The rise and fall of Manmohan Singh

Manmohan Singh's failure to act when needed have forced him in to the position he is today.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s second tenure is jinxed. He was on top of the world after the visit of US President Barack Obama to Delhi. Manmohan Singh’s words were considered pearls of wisdom. But when one scam after another surfaced, his stock came tumbling down.

Things began with the preparation of the Commonwealth Games and climaxed to the 2G spectrum scandal, costing the exchequer Rs1.68 trillion. The ill-gotten wealth as a result of this was suspected to have gone into the pockets of Dr Singh’s ministers, particularly former communication minister A Raja and his party, the DMK (Dravida Munetra Kazagham) in Tamil Nadu.

At the same time, there was also a disclosure that several Indians had stacked black money, $1.3 trillion, in Swiss banks. As many as 26 names of depositors were with the government, which refused to disclose them because of the understanding reached when the names were obtained.

No one accused Manmohan Singh of corruption. But no one believed his version that he was not aware of the scam. The general impression was that he knew everything and did not act, lest he should endanger his government, which was supported by the DMK and had Raja in the cabinet. It was a dreary time for Manmohan Singh, although his name in foreign countries was not sullied.

The prime minister retrieved his prestige a bit first when he reached an agreement with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and later when he invited Yousaf Raza Gilani to watch the World Cup semi-final match between India and Pakistan at Mohali. The atmosphere of cordiality in India and across the border once again helped him. People talked about his farsightedness and credited him with the effort to normalise relations with Pakistan, something that people have desired despite several setbacks. It looked as if his bad days were over and he was coming out of the darkness.

Now, once again, Manmohan Singh is down in the dumps. This time, the Anna Hazare phenomenon has hit him and his government. Through a fast, Mr Hazare, a Gandhian, galvanised India against corruption, which has seeped into every vital organ of the Indian body. The ground was fertile for the movement. Hazare’s call to remove the cancer of corruption awakened civil society. The Manmohan Singh government became the target. Whatever goodwill that Manmohan Singh had amassed in terms of hope of a possible breakthrough with Pakistan was frittered away. The triumph that the country felt after winning the cricket World Cup pushed back everything for the time being (Pakistan’s militant Hafiz Saeed poured cold water on the peace efforts by denouncing cricket diplomacy).

Manmohan Singh was not helped by his new communication minister, Kapil Sibal, who ‘proved’ that the loss to the exchequer in the 2G spectrum scam was zero. Hazare got a talking point to expose the government’s intention when it was given out that Congress President Sonia Gandhi was willing to concede that the government and civil society should jointly prepare the bill to set up the institution of lokpal (ombudsman) to take steps to root out corruption. One scalp was enough for Hazare and he had Sharad Pawar removed from the cabinet of ministers.

It is probably not Manmohan Singh’s bad luck so much as it is his failure to act when he should have. The Commonwealth Games, which went off well, would have brought him glory if he had dismissed Suresh Kalmadi, chief of the games, straightaway. The prime minister’s office had all the information on Kalmadi’s acts of omission and commission if he were to contemplate action.

Similarly, the prime minister should have sent out Raja from his cabinet the day he received the report from the comptroller and auditor general on the bungling in the 2G spectrum case. Singh was again found wanting on the demand by Hazare to appoint a joint committee to draft a new lokpal bill. Ultimately, he conceded, while giving the impression that the government acted only under pressure.

The prime minister should introspect how and why he has lost in his second tenure. At one time, people were happy that they had a prime minister with good credentials. Today, they say that he is just not ready to leave his position. His advisers can be blamed to some extent. But ultimately, the buck stops with him.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 19^th,  2011.