Two months into power, the United Progressive Alliance Prime Minister is fast receding into oblivion. Consider the situations.
* A senior Union Cabinet minister, Shri Shibu Soren is hiding himself from the police for over a week (at the time of going to the press). Nobody has a clue of his whereabouts and the Prime Minister has not said a word about the unexplained absence of his colleague.
* Another senior minister, Shri T.R. Balu goes to a Christian congregation hosted by Brother Dinakaran, who built his entire career on conversion campaigns in south India and declares that he is ashamed of being born a Hindu. And he apologises for this “shameful” act on which he had no control.
* The Chief Minister of the Congress-ruled state of Punjab, Capt. Amarinder Singh unilaterally terminates the SYL canal agreement defying the Supreme Court and announces through full-page advertisements in national dailies that his job is to protect only the interests of “his” farmers. The Chief Ministers of the affected states plead with the Prime Minister against the unconstitutional action of the Congress Chief Minister and the Prime Minister’s advice to them is “approach the Supreme Court.” And he confesses he too has not been consulted.
* Another Chief Minister who has overnight become a darling of the Naxalites by lifting a ban on their activities, announces a 5 per cent reservation for Muslims, violating the Supreme Court directive. The Andhra High Court strikes down the order but the Chief Minister insists that he will go ahead and pass a bill in the Assembly.
* The party president visits Kumbakonam, where in the tragic fire over 90 children lost their lives, and announces Rs 1 crore relief from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. This, of course, is a fait accompli now for the Prime Minister.
* In all flourish, to discuss rural development, the Prime Minister calls a meeting of all the Chief Ministers within the first month of his assuming office. All the BJP Chief Ministers attend the conference, and all the Congress Chief Ministers abstain without explanation. A couple of days later, the Congress president presides over a CWC meeting, which is attended by all the Congress Chief Ministers.
The UPA is a hydra-headed wonder. Its several heads speak in many voices. But the one head that is supposed to head the wonder is invisible and silent. Dr Manmohan Singh widely assumed to be a nice man is considered a low-profile politician.
How does one explain the behaviour of Shibu Soren in a democratic polity? The cabinet has a collective responsibility and the Prime Minister cannot look the other way when one of his colleagues is on the run like an ordinary criminal. Remember, this is the first cabinet in Indian history, which has as many as seven ministers facing criminal charges. Of course, Shibu Soren has set an altogether new record.
Capt. Amarinder Singh claims that he did not consult either his Prime Minister or his party chief. The Captain has always wallowed in controversy. He cannot survive without fighting a chimera. He started off with Badal, then turned to Bhattal and now it is the baandh (dam). It is a ludicrous obsession. One could have appreciated the royal scion’s jingoism, had he stopped all the water of panchnad from flowing into Pakistan.
Those who are familiar with the Congress history are tempted to believe that the Captain found the water to be highly inflammable only after the Akali-BJP combine scored a sweeping victory in the Lok Sabha polls. Some observers believe that the Congress is talking parochialism in Punjab the way it propped up Bhindranwale in the 70s, with an eye on the Assembly polls. But this was an occasion for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to assert his authority, which he sorely failed to do.
Similarly, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister could not have made a private decision, which revives the memories of the communal award of the British. This again was a clear occasion for the Prime Minister to step in.
Equally sensitive is the Balu episode. In a secular polity, a Union Minister has no business to hurt the sentiments of the majority community. If Balu feels so strongly, he could have converted himself to Christianity or any other religion of his choice. India’s real shame is people like him. And those like him, like old Jaichand are undeservedly born Hindu. And happens to be our kin. Considering the fact that Balu’s predecessors in the Justice Party and later Dravida Kazhagam wept and crawled before the British, begging them not to leave India for they would be orphaned, the shame is understandable. A person is ashamed of himself for very private reasons. But as for the Hindus, we are a very proud civilisation and there is nothing in our history for us to be ashamed of. How long will Dr Singh carry this blot on his cabinet?
Under the constitutional provisions, the Prime Minister of India enjoys unfettered powers. He is in most ways more powerful than the President of America. A strong Prime Minister and a strong Centre are the twin foundations of our federal structure. India cannot afford a weak Centre or a weak Prime Minister. Even former Prime Ministers like Chandra Shekhar, Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral, whose tenure did not last long, brought some level of visibility and glamour to the office. Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee, who had authority, popularity, ideological moorings and organisational grip, had a colossal presence as a Prime Minister.
The present Prime Minister started on a weak wicket. For, he was not the elected one but the selected one. Even for that, Dr Singh has allowed himself to erode his own authority. so much so that his Chief Ministers behave as if they do not care for him.
The numerous committees for overseeing Dr Singh, which the party president has constituted in the past weeks notwithstanding, Sonia Gandhi has not reconciled herself to the position of UPA convener. The Prime Minister’s Relief Fund is not something the party president can go about distributing. It is the sole prerogative of the Prime Minister and this again is the first such dubious instance.
True, Dr Manmohan Singh is playing
the role as Sonia Gandhi’s selected Prime Minister to the hilt. The Congress
president would like him to be seen as weak and only as keeping the chair
warm. The Prime Minister has to assert. The Prime Minister of such a great
nation as India cannot be seen as indecisive, inept and overwhelmed. Will
the real Prime Minister stand up?