“I hope history will be kinder to
be than the contemporary media” said an apparently resigned, graceful and
statesman-like Manmohan Singh, during a rare interaction with the media in
January. Given that the personal credibility of the PM is under siege and the relevance
of the PMO has faded into oblivion, this seemingly harmless yearn of the PM has
drawn pungent reactions from the widest cross-section of ill-informed
observers, commentators and the proletariat at large. Largely perceived to be a
lame-duck and titular head of government, Manmohan Singh’s earnestness to
justify his authority has been shrouded with bitter cynicism.
Yes, we cannot ignore, refute and
disprove that fact that the current government appears to be the most corrupt
government in independent India – a perception that has been carefully crafted
by scams, media trials, some ambitious institutions, a hyperactive judiciary
and growth of pseudo-activists. And as head of this very government, it is only
obvious that he takes the flak. The major criticism leveled against the Prime
Minister is his ineffectiveness and his inability to reign in his cabinet and
instill confidence in the higher bureaucracy. If we were to take the criticism
further, an impassioned section of critics and detractors reasonably argue that
Manmohan Singh’s elevation as Prime Minister is the most befitting case study
that reinforces the argument posited by Peter’s Principle. Peter’s Principle
argues that "in a hierarchically structured administration, people tend to
be promoted up to their level of incompetence”. As a more eloquent metaphor - "The
cream rises until it sours." To put this view in perspective, Manmohan
Singh is, perhaps, the best cabinet secretary we never had and the worst Prime
Minister we have ever had. There is absolutely no doubt regarding the problem
solving caliber of the person. Having said this, I run the risk of sharp
retorts and impulsive comparisons being drawn with his stint as the Finance
Minister. What a lot of us do not see is – as the Finance Minister; Manmohan
Singh was mandated with specific tasks and was protected by the then legendary
Prime Minister, P V Narasimha Rao. If we strain our memories a little, Rao took
a lot of the flak aimed at Manmohan Singh. What follows from this is that our Prime
Minister is someone who can do things but probably not get them done.
Therefore, as a bureaucrat or a technocrat, there will perhaps be a parallel to
his dexterity. However, as the fountainhead of the system, aspersions have been
cast. This is the popular view about Manmohan Singh.
But if you were to ask me, I see
it a little differently. In my view, he is best Prime Minister we could have
had but was not to be. As Ayn Ran says about Gail Wynand – “the man who could
have been”. To be fair to his legacy as the Prime Minister, we need to look at
the ten year period as the first 7 years and the last 3 years. There cannot be
a doubt that the Congress won the 2009 general election with a thumping 206
seats, largely because of the personal goodwill of the Prime Minister, which
till date stands intact. The statistics of growth and other economic indicators
are out in the open for public consumption and I shall not consume valuable
print space to elaborate the known. Be it his hard-talking with the Left during
the nuclear deal or his strong dealing with Pakistan in the wake of the 26/11
attacks, Prime Minister Singh seemed to be a man in control. A man who staked
his government to secure the long term future of the country cannot be lame
duck. Then what went wrong? In my opinion, the watershed moment was the Sharm-El-Sheikh
disaster, which cost him the backing of his populist party. And history bears
witness that the support of the party is quintessential for the Prime Minister
to wield any influence. There were the signs that the head of state wilted
under intense pressure from the United States. The moment his detractors (inside
the party, inside the government and all others) smelt blood, there was no
looking back. What did not further help the Prime Minister was the fact that
most of his ministers worked at cross purposes. The Prime Ministerial ambitions
of some powerful ministers were no secret and in his quest to de-stabilise the
PMO, a lot of information, generally well-guarded by all governments, was
available with the mainstream media. In the cross fight between his two most
senior lieutenants; Manmohan Singh seemed to be losing control. Also, that most
bureaucratic and ministerial appointments happened with the blessings of the
party matriarchy didn’t help matters either. The moment there was a chink the armor
of the Singh loyalists – they were shown the door. In the face of such an atmosphere, the Prime
Minister seemed to lose interest in the government and therefore governance.
Every human who is persistently maligned and degraded is bound to lose the
motivation to turn up at work. This seemingly basic truth applies here too. As
the vicious cycle grew bigger, the governmental setup became more of a joke by
the passing day.
Having said all this, I still believe
that he could have been a much more assertive in trying to negate the aimless
populism of the Gandhi family which has caused irreparable structural damage to
the country’s economy. If we read in between the lines, Manmohan Singh was
Sonia Gandhi’s most trusted choice of Prime Minister. It doesn’t take expertise
in political science to understand that once Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam refused to
swear her in, Mrs. Gandhi needed Manmohan Singh more than he needed her. He was
well on his course to recede into the dusk, with the legacy of a technocrat who
brought about radical changes to the Indian economy. But for some inexplicable
reason, he chose not to assert himself. Pranab Mukherjee could not be trusted,
Chidambaram was too arrogant, A K Anthony was way too laid back and Shivraj
Patil was way too incompetent. The only choice – if at all, I could call it a
choice – was to appoint Manmohan Singh as the head of government.
The moment he was handed the poisoned
chalice, the Prime Minster knew that his legacy would no longer be his own
doing. Politically, he was perhaps checkmated even before his pawns made a
move. Yes, he did well by booting out the Left, which was used by Sonia Gandhi
to propagate her profligacy – but the inadequacy of that smart political
maneuver is self-evident. I also concede that he could have handled foreign
policy much better – something the Gandhi family wasn’t interested in. After having
made peace with the Republican Bush, it is rather surprising that the bonhomie
with the Democrat Obama is missing. Our dealings with China are shambolic and
we seem to have lost our sphere of influence in the sub-continent. And for
these misgivings, the buck cannot be passed on.
The shoot and scoot politics of
the confused Gandhi family scion further dented the image of the PM and the
PMO. After the ordinance photo-op and the Jan Lokpal fiasco, it became
increasingly clear that Rahul Gandhi suddenly grew up from his rather long
youth years and decided to walk into this rightful place! And that meant
displacing the incumbent. Though the Gandhi family has tried very hard to blame
all ills of the country to the Prime Minister, the Prime Minster has valiantly
dug in his heels. In Manmohan Singh’s defense, we need to understand that he
was not endowed with the deviousness of the politicians. Given that he did not
enjoy mass appeal as Atal Bihari Vajpayee or Indira Gandhi, his bargaining
power hinged largely on his untarnished image – which eventually picked up a
few stains. Despite his political naivety, the Prime Minister has held his head
high.
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