FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s most remembered legacy, at the end of his second term, will sadly be that he was India’s third-longest serving prime minister. The civilian nuclear breakthrough of his first term was only a partial success while his second term was swamped by scams and policy paralysis. There were once qualities about Manmohan Singh that made India like and respect him. These stemmed from his reputation as an economic visionary, his decision to open the country to the world as finance minister in the early ’90s, and the general impression that his personal integrity was never in doubt. That obviously is not enough.
As I travelled through Uttar Pradesh with our new state-of-the-art mobile TV studio, Election Express, which will air shows from across the nation right through the polling process, the resentment against the UPA Government was vociferous. Surprisingly, hardly anyone mentioned Manmohan Singh, except one woman, who said she wanted a prime minister she could see and hear. His parsimony with words and his invisibility have become legendary and the butt of many jokes across the country. To top this is his obeisance to the Gandhi family in spite of several humiliating moments, such as Rahul Gandhi’s threat to tear up a proposed ordinance making it easier for tainted politicians to contest elections after the Cabinet had agreed on it. Many wondered why the Prime Minister, a man of such integrity, did not resign when his authority as well as that of his Cabinet was so challenged. It has always been a mystery how this diarchy has worked with strong power centres of Rahul and Sonia Gandhi outside the formal structure.
All those who once considered Manmohan Singh to be a champion of free-market economy have turned against him. As the growth rate hovers around the 5 per cent mark, India has become a difficult place to do business in. Corruption and price rise have made life almost impossible for the common man. Manmohan Singh’s own party seems to be fighting the 2014 polls by distancing itself from these twin inheritances. The transformative acts of the last 10 years are being credited to the Gandhi family, while the blame for all ills has fallen at the doorstep of the Prime Minister, who can only watch silently till the election results are announced and a new premier is elected.
Our cover story this week dwells on Manmohan Singh’s mistakes, told through exclusive book extracts culled from The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh by Sanjaya Baru, his former media adviser and closest aide. Baru, who has known Dr Singh for over two decades, saw the Prime Minister unravel from close quarters until he quit in 2008. His book explains the reasons behind Manmohan Singh’s failure—from constituting a weak PMO, to letting his Cabinet colleagues owe allegiance to the Gandhi family, to not contesting the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, to ignoring corruption. Taking us through the daily nitty-gritty of what it means to be in power, and by extension, what not to do as a prime minister, the book tells the inside story of why UPA 1 worked and why UPA 2 was doomed to fail.
As Manmohan Singh gets ready to bid farewell to 7 Race Course Road after a lost decade, there are lessons to be learnt for the next prime minister. Hopefully his mistakes won’t be repeated, otherwise the country will pay a heavy price.