Commentary: Manmohan's Black Hole

suchandra · July 27, 2008

That seems a common problem in this age, everwhere people feel that their governments work for another hidden agenda - doing mainly harmful things for their fellow citizens like devotedly paying obeisances whenever globalization sharks / education mafia ( The Globalization Trap ) knock at the door..

C O M M E N T A R Y

Manmohan's black hole

This government is blind to its blunders, writes N.V.Subramanian.

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11 July 2008: Probably no Indian government has been driven by so many multiple agendas as this one. And it has nothing to show after four years except twelve per cent inflation (and rising) and a nuclear deal that will effectively designate India as a non-nuclear weapons' state. Manmohan Singh: It is cruel to call him India's prime minister. He is happier being super US ambassador to this country. In the entire nuclear deal saga since early 2005, Manmohan Singh made promises to Parliament that he never intended to honour. His office and he have repeatedly misled about key provisions of the deal that attrition India's military nuclear programme. Bound in mind to the West, he does not believe in India's greatness, nor that it has the capability to become a great power by itself. No Indian prime minister has compromised India's sovereignty as Manmohan Singh has, and even if he escapes censure in the present, history won't spare him. Sonia Gandhi: Her agenda has been to gain power, keep power, promote family interests, and ensure Rahul Gandhi's succession to the "throne". She has fulfilled most of her agenda, except that Rahul is not ready to take political responsibilities. Knowing that her foreign birth would make her unacceptable as prime minister, and probably aware that she had no talent for that all-important office, she chose a non-politician who would never pose a threat to her interests, and keep ambitious politicians like Arjun Singh and Pranab Mukherjee at bay. If Sonia Gandhi had any foreknowledge that Manmohan Singh would turn out the super US ambassador that he has, she may have been still more cautious in her selection of PM. Probably then the job would have gone to Shivraj Patil or Sushil Kumar Shinde. Manmohan Singh's problem has been that a cipher at home, he wanted to win accolades abroad. Even this may not have bothered Sonia, but for the nuclear deal risking her whole power enterprise. If she had let the super US ambassador go, she would have been squeezed between a resurgent Left and a politically ambitious PM. Pranab Mukherjee's name was strongly current then. This way, she keeps power till the next elections. And even if the Congress loses the polls, Rahul Gandhi is still relatively young to wait it out for five years, in which time, he will hopefully mature as a politician. In meeting her agenda, it does not matter to Sonia Gandhi that inflation is provoking anger across the country against the government, which does not seem to exist, and that Manmohan Singh is mortgaging India to the United States. UPA allies: Like Sonia Gandhi, their agenda is to stay in power as long as possible, because they know they are not coming back. Privately, Laloo Prasad Yadav, M.Karunanidhi and Co have no love lost for a prime minister whose pro-US agenda sits ill with their self-proclaimed constituents. Neither do they want elections in a time of twelve per cent inflation. They might hope that the PM will pay attention to inflation control once the nuclear deal is out of the way. But because of government neglect, inflation is beyond fiscal or monetary control. Meanwhile, in power, the allies are looting. Examine any ministry and there is a scam. The allies are robbing the Centre to secure their regional futures, because men like Laloo realize they are nobody without secured homes. It is also to secure a future without the Congress that Laloo is flattering the Left after its withdrawal of support to the government. Mulayam Singh Yadav: His problem until now was what Laloo fears for the future. Persecuted by Mayawati in UP, Mulayam faced a hostile Centre (chiefly on account of Amar Singh, Amitabh Bachchan, etc), and this call to bail out the Manmohan Singh government was heaven-sent. No sooner has the Samajwadi Party been on board than the counter-persecution of Mayawati has commenced, and Amar Singh's corporate buddies are tweaking favour after favour from the government. Like Laloo in Bihar, Mulayam wants to regain UP, and he will squeeze out the Congress in the process. The nuclear deal, therefore, nukes the Congress in UP, politically the most important state on account of its seventy Lok Sabha seats. Ultimately, Mulayam and Co will part from the Congress, and it will damage the Congress more. Congress ministers: The ones with prime-ministerial ambitions like Pranab Mukherjee and Arjun Singh have not given up hope, because anything is possible in politics. Mukherjee, against his personal judgment, had lately warmed up to the deal, because, according to insiders, he wanted America on his side if it came to any struggle for the prime-ministership. He still hopes for that job in case the Congress returns to power, assuming that Manmohan Singh won't be wanted again. But who's then to rule out a second term for the super US ambassador, especially if India becomes an American colony? Lesser lights among the Congress cabinet ministers, on the other hand, share the anxiety of the UPA allies to keep power at any cost. It is no secret that their ministries have become fiefdoms that they rule with Sonia's sanction. It may or may not matter to them who the PM is, so long he won't or cannot intervene in their affairs, like Manmohan Singh. His obsession with the nuclear deal has met with their disapproval, since neither he nor his obsession can win elections. But they won't speak out in fear of Sonia Gandhi. In sum, everyone is following his or her own agenda in this government. The sum of multiple agendas cannot make vision, and this government is in the worse position of being blind to its blunders. Beyond power, nothing drives it. After four years, Manmohan Singh has zilch to show. If governments can create black holes, Manmohan Singh has done it. N.V.Subramanian is Editor, NewsInsight.net.