Vain or Able?
Sometime in 2004, when BJP's Lal Krishna Advani described Manmohan Singh as the weakest prime ministers of India, it was seen as an undue mockery at the country's most educated Prime Minister. It was thought that BJP, who were unable to stomach their unexpected defeat in 2004 Parlimentary elections were resorting to unnecessary individual abuses. However true that might be, two years and several issues later, Manmohan Singh appears to be hell bent on proving Advani right.
Let's Consider this - When the electoral process is underway for the Assembly elections in five states in April/May 2006, the Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh announces that the government would enact a law to reserve 27% of the seats for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the institutes of higher learning. The Union HRD Minister was in such a hurry to serve the OBCs that it didn't bother him one bit that he is directly violating the model code of conduct in view of the fact that the electoral process for the five state assemblies were already underway at that point of time. When the Election Commission of India accused Arjun Singh of violating the model code of conduct, he had the cheek to question the Election Commission as to which clauses of the code of conduct, he had actually violated. The Prime Minister, to whom the Union HRD Minister supposedly reports didn't feel it necessary or didn't have the necessary guts or political will to pull up the Minister concerned and ask him to exercise caution.
On the same quota issue, in the past Manmohan Singh has aired his views batting for a system of merits against reservation. Against this backdrop, when a senior minister of the government talks the opposite, it is quite natural to think that there is no consensus on the issue even within the cabinet. When queried by the press about the unilateral nature of his announcement, he repeatedly tells the press that he had kept the Prime Minister in the loop about the quotas in higher education. It is every one's knowledge that Arjun Singh's "sudden" love for the OBCs is not just to play vote bank politics, but also to embarass Manmohan Singh. After all, Manmohan Singh is junior to Arjun Singh in politics and the latter misses no chance to take vengeance. When an issue of such seriousness was being debated across the country, as a Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh should have cleared the air one way or other by confirming or denying what his Minister said to the press. Had he confirmed, that would have given some legitimacy to Arjun Singh's announcement but that would have earned the wrath of the Election Commission for breaching the model code of conduct. Had he denied, he would have been billed as an 'upper caste Prime Minister' and in all probability would have cost him his job. Arjun Singh, very tactfully put Manmohan Singh in squandry, by calculating that the Prime Minister would not hit back.
What would have been termed insubordination by any other Prime Minister and fetched swift retribution, has been quietly accepted by Manmohan Singh, though this is not the first time that the Prime Minister has been let down by one of his colleagues;
In the past two years, we have seen this happen more than once --
We saw it happen in March 2004 during the Jharkand episode when the Governor of the State, Syed Sibtey Razi in active coordination with Central Ministers made a mockery of whatever is considered as democracy in India, and was infamously given a dressing down by the President of the country (Click here to read this writer's post on the topic when the above incidents happened). When Manmohan Singh was questioned about the same, he confessed that 'he was kept in the dark' about it that leaving no assumptions about where his authority lay.
The nation also saw Manmohan Singh struggling hard to exercise control when the country's former Foreign Minister Natwar Lal Singh and former Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar went out of their way in exceeding their limit. Of course, they were pulled up, but not before they managed to dent the authority of the Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is still one of the rare breed of politicians in this country to have proudly earned the 'sincere and honest' tag. Unfortunately, in the last two years he has also earned the 'weakest' tag as well. If at all, Manmohan Singh's tenure so far as Prime Minister means anything, it has emphasised one fact very clearly - education alone doesn't make a person effective.
Let's Consider this - When the electoral process is underway for the Assembly elections in five states in April/May 2006, the Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh announces that the government would enact a law to reserve 27% of the seats for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the institutes of higher learning. The Union HRD Minister was in such a hurry to serve the OBCs that it didn't bother him one bit that he is directly violating the model code of conduct in view of the fact that the electoral process for the five state assemblies were already underway at that point of time. When the Election Commission of India accused Arjun Singh of violating the model code of conduct, he had the cheek to question the Election Commission as to which clauses of the code of conduct, he had actually violated. The Prime Minister, to whom the Union HRD Minister supposedly reports didn't feel it necessary or didn't have the necessary guts or political will to pull up the Minister concerned and ask him to exercise caution.
