Column

What is it about Manmohan Singh that gets his political opponents so worked up? As prime minister of the UPA coalition, he is constantly under attack, but that is part of the job. But it is Manmohan Singh the person who has invited a lot of criticism. He has been ridiculed, reviled and baited by not only opposition parties but also by the Left when they were his government’s allies. There are many within the Congress party who personally hate him.

His many admirable qualities — his education, his career, his personal journey, his modesty and his affability — have all come in for sharp and biting criticism. His critics say it is all a sham — he is no babe in the woods and has exploited his humble persona. Lalkrishna Advani virtually called him a puppet and during the crisis when the Left allies first began objecting to the Indo-US nuclear deal, many of their barbs were personally aimed at him rather than at his government or its policies. Just last week he was accused of lying to the nation.

At one moment he is called naïve and without any sense of politics, but then he is also accused of stooping down to the level of ordinary politicians. Sometimes he is painted as a mere puppet in the hands of higher political powers, and at others he is portrayed as a canny player who knows exactly how the wind is blowing.

Narasimha Rao escaped much of this ridicule though he was a dyed-in-the-wool, canny politician. That allowed him to get away with scandals such as the JMM suitcase affair.
It was on his watch that the Babri Masjid was demolished. Any other prime minister would have sought penance, but Rao went on to complete his term and is now remembered as the man who brought economic liberalisation to India. The truth is that the process of economic opening up had already begun before him. Ironically, the reforms initiated under the Rao government were managed by none other than Singh.

It is worth recalling those momentous times. The country’s foreign exchange holdings could barely buy six weeks of imported goods, its gold had been pledged and a minority government had come in after two shaky coalitions had fallen. Singh stood up in Parliament to present his budget and in one stroke changed India as we had known it for over three decades. The fruits are visible today — high growth, foreign investment, the growth of the stock markets and, one would posit, a country that is seen in a different light by the rest of the world.

How he was pilloried then — a sell out, a World Bank stooge, a turncoat (this by his erstwhile lefty friends); every clichéd phrase in fashion at the time was thrown at him.
The Indian intelligentsia, why, even the Indian businessman, had got used to a comfy, insular existence that was about to be disturbed because the country was getting ready to connect with the world. Nobody used words like globalisation, but that is what it was — a recognition that the world was changing and if India did not, it would be further relegated to the backbenches.

Many of our prominent votaries of globalisation, corporate chieftains who are busy bringing in foreign partners and foreign money and going abroad to pick up marquee companies were among those who were the first to resist this new openness; what will happen to us, they carped.

This time round, big business is among his frontline supporters, though that too is seen as an example of where is heart and mind lie. What does he know about rural poverty; his incentives are only for the rich. Farmers are committing suicide, but he is obsessed with tying up the nuclear deal. A CPM poster on the streets of Mumbai says it all — “Bush ki nahin, janata ki sunon” (don’t listen to Bush, listen to the country).

But it is misleading to think that signing the nuclear deal is a zero sum game or somehow shortchanges the ordinary Indian. Whatever the criticism about the deal or more specifically, entering into a relationship with the US, it is simply not correct to say that the benefits are only one sided and India gets nothing out of it. Three years of non-stop propaganda by the Left hasn’t convinced the nation that we are being taken for a ride. Instead, the Congress’s riposte, that the Left is doing China’s bidding has raised doubts among many. (The BJP doesn’t matter because it is actually all for the deal but can’t bear to see the Congress walk away with the credit). Now the argument is that big American business is looking forward to the opportunities arising out of the opening up of the Indian nuclear market — but so will Indian companies benefit, as will those from Russia, France and other European countries. So what?

It is clear therefore that Singh grates on his opponents because he has successfully brought about seminal changes, first to the Indian economy and now to India’s strategic role in the years to come. Politicians are often happy with the continuation of the status quo; they hate change-makers. What is more, four years in the top job has not changed Singh the man — he still continues to be modest. But he has shown that even in these times, a politician can stand by his convictions. Two decades from
today, we will look back at this period and fully grasp its significance.

Email: sidharth01@dnaindia.net