Click to play videoIn Parliament on Tuesday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke the language of hope. He spoke the language of consensus, inclusive growth, international responsibility and optimism.
He said the Indian economy can still grow at 8-9 per cent with more infrastructure spending.
He said Opposition-ruled states will not be discriminated against but he steered clear of controversial issues such as disinvestment and a 26/11 probe. Manmohan’s Singh’s speeches comprise words and phrases like inclusion and consensus that an international audience will identify with, therefore setting the bar high.
So has Manmohan Singh redefined the way India looks at politics? CNN-IBN debated the issue with Congress MP and Spokesperson Manish Tewari, BJP MP and journalist Chandan Mitra, Infosys’ T V Mohandas Pai.
Chandan Mitra said the Prime Minister – who couldn’t talk in the same, confident tone in his previous term – was responding to a very “gracious Opposition” comprised by the BJP. “The Opposition has been very gracious in initiating constructive criticism. PM is a much more confident man, his party has won a near-majority so he is more relaxed and can afford to be more magnanimous,” he said.
Manish Tiwari said Prime Minister had always been statesman-like since 1992 when he was a Finance Minister. “I guess it took the Opposition a long time to realise that here’s a person who is dignified, sober and statesman-like and should not be attacked in a manner in which he has been attacked all through the last five years,” he said.
A newspaper report published on Tuesday highlights an interesting point.
In the last five years of delivering public speeches, Singh has mentioned the word “governance” 255 times and “administrative reforms” 48 times – these are all the right-sounding words that’ll find an echo with the pro-development lobby.
But critics would say those are simply high-sounding words that have not fructified on ground. Tiwari said a number of development programmes were also the responsibility of state governments as well. “PM has set up administrative reforms committee under Veerappa Moily. Government is committed in this regard but a lot of this responsibility also lies with the states because that’s where India lives,” he said.
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I recall way back in the 60s, the correspondent of the New York Times Selig Harrison who was based in India, went back & wrote a book - India: The most dangerous decade predicting the demise of Indian union by the end of the 70s. We have proved all those prophecies of doom & gloom wrong. We must all be solemnly committed to ensure social & economic development which is a must for a poor country, must benefit all sections of the community, all states of the union & all persons. We recognise that this mandate costs heavy responsibility on all of us to give our country a strong, purposeful government, a stable government, a government committed to inclusive development. We will strengthen our flagship programmes, our employment, education, rural & agricultural development & improve the delivery of public services through transparency & accountability: Manmohan Singh |
Raising the bar for PMO
Manmohan has also done what many others couldn’t do. He has set the bar for becoming the head of affairs very high, bringing it into the circuit of forward-looking, knowledge-intensive elite and not just a mass leader. Mohandas Pai agreed with the argument and said Singh could hold his own in India and among the international communities when it came to debating issues and talking global. “He’s a liberal, a moderate and a sensitive person. He has a grand vision for a developed country. He’s not a politician and all of us in the knowledge sector are proud he is the PM,” he said.
“When we go abroad and tell people that Singh is our PM, they look up to us in awe, he’s got tremendous reputation,” Pai said.
In fact, Gordon Brown even said Manmohan Singh was a world leader.
PMs of India have generally been “mass leaders” in the strictest sense of the term, they’ve had to be “sons of the soil” but Manmohan Singh isn’t that. He is– what some would say – the political intellectual.
However, Mitra said Manmohan’s speech read like a programme implementation committee of the Government rather than a vision for future. “He is a bureaucrat so he doesn’t have a grand image and a big picture. He is a very competent man but if you talk of redefining PM’s position, it’s taking the argument too far,” Mitra said.
Manish Tiwari retorted to Mitra’s argument and said Prime Minister’s office was a political office and it’s not possible for the PM to be not political. “If there are two words that define General Elections, it’s rejuvenated continuity,” he said.
Mohandas Pai who was clearly enjoying the clash between the two politicians said educated middle-class was fed-up with people who indulge in rhetoric and don’t deliver. “We have ruined the country – there’s corruption, there’s lack of focus and no inclusive growth, poverty, malnourishment. So we want a PM who makes the country work with his inclusive policies,” he said.
Manmohan: Too technocratic for a politician?
Mitra said he was appalled at Pai’s argument. “This sounds like dictatorship. Go dunk all politicians in the sea and install a bureaucrat in PM’s office,” he said, “But please understand that this country runs because the political class which moderates public anger and expectation and channelises it to give you good governance”.
Pai said he and his colleagues wanted a technocrat who was democratically elected. So what was the harm in it? But the argument has its pitfalls too. A country, after all, is not a company. It has to have its political buy-ins with people having a stake in the system. Manmohan Singh cannot outsource his politics to others simply because he cant handle it himself. But Pai stuck to his argument and cited examples of Rajiv Gandhi, Narsimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
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"It is my hope & prayer that we maintain that spirit of bi-partisanship when it comes to dealing with vast number of national problems & concerns that we face as a country. In dealing with states, in dealing with Panchayati Raj institutions we will operate strictly on the basis of objectivity. No discrimination would be done against any state which is not governed by parties which are in power in Delhi," Manmohan Singh. |
Congress resides on a terrifying premise of dynasty. Will it lead to a situation where the commoners who won’t have a say? Tiwari debunked the argument, calling it a frivolous one, and said everyone who’s come to Parliament has come elected.
Mohandas Pai expressed hope that revenues will grow and economy will progress under Manmohan Singh’s rule. Mitra underplayed the range of welfare measures that PM has offered. He ended the debate on a cautionary note, “He sounded very gung ho but I am afraid his handpicked Deputy of Planning Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said something rather opposite. He cautioned about state of economy. Who is speaking the truth?” he said.
Yes: 68 per cent
No: 32 per cent
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