On the same quota issue, in the past Manmohan Singh has aired his views batting for a system of merits against reservation. Against this backdrop, when a senior minister of the government talks the opposite, it is quite natural to think that there is no consensus on the issue even within the cabinet. When queried by the press about the unilateral nature of his announcement, he repeatedly tells the press that he had kept the Prime Minister in the loop about the quotas in higher education. It is every one's knowledge that Arjun Singh's "sudden" love for the OBCs is not just to play vote bank politics, but also to embarass Manmohan Singh. After all, Manmohan Singh is junior to Arjun Singh in politics and the latter misses no chance to take vengeance. When an issue of such seriousness was being debated across the country, as a Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh should have cleared the air one way or other by confirming or denying what his Minister said to the press. Had he confirmed, that would have given some legitimacy to Arjun Singh's announcement but that would have earned the wrath of the Election Commission for breaching the model code of conduct. Had he denied, he would have been billed as an 'upper caste Prime Minister' and in all probability would have cost him his job. Arjun Singh, very tactfully put Manmohan Singh in squandry, by calculating that the Prime Minister would not hit back.
What would have been termed insubordination by any other Prime Minister and fetched swift retribution, has been quietly accepted by Manmohan Singh, though this is not the first time that the Prime Minister has been let down by one of his colleagues;
In the past two years, we have seen this happen more than once --
We saw it happen in March 2004 during the Jharkand episode when the Governor of the State, Syed Sibtey Razi in active coordination with Central Ministers made a mockery of whatever is considered as democracy in India, and was infamously given a dressing down by the President of the country (Click here to read this writer's post on the topic when the above incidents happened). When Manmohan Singh was questioned about the same, he confessed that 'he was kept in the dark' about it that leaving no assumptions about where his authority lay.
The nation also saw Manmohan Singh struggling hard to exercise control when the country's former Foreign Minister Natwar Lal Singh and former Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar went out of their way in exceeding their limit. Of course, they were pulled up, but not before they managed to dent the authority of the Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is still one of the rare breed of politicians in this country to have proudly earned the 'sincere and honest' tag. Unfortunately, in the last two years he has also earned the 'weakest' tag as well. If at all, Manmohan Singh's tenure so far as Prime Minister means anything, it has emphasised one fact very clearly - education alone doesn't make a person effective.
posted by Indian Voter at 9:43:00 PM
3 Comments:
Future Shock
Wisdomless Politicians
Meritless Admissions
Meaningless Curriculums
Substance less Examinations
Faculty less Departments
Student less Colleges
VC less Universities
Knowledgeless Society
Developmentless Nation
Into that hell of gloomdom
My Father, let my country
go to Sleep
let my country go to Sleep.....
Poem by BR Natarajan BITS Pilani
Hi,
It's a long time since I had checked the link to your blog and today I have surprisingly found new entries. Welcome back (though a bit late to do so now) and hope to read some interesting political articles.
About Manmohan Singh, I think that 'the sincere and honest' tag is of more worth than 'the weakest' tag. Indian politics surely needs a bit of sobering up, I guess.
Well, the reason I remembered your blog today was the continuing 'Mahajan tragedy' and was wondering how an independent indian commentator (if at all one was there!) would have looked at it. We are talking about the family and the dealings of a leader who was until his death revered as the 'future Prime Minister' of this country. I am surprised to see how casually the media is treating all these incidents as nothing unusual to expect from the political circle. Whether its about power, wealth, dodgy financial dealings, nepotism, or even plain drug misuse. All our political commentators fail to comment on the most obvious point of all. These people are there just as servants to the mass. Not as masters to the rest and should fear and revere the law of the land just as anyone else. Unfortunately we seem to have got independence a little too prematurely before figuring out the difference between democracy and the princely rule!
Anyways, that is where the difference of Manmohan Singh being a sincere and honest politician matters, I guess.
Anonymous (the original, if I may say so!)
BR Natarajan: Thanks for being here and for the poem.
The 'original' Anonymous: Welcome back!
I am not sure whether you understand Tamil, but if I may say so - "thanga oosi ngaradhunaala kannula kuthikka mudiyumaa" meaning "just because it is a golden pin, could we use it on our eyes". I think that applies to Manmohan Singh and sums up my reply.
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