PM ducks no queries, says he's no lame duck

The notion that I am a lame-duck prime minister is a baseless one, a complete figment of the imagination, Manmohan Singh told leading newspaper editors from around the country in a disarmingly frank interaction on Wednesday.

Singh fielded virtually all the questions thrown at him, including potentially tricky ones. He said his long silence had been “misinterpreted” by the opposition and the media to suggest that he was a failure as prime minister, hemmed in by coalition politics and controlled remotely by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. It had also led to the feeling, promoted by a section within the Congress, that he was merely a “night watchman” who would soon make way for Rahul Gandhi.

Singh did not avoid any questions, give ambiguous answers, or obfuscate on any issue, be it Baba Ramdev’s post-midnight arrest or the so-called ‘bugging’ of the finance minister’s office.
Referring to the oft-repeated suggestion from partymen and a section of the media that Singh was ready to step down at any moment to make room for ‘youth’ to lead the country, the prime minister pointed out that neither the Congress nor its president had yet asked him to do so. Therefore, he said, all this was in the realm of media speculation and idle gossip.

On the burning issue of the Lokpal Bill, which has been agitating the minds of the so-called civil society, he said he was not averse to being brought under the ambit of the ombudsman, but the views of the cabinet and other political parties would also have to be considered and a consensus evolved.

He said there was no ‘tension’ between him and Sonia Gandhi, insisting that she had never interfered in government. He said she had kept herself aloof from all government decisions and her being the ‘remote control’ was a myth perpetuated by the media.
He said Gandhi had guided the party in the most trying circumstances and the electoral victories of 2004 and 2009 were entirely due to her efforts, tenacity and dedication.

He said he and Gandhi meet every week to discuss issues and suggestions from all quarters. These discussions, he said, are totally frank and without any constraints. So there is no possibility of Gandhi overriding him or trying to run the government by remote control. The notion that I am a lame duck PM is a baseless one and completely a figment of imagination.   

Singh said he was disturbed not by the criticism in the media, but by the kind of cynicism that has spread through the country because of the negative picture that is constantly painted. He admitted, was apologetic even, that lots remained to be achieved. But he said that if one had achieved five of the 10 things one set out to do, it should be seen as more than satisfactory; seven out of 10 would be excellent, he said, and 10 out of 10 would be next to impossible. Yet, he said, the media highlighted only what remained to be achieved, rarely mentioning the positives.

He reminded the editors that in 2008 the situation was so bleak following the near collapse of the US economy that many a commentator had predicted disaster in India. But the Indian economy registered steady growth upward of 7%. A large number of projects went on stream, industrial investment increased, and there was hope in the economy. But that vibrancy, dynamism and optimism was largely ignored by the media.

Kumar Ketkar, editor-in-chief of Divya Marathi, a sister publication of DNA, was among the editors invited to interact with the prime minister in New Delhi.