Newsmakers 2008

By M H Ahssan

PRIMED POLITICIAN—MANMOHAN SINGH
It was a year of revelation. India discovered the politician in the prime minister, and Manmohan Singh his inner voice to exercise the power of the Prime Minister’s Office. When anointed, Manmohan was to be the CEO who would run the Government and Sonia Gandhi, as UPA chairperson, was to manage the allies, the minority shareholders.

The Left was to provide political ballast and independent scrutiny. As India hurtles towards elections, the rear view mirror shows the distance between intent and reality. For 48 months, the prime minister was hostage to the antics of his Cabinet whom he could not choose and to the ideological intransigence of the Left. Policy decisions were held to ransom at 175 GoMs by vested interest groups. His frequent exhortations of “the Government must…” almost vindicated his status as an outsider in politics.

The economy was too shallow and needed reforms to spur demand to sustain growth. National security called for urgent attention. Yet, political procrastination was the preferred option and national interest was mortgaged to ensure political survival. As a tired people cried for redemption, the reluctant ruler unexpectedly exercised his authority.

Echoing the battle cry of Guru Gobind Singh, he forced the coalition to dump the Left and save the Indo-US nuclear deal. The flash of authority was what the middle class expected of the prime minister. But destiny left little room for him to savour the ‘Singh is King’ chorus.

As the global meltdown threatens jobs and terrorists defy the state, Manmohan faces both a challenge and an opportunity. While India awaits redemption, he has taken charge of the war room for economic resurgence and patriotic pride. How he converts the toxic challenge will determine if his will be a lasting or subprime legacy.

NAMASTE GOODBYE—SHIVRAJ PATIL
Shivraj Patil must have had implicit faith in Murphy’s law which states that “whatever can go wrong will go wrong”. As Union home minister when the country suffered the worst terror attacks in living memory, his conduct became a symbol of all that was wrong with the UPA Government. Since Patil took charge at North Block, there have been over 6,000 terrorist attacks in India, big and small, resulting in nearly 2,000 deaths.

Each time innocents fell victims to terrorists’ bullets and bombs, Patil had a ready fig leaf: there are less deaths now than during the previous BJP-led NDA government. Had he been as obsessed with his job as he was with his looks—he was often called the Serial Dresser for changing his attire three to four times a day—the toll perhaps would have been even less.

a handful, few have any insight about how the UPA works. Yet, it is often said that had Patil won the Lok Sabha election in 2004, the loyalist in him was the Family’s first choice for prime minister. For averting that disaster, the voters of Latur deserve the country’s gratitude.

ROLLER COASTER RIDER—RATAN TATA
For the very private person that he is, 2008 has been a very public roller coaster ride. Beginning with the rock star applause at the Nano rollout in January, Tata has created news and been chased by headlines. Post Corus, lesser entrepreneurs would have been daunted but globalisation is a matter of conviction not convenience for Tata.

Even as he was wrapped up in the acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover, the shy titan was drawn into an ugly public battle in Singur. Refusing to be blackmailed, he pulled out to relocate in Gujarat. The respite from headlines though was typically brief as terrorists struck Mumbai and almost destroyed the 103-year-old Taj Hotel. While reopening the hotel last week, he said “We can be hurt but we cannot be knocked out.” To many it is enough to do things right. For Tata, leadership means doing the right things. So what if the ride is a roller coaster.

KING OF THE RING—AKSHAY KUMAR
Log bole mujhe Bollywood star, naam mera Akshay Kumar. That’s the actor singing in the soon-to-be-released Chandni Chowk to China. But really, 2008 ensured that the actor never again has to introduce himself to any gathering. Singh is Kinng, a piping hot jalebi cooked in desi ghee, gave Kumar a permanent perch at the very top of Bollywood’s food chain, spawning fashion fads and buzzwords.

A much-hyped Tashan bombed but Kumar made news for all sorts of reasons—from a reported one film fee of Rs 71 crore to a reality show Khatron Ke Khiladi, which kicked off a new channel, from statements taking on the reigning badshah of Bollywood to being ambassador for IPL’s Delhi Daredevils.

A combination of great comedic timing and ever-new action skills, Kumar proved to be a reliable star in a difficult year. He also embodies the virtues that India’s adventurous Punjabi community pride themselves on: sheer simplicity and unadulterated hard work. Most of all, his transformation, from a one-trick virtual stuntman to an all-round entertainer, showed the power of the possible.

OVER THE MOON—G. MADHAVAN NAIR
He promised India the moon, and gave it. When G. Madhavan Nair took over as chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) five years ago, among his tasks was to create a whole new vision for one of the country’s most successful public sector institutions.

