The 'greatness' of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh!
One of the greatest mysteries to me has been the 'greatness' associated with Mr.Manmohan Singh.He has been praised in economiums, flowery adjectives and hyperboles as something close to God sent from heaven. Looking at these, I can only feel sorry for our country that even normal people, somehow are so easily deemed 'great' if the media decides so...
Everybody seems to forget that till 1991, India never saw the 'greatness' of this man until he became the finance minister under Narasimha Rao. He 'liberalized' the economy it is said, but i am not sure if Manmohan can claim credit for the same. Indian bureaucrats as a rule abhor acting against the conventional wisdom and hence are not prone to becoming great leaders. Manmohan Singh was no different before he became Indias FM.Hence crediting him for going against the grain and liberalising the economy is a compliment gone too far. He was a dyed in the wool socialist. His moment of greatness fell on his lap when India came so close to defaulting on her payment and had to literally and figuratively sell the family silver (gold) to make up for it..Anybody in his shoes including Sitaram Yechury or Laloo Yadav would have been forced to open up the Indian economy since there were not many other options left. If at all anybody deserved the gratitude of the nation it was Mr.Narasimha Rao because as the PM and political point person he had to take the sail out of the winds of poltical oppostion and for the election losses.. Of course nobody gives a damn for him, because he was not one of those 'illustrious ' members of the Nehru-Gandhi clan..(well thats for another blog!)
Manmohan Singh is a simple, hardworking economist..(a number's guy).. India has abundance of such people. To attribute greatness to him and pardon for what has been utterly insipid and lacklustre leadership as the PM of India is a grave mistake on the part of Indian intellegenstia. We will rue this in the future. At the end of the day, he is an uncorrupt guy.. the tragedy of it being a rare quality in India is actually what makes him 'great'. The country has come to such a pass.
On the contrary his term as the prime minister has been a disaster at all fronts. He beats I..K Gujral and even the 'humble farmer' Deva Gowda by a mile in that. His foreign policy initiatives, including the peace moves with Pakistan , the so called 'nuclear agreement' with US and unbridled minorityism are something this country will rue for a long time to come. His lack of political authority and absence of any creative juices that accompany a great leader makes him the lamest and one of the most ineffctive prime minister's ever. While any administration have their bouts of failure and sucesses., this administration is singular in its complete lack of any new initiatives for the growth of the nation. Yet he never is blamed and basks in the limelight of being great.
Since the image of greatness has already been built around this man, our assinine media along with the middle class continues to believe with the shibboleth and our country continues to suffer immesuarably. I just hope we dont have any more such 'great' Prime minister in the future!
Everybody seems to forget that till 1991, India never saw the 'greatness' of this man until he became the finance minister under Narasimha Rao. He 'liberalized' the economy it is said, but i am not sure if Manmohan can claim credit for the same. Indian bureaucrats as a rule abhor acting against the conventional wisdom and hence are not prone to becoming great leaders. Manmohan Singh was no different before he became Indias FM.Hence crediting him for going against the grain and liberalising the economy is a compliment gone too far. He was a dyed in the wool socialist. His moment of greatness fell on his lap when India came so close to defaulting on her payment and had to literally and figuratively sell the family silver (gold) to make up for it..Anybody in his shoes including Sitaram Yechury or Laloo Yadav would have been forced to open up the Indian economy since there were not many other options left. If at all anybody deserved the gratitude of the nation it was Mr.Narasimha Rao because as the PM and political point person he had to take the sail out of the winds of poltical oppostion and for the election losses.. Of course nobody gives a damn for him, because he was not one of those 'illustrious ' members of the Nehru-Gandhi clan..(well thats for another blog!)
Manmohan Singh is a simple, hardworking economist..(a number's guy).. India has abundance of such people. To attribute greatness to him and pardon for what has been utterly insipid and lacklustre leadership as the PM of India is a grave mistake on the part of Indian intellegenstia. We will rue this in the future. At the end of the day, he is an uncorrupt guy.. the tragedy of it being a rare quality in India is actually what makes him 'great'. The country has come to such a pass.
On the contrary his term as the prime minister has been a disaster at all fronts. He beats I..K Gujral and even the 'humble farmer' Deva Gowda by a mile in that. His foreign policy initiatives, including the peace moves with Pakistan , the so called 'nuclear agreement' with US and unbridled minorityism are something this country will rue for a long time to come. His lack of political authority and absence of any creative juices that accompany a great leader makes him the lamest and one of the most ineffctive prime minister's ever. While any administration have their bouts of failure and sucesses., this administration is singular in its complete lack of any new initiatives for the growth of the nation. Yet he never is blamed and basks in the limelight of being great.
Since the image of greatness has already been built around this man, our assinine media along with the middle class continues to believe with the shibboleth and our country continues to suffer immesuarably. I just hope we dont have any more such 'great' Prime minister in the future!
posted by Harish at 4:34 PM
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