Poor old Manmohan Singh! The leader of the second most populous country on earth is getting it from all quarters, not just from opposition parties at home. Elements of the US media have jumped into the fray with their own two cents worth on his leadership.
First it was the Time magazine in its July Asia edition this year that featured the beleaguered PM on its cover with the moniker: Underachiever. India needs a reboot. Is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh up to the job?
In the article that follows, he was accused of being ‘unwilling to stick his neck out’ when it came to reforms that would help set India back on the path to economic recovery. While giving the PM credit for his fiscal achievements in turning India’s economy around during his first term, the magazine charged that ‘in the past three years, the calm confidence he once radiated has been absent. He seems unable to control his ministers and his new, temporary portfolio at the Finance Ministry notwithstanding, unwilling to stick his neck out on reforms that will continue the process of liberalisation he helped start.’
The Time report also charged that ‘for the past two years, the Congress-led coalition has found itself fending off scandals, most notably the corrupt awarding of 2G Spectrum [allocation] at prices below market value.’ The PM’s ‘squeaky clean image’ came under fire from social activist and anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare who accused the PM and some of his ministers over the mismanagement of coal mining rights, according to the report.
The Washington Post in its September 5 edition accorded the PM with the following headline: India’s ‘silent’ prime minister becomes a tragic figure. In the story that follows, the description accorded to this once-admired leader is ‘the image of the scrupulously honourable, humble and intellectual technocrat has slowly given way to a completely different one: A dithering, ineffectual bureaucrat presiding over a deeply corrupt government’.
The article continues: ‘Singh’s dramatic fall from grace in his second term in office and the slow but steady tarnishing of his reputation has played out in parallel with his country’s decline on his watch. As India’s economy has slowed and as its reputation for rampant corruption has reasserted itself, the idea that the country was on an inexorable road to becoming a global power has increasingly come into question.’
To bolster its charges, the newspaper reflects the views of Indian historian Ramachandra Guha, who, in speaking about the PM, says: ‘More and more, he has become a tragic figure in our history,’ and concludes that Singh had been ‘fatally handicapped by timidity, complacency and intellectual dishonesty’.
So are these charges put forth in the US media fair?
I asked a few Indian acquaintances on what they thought about the US reports and in brief here are some of the responses.
Rahul: The PM swims in the company of crooked sharks. I pray that he overcomes all adversities and lives to complete his term. He had given our country an economic clout when others had failed. We need him not to falter now.
Kareem: Opposition political parties are making hay with these headlines. They sense a chink in the armour and are ready to go in. The BJP has been the most boisterous, forgetting perhaps its own chinks that have rendered India an ineffective democracy through its attacks on minority rights. Just look at the recent attacks on the minorities in Assam. How many politicians were there on the forefront to stop the horrific carnage that led to the death of so many? Even the chief minister was in denial for several days.
Prathap: Why didn’t the US media attack some of their own leaders, like George W. Bush? They are content to pick on others, but did not say much when their president took their economy to ruins with his military adventures all over the globe. How many Americans are suffering economically today? Is it because of our Dr Manmohan Singh?
Mohinder: He is the first Sikh Prime Minister ever and for that I will always be proud. He has risen through the ranks on his merit and not like most of the other crooked politicians who were back alley ‘goondas’ [thugs or bullies] in their early years and who managed to wrest political ambition through strong-arm tactics, threatening worthy opponents. Indian politics is steeped in corruption a thousand layers deep and one man cannot be responsible for the fate of the nation.
Suresh, an NRI, says: The extremist group, the Shiv Sena, has been overjoyed by the insults on our PM in the foreign media. They sense an opportunity to further their diabolical agenda, one that if succeeds will set India back a thousand years, God forbid.
In all fairness to the PM, Time magazine did not place all of India’s ills on his shoulders alone. It concluded that there were other extenuating factors leading to India’s maladies. The depth of corruption and the self-interest of politicians in the various states have all contributed. The Prime Minister alone should not be held responsible.