ISRO had already demonstrated that it could indigenously design state-of-the-art satellites and build sophisticated rocketry to launch them into desired orbits. Nair decided to take ISRO to where no Indian institution or individual had gone before—first the moon, then possibly Mars and even beyond.

As India watched with bated breath, on November 14, 2008, at 8.31 p.m., the lunar impact probe from the orbiting Chandrayaan 1 struck the moon’s surface, putting India among a handful of nations in the world to achieve the feat.

The successful mission was only one in a long list of ISRO’s achievements that sent the country’s spirit soaring even as terror strikes and an economic downturn threatened to ground India’s ambitions. Under Nair’s meticulous stewardship, India joined the big boys in space in 2008.

ART OF THE DEAL—AMAR SINGH
There is a bit of Amar Singh in every political milestone of the year—from the the nuclear deal to the Batla House encounter to the cash-for-votes scandal.

The flamboyant thakur began the year as a persona non grata, thrashed in Uttar Pradesh and ignored in Delhi. Even then the haughty Singh never behaved like a cringing relative, walking in late for dinners at the prime minister’s house.

And when he got the chance, he glided in and struck the deal of the year. When the Left tried to topple the Government, it was Singh who played saviour with his out-sourced nuclear expertise and the Samajwadi Party MPs.

Now when Singh visits Batla House, it changes the political debate of the day. When he goes for an appointment with the prime minister, the media begins to speculate of a cabinet reshuffle.

His charitable donations make international headlines. Ask the Congress what it finally gained from the nuclear deal and the answer is: Amar Singh.

NOBODY’S PAWN—V. ANAND
For eight years, the powerful Russian chess bloc kept moving the goalposts but each time they found Viswanathan Anand standing in front of them. India’s grandest master was made to win the world chess championship title three times on three continents to be given his just due—but this year he could be denied no more.

After a world championship win via knockout in Tehran in 2000, he defeated the world’s top seven players in a double round robin in Mexico City in 2007 for the first ‘unified’ world chess title. But again, the skeptics sniffed saying neither format was ‘classical’ enough.

So finally, when confronted by the Eastern block’s poster boy, Vladimir Kramnik in a ‘pure’ match-play contest over 11 games in Bonn this year, Anand hunched over the table, contemplated his options and played the most decisive move of his career. Kramnik was knocked over like a petulant pawn and the Indian was the undisputed world chess champion. Game over, argument over.

DOWN AND UNDER—SENSEX
For sheer unpredictability, nothing can vie with the Sensex. It rose spectacularly from 4,505 points in May 2004 to 21,000 at the beginning of the year only to plumb new depths. Having lost over 50 per cent of its gains, the Sensex is languishing around the 10,000-point mark. The pundits, who espoused the decoupling thesis which said that the emerging markets could prosper despite a slowdown in the developed world, have retreated into their burrows.

As the subprime crisis and the subsequent credit crunch devoured large parts of the world, the Great India Story started turning sour as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) stated pulling out their India investments— $13 billion (Rs 62,120 crore), to be exact. The ripple effects of the equity market crisis spilled over into the money markets; the rupee slid from a high of Rs 39 per dollar in January to Rs 48.50 now.

By and large, equity meltdown is the villain behind the rupee’s fall. Equity investors face a tug of war between deteriorating earnings prospects and increasingly attractive valuations. The next year promises to be no easier. Global growth is slowing and a number of countries are likely to go into recession. Markets are likely to remain extremely volatile as investors weigh up bad news on the economy against an unprecedented array of government stimuli.

GOLD STANDARD—ABHINAV BINDRA
When Abhinav Bindra lined up his last shot in the Olympic 10m air rifle final, he would have seen his target and nothing else. A billion swearing Indians saw the bull’s eye for it really was: the shackles of their unfortunate Olympic history.

So when this laconic 25-year-old, with a ferocious appetite for work, fired his final bullet, he shattered the shackles and set Indian sport free. Never again would it be said that India and Olympic gold did not, could not, go together. Bindra’s winning shot carried with it an echo that will forever resonate in the hearts and minds of every Indian athlete who puts on an Olympic uniform from this day on.

Because of him, they will stand at their marks on the world’s biggest stage in sport and will be able to say to themselves, “Yes, I can. Yes, it is possible”. On his return from Beijing, Bindra was a little baffled by his country’s joy, but he has used his position to speak frankly about not just his sport but all of Indian sport, and become the most forceful and legitimate of spokesmen for that most under-represented class: the Indian athlete.