For someone who usually reviews movies, a book review seems odd. But
then, if the topic happens to be Indian
Politics, can anyone deny that its plot
could be any less dramatic or action packed than a typical Bollywood masala flick? So, here’s my take on the book that has been
gathered much attention as it was launched just days before the Indian General
Election of 2014, “The Accidental Prime
Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh” written by his former
Media Advisor Sanjaya Baru.
First things first, the theme of book is definitely not about PM-bashing. In fact, the
sense one gets is as if his former spin-doctor
Baru is still doing the job that he was originally hired for as he credits
Singh with things that are mostly (wrongly) attributed to the Gandhi Family. Baru’s
book is an insider’s perspective of
the functioning of India’s highest office amidst
political compulsions that had to work through a maze of saboteurs within
the party, coalition partners and the reality of an alternate power centre.
Baru’s book gives a sneak peek
into the personality of Prime Minister Singh, letting us know more than
what is evident about him as being silent. The author seems to possibly
attribute his shyness to a difficult
childhood which may have led to his
introverted nature. The author also describes a factor that could have
played on Singh’s mind when it came to his reluctance
in projecting himself ‘because he
thought that was the undoing of P.V. Narasimha Rao’ (who) ‘came to be viewed with hostility by the
Gandhi family… and has been relegated to an insignificant place in the party’s
official memory’.
The book has immense praise
for Prime Minister Singh chiefly for his greatest achievement, the civilian nuclear deal which ended
India’s apartheid which was eagerly supported by the American President George
W. Bush (a global leader that I have great regard for, partly also because he
was committed to better Indo-US relations than any of his predecessors or his
successor). The book also praises Singh’s efforts to achieve a solution to
Indo-Pak issues through trade, but didn’t achieve desired results.
Baru discusses these two topics
on foreign policy in great detail, an area which he says was something that
the Prime Minister jealously guarded. However, while reading about the challenges faced during the
nuclear deal, the political machinations
of certain powers that be, it becomes evident that, at times, personal/
political/ partisan ambitions have too much say on the destiny of a nation. It
is sad to see the influence of leftist
ideologies of certain parties and some worrying
about losing a vote bank.
Another interesting point I
noted while reading is on the manner in which senior bureaucratic appointments are made. From the description, it
seemed as if it were mostly down to familiarity, loyalties, who knew whose
ancestors and obviously, political inclinations. Also, it seems as if the best
way for someone to become powerful
is to become an economist, a journalist or a civil servant or a combination of
these. That’s some indirect inference
from a book like this.
The most damning thing that
the book does is that it puts in black & white of what was an informally
known perception in public minds about the party
chief being the actual power centre and not the premier. Understandably, it attracted denials from
the concerned party and the Government.
Towards the end of the book, the Epilogue has the most empathetic portrayal of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
during his downfall in the public eye, his unwillingness
to assert himself, shying away from taking credit for the electoral victory
of 2009, a feat only achieved by Nehru in the past.
On the multiple corruption
scandals that dogged UPA-II, the brilliant lines say ‘When the horse you are riding becomes a tiger, it is difficult to
dismount’. He also attributes another possible reason about Rahul Gandhi
not being up to the job yet, which meant that Singh could therefore not be
retired.
Sanjaya Baru’s views about
Manmohan Singh are most evident in a couple of paragraphs towards the end
of the book, where he admired the man
who ‘showed the country that an ordinary, honest Indian could become prime minister
through sheer hard work and professional commitment’. Then he goes on to
say that he felt ‘tragically cheated that
he has allowed himself to become an object of such ridicule in his second term
in office, in the process of devaluing
the office of the prime minister’.
Putting aside the critics perceptions about Singh being compared with
the blind king Dhritarashtra from Mahabharata (interestingly, Sanjaya was the
‘eyes and ears’ of the king in the Krukshetra war, much like what the author
was expected to be), Baru likens him to
Bheeshma, the patriarch beset with compulsions, ‘condemned to an unsure mandate, an uncomfortable existence and
inelegant exit’.
Since the book reports happenings that are off-limits to public, we would never know whether the
incidents described in the book actually happened. Although it makes strong statements about a leader nearing
the end of his tenure, the book doesn’t come across as a damning critique of
the man. If anything, a reader would
only have greater respect for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the brilliant technocrat and a good man,
who got into this post by chance and surely
didn’t deserve the ignominy.
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