The Hindu Business Line : Perks and quirks

IN THE midst of the contretemps sparked by Jharkhand, the BJP President, Mr L. K. Advani, brought in a refreshing touch by ascribing to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, the hitherto unsuspected capability of becoming invisible at will. He offered that as the explanation for the political twists and turns overtaking Jharkhand and for the near-confrontation between the legislature and the judiciary.

Subsequently, a happy Mr Advani professed to get "glimpses of PM" in the way things moved in the direction the BJP wanted.

Dr Manmohan Singh delighted his friends and critics alike by effectively silencing Mr Advani with the repartee that he should be judged by the record of his Government, and not by his own visibility or otherwise.

Fair enough. Dr Singh is certainly low-key, non-confrontationist and self-effacing. He is not the one to lose his cool, whatever the provocation or the nature of the crisis. His professional background may have something to do with the objectivity and detachment with which he deals with problems. It is not in his character to be flamboyant and the secret of his credibility is in his being true to himself.

Mr Advani's remark, however, starts a train of thought about the style of functioning of other Prime Ministers in other times. After all, what is the point of being a big shot if he is not entitled to both perks and quirks?

P. V. Narasimha Rao had a parallel in Britain's Robert Walpole in holding that not taking a decision was in itself a decision in most situations, and sleeping dogs were best left undisturbed. There was a semblance of another of Britain's Prime Ministers, "Wait and see" Herbert Asquith, in India's "Aagattumit paarkkalaam" Kamaraj, who made and unmade Prime Ministers, without being one himself.

Poor Mr Deva Gowda, in his time, was the butt-end of ridicule as the "sleeping" Prime Minister. It was rather unfair of the media to constantly revel in publishing pictures of his naps on public occasions, forgetting that he was in the good company of two other heads of government, Calvin Coolidge and Ronald Reagan.

When Coolidge was asked by reporters whether he did not find it embarrassing to be found napping so often on a working day, he said, "Not at all! Think of all the bad decisions I don't make when I am napping!"

B. S. Raghavan

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