SPECIAL REPORT The country watched with dismay for the last five years when its prime minister was reduced to a silent spectator as things collapsed around him. Manmohan Singh truly became Maunmohan Singh. Although there were murmurs about how Sonia Gandhi was pulling the strings and had reduced the prime minster to being a rubber stamp, now, one after another, two books have come out to show that the political games were murkier than what was hitherto imagined.
A third book, by former CAG Vinod Rai is not yet complete and its publication has been postponed till June. The Congress must be heaving a sigh of relief for this. The party has immediately labeled the two published books as being “hatchet jobs” and “fictional accounts,” with Digvijay Singh even alluding that they were financed by Narendra Modi’s money. But the party has refrained from taking the legal recourse against the authors.
Questions have also been raised about the timing of the publications. But books, like any other product, are produced with commercial intentions of high sales. Hence, as any two bit marketing manager will tell you, general election time, when the country is high on the political quotient, is the best time to get media attention and reap the commensurate commercial rewards for such books.
The first book, ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’ is by Sanjaya Baru, who was media advisor to the prime minister during UPA –I. It shows how the alliance was, in a complete subversion of democratic norms, ruled by an extra constitutional authority (Sonia Gandhi) by remote control and by empowered groups of ministers (EGoMs), called an administrative innovation but a recipe for disaster like too many cooks.
To skirt the foreign origin issue after winning in 2004, Mrs Gandhi had very astutely installed the technocrat Manmohan Singh as prime minister, knowing that the actual reins of power will be in her hands. She packed the PMO with her chosen men and files went to the PM only after allegedly being vetted by her.
Some commentators have said that since the UPA had won the election, as chairperson of the alliance, Sonia Gandhi had primacy in getting the initiatives of the manifesto implemented. While that is true to an extent, what is also true is that the alliance can at best spell out its policy direction to the prime minister and the government and then expect it to carry them out.
Explanations can be sought for any digression. Repeated transgressions can be tackled with replacement of ministers and even the prime minister. But beyond that, interfering in the day to day, case to case or issue to issue working of the elected government is not a done thing. It results in, and resulted in, undermining the status of the prime minister. It results in, and resulted in, a weak and indecisive government whose left hand does not know what its right hand is doing.
When the prime minister sees it is not his decisions that are carried out by ministers, over a period of time he stops taking decisions. Is such an arrangement good for the country? Certainly not – in fact, it is disastrous as the policy paralysis of the last ten years has shown.
Further, with too many power centres like the prime minister himself, the PMO, the EGoMs, the party, the coalition partners and the chairperson of the UPA, the incidence of corruption multiplies manifold, as the second book, ‘Crusader or Conspirator?’ by ex-Coal secretary P C Parakh reveals. Parakh narrates a tale which goes on to show that it is not enough to have a spotlessly clean man at the top if he cannot resist pulls and pressures of the corrupt people that surround him.
In interviews subsequent to the release of the book, Parakh has clearly stated that Manmohan Singh had very little political authority and consequently, was unable to counter vested interests in the allocation of coal blocks. This has far reaching ramifications for the country as judicious and optimum exploitation and utilization of its natural resources is mandatory for growth.
There is an outside chance that the authors of the two books referred above might have come out with their versions solely to escape punishment on a change of government and the consequent investigations into the murky deals that were the hallmark of the UPA governments. But it is more likely that both accomplished officers have penned what they saw and experienced in their years in the corridors of power. The truth is known only to the dramatis personae involved and may never come out, unless, of course, Manmohan Singh comes out with his truthful memoirs.
Another disconcerting fact is that coming out in the books is the habit of packing the higher echelons of power with officers who are not civil servants. These officers are not bound by the Official Secrets Act. They are also not bound by the All India Service Conduct Rules. Hence, they were free to write about what went at official meetings without any fear. It also shows the all India services in a poor light if top officers are appointed by-passing its cadre.
However, the books present a very disturbing picture of how India was run for the last 10 years. The chain of command, so necessary for a government to work smoothly, was completely missing. The country did not know where the buck stopped. Instead of stoically bearing the undermining of his authority, Manmohan Singh should have resigned when things started getting out of hand.
His sense of propriety and loyalty to the country should have far outweighed his sense of loyalty to the party and its supreme leader. It is here that he failed. Posterity will not be kind to him for this, despite his otherwise impeccable credentials.
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