoti and angavastram, donning the fighter pilot’s paraphernalia and flying in the MiG-21, dashing off to the wastes of the Siachen glacier in snowgear every month, flying in the Sukhoi 30 or spending a night in a submarine. All of which Fernandes was probably the only minister and the oldest politician to do.

“Image does not bother me. I am interested only in getting things done”, Mukherjee adds.

Minutes ago, in his house on 13 Talkatora Road, he was accepting congratulatory messages and a small red tilak on his forehead is the giveaway that there was a thanksgiving to the Lord. It was past office time but he was timing his visit to his South Block office for 11.30 am. Mukherjee took the seat some time later in the excellently appointed office on the first floor that overlooks India Gate and Raisina Hill.

In the morning, Mukherjee was briefed by defence secretary Ajay Prasad and his colleagues. He is now due to meet the service chiefs. Across the street in North Block is the home ministry, which he was tipped to get and which has now gone to Shivraj Patil. But Mukherjee is all correctitude.

“There is no element of surprise (in my appointment as defence minister). It is the prerogative of the Prime Minister to constitute his/her ministry.”

He is prepared for business straightaway and has marked out his priority areas. If Mukherjee is not going to fly in the MiG-21, he is not going into a Tehelka either. “Three areas I will look into are: institutional arrangements for procurement — both emergency and regular — that are transparent and clean; ensuring that the funds allocated are utilised in full because we cannot waste resources and integration of the three wings of the armed services.” If there are specific corruption charges, “they will definitely have to be looked into”.

It is difficult to say just yet if Mukherjee will open old cans of worms. The possibility is there, that he may want to re-examine purchases made in a hurry during and just after the 1999 Kargil war and also the issue of imported coffins.

In the short term, it is certain, however, that with the departure of the NDA government the security establishment is likely to lose its militarist edge, the tendency to think in military terms of engagement whenever confronted with crises.

“In Jammu and Kashmir, we are aware of the issues. We will deal at different levels. Yesterday’s killing shows that terrorists will not allow us to live in peace. We need to look at civilian security and also the political angle. Some of this work involves the home ministry as well,” Mukherjee says.

Among the decisions pending with the ministry is the recommendation of a Group of Ministers to create the post of Chief of Defence Staff as a single point military adviser to the government and a necessary step to integrate the three armed services.

The defence minister will also study the recommendation of the recent commanders’ conferences of the three services. Among the most important of these is the question of the size of India’s one million-strong army. With confidence building measures with China having by now become almost institutionalised, some argue that India should trim its two-front army.