Despite clean image, Manmohan Singh remains second-choice prime minister

Nearly no one with any objectivity gives the Congress/United Progressive Alliance (UPA) a third term after 2014. Almost nothing will retrieve the situation for UPA in its second term, including changing the prime minister.

To quote Manmohan Singh out of context, nobody carries a “magic wand”, least of all Rahul Gandhi, Digvijay Singh’s favourite for the prime ministership. The Thakur leader was busy promoting Rahul Gandhi at the cost of Manmohan Singh till the Congress party snubbed him.

Manmohan Singh’s unique redeeming points (as opposed to his USP) are his personal integrity, decency, and humility. In the worst recent attacks on the UPA government and Congress leadership, Manmohan Singh has been singularly spared. Even the BJP has ceased targeting him, at least temporarily.

And Manmohan Singh has international standing matched by few contemporary Indian politicians. Although his current overall economic administration of India has been marked by failure, he still enjoys considerable worldwide reputation as an economist. All in all, and particularly curriculum vitae-wise, no one presently can compare to Manmohan Singh in the Congress.

Then he brings political “non-assets” which are equally or more valuable. Manmohan Singh has no political base. He lost the last Lok Sabha election he fought from South Delhi. Although the time and circumstances have passed for Rahul Gandhi to succeed him (despite the best or worst attempts of Digvijay Singh), Manmohan Singh’s essential docility and harmlessness make him the ideal stopgap should a dynastic takeover be replanned down the road.

The tragic bottomline is that Manmohan Singh remains a second-choice prime minister. He has been a stopgap PM from day one of the first UPA government. He only fought to save the Indo-US nuclear deal, and compromised the prime ministership on much else. Most notably, on preventing and fighting corruption, the PM has been conspicuously absent, despite his famed personal honesty.

Barring the otherwise disastrous VP Singh, few PMs crusaded against corruption. But at least there was a vigilant opposition some part of the time. The current paralysis of the BJP contributed to the UPA II’s unchecked corruption, which presented a wide open field for Anna Hazare’s civil society legions to occupy. Power abhors vacuum.

And there will be more of the present, not less. Don’t expect the UPA II to terminate suddenly, despite all the negativity it evokes. The BJP is making almost no exertions of its own against corruption, hoping to ride on the anti-corruption wave generated by Anna, which may happen. Equally, Manmohan Singh will be able to make no difference to the situation, because seven years of stopgap prime-ministership has enervated him.

Cannily, Digvijay Singh & Co, which have big stakes in a Rahul Gandhi prime ministership, know this. If a week is a long time in politics, three years — or as much time as there is to go for the 2014 polls — is an eternity. If the general consensus is that the Congress/UPA is not returning in 2014, why stick hopelessly with Manmohan Singh? Why not bring in Rahul and gain the fruits of power, even if it is short-lived?

That, at any rate, is the thinking among sections of the Congress and between Digvijay Singh’s friends. Some even argue that the best way to end backroom manipulations of the government and backseat driving of the PMO would be by bringing Rahul Gandhi upfront as PM. The country does not care one way or another. If you noticed, Digvijay Singh’s promotion of Rahul Gandhi — till it was scotched by the Congress party — was greeted with indifference throughout the country. At 41, Rahul Gandhi cannot claim to be a youth icon. And clearly, a 73-year-old Anna Hazare inspires more youth following.

But the point is: Is Rahul Gandhi ready? Can he stop the UPA-II slide? The answers are insinuated by the Congress party’s snub to Digvijay Singh’s idea of Rahul-as-PM “now”.

The hard truth is that Manmohan Singh remains as indispensible to the UPA up to 2014 as he was in the past seven years of untrammelled loot. Every time the UPA faced a corruption scandal, the honest face and clean image of Manmohan Singh was showcased. More than ever, the Congress/UPA needs Manmohan Singh for the same thing. But it won’t help in 2014.

The people of this country have reached a dire understanding of the truth that transports them beyond the mukhota (mask).

NV Subramanian is the Delhi-based editor of www.newsinsight.net and writes on politics and strategic affairs.
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