There is a leadership vacuum at the Centre, with no evidence whatsoever of Manmohan Singh being in charge.
No other Independence Day has filled the nation with so many forebodings as today’s has. It is past the stage of gloom and despondency and taken on the complexion of anxiety, and even alarm, about what the future holds.
Everything — law and order, security, dealings between the Centre and the States, strategic relations with countries which count, governance, economy — seems to be coming unstuck. Things appear to be in a state of turmoil, and, indeed, falling apart, in every direction.
Until about a couple of years ago, India’s credentials to emerge as an economic power on the world stage, on par with the US and China, and pushing Japan behind, were accepted without question.
Not any more. A series of announcements by rating agencies whose word is final to most foreign financial institutions and investors severely downgrading India’s standing, capped by Moody’s pegging the growth outlook at not more than 5.5 per cent, have perceptibly undermined the trust in India’s ability to turn itself around in the foreseeable future.
Of late, a mocking and derisive tone has begun creeping into many of the writings on India by political and economic analysts.
One indication of the put-down is the near-blanking out of Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s plan for reviving the economy in the media of industrial countries. Even the expected write-ups on his rather unusual recall by the UPA dispensation were missing.
One could read the thoughts that must be passing through the minds of observers who, whatever their preconceptions or predispositions, are shrewd and perspicacious to a degree.
Even if one chooses to be disdainfully dismissive of what foreigners think about us, it will be a monumental dereliction of duty, and perhaps an invitation to Indian Spring or worse, on the part of the powers-that-be to ignore the widespread frustration and discontent among all sections of opinion within India itself.
SWIRLING ALLEGATIONS
Truth to tell, the Government of UPA-II may claim the notional advantage of numbers in the Lok Sabha, but all signs are that it has long ago lost the confidence of the people.
Barring two or three Ministers, not one among the others comes anywhere the stature that a Minister of a country like India should command.
They are either misfits or bunglers or both, besides being at the centre of persistently swirling allegations about corruption.
India’s politicians, as a class, have simply no idea of the contempt and anger their lifestyles and work habits evoke among the people.
Whatever the party labels they may sport, and whatever holier-than-thou games they may play with each other, when it comes to exploiting the system to extract the last ounce of self-indulgence in terms of personal or pecuniary gratification, they are all birds of the same feather. “Tickle-me-Toby-and I’ll-tickle-you” is the eternal trademark of these Tweedledums and Tweedledees.
The whole state of affairs is reaching a breaking point because of the leadership vacuum at the very top.
It is no exaggeration to say that people have been driven crazy by the fact of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh being invisible and incommunicado, and utterly oblivious, at least in the public eye, to what goes on around him.
To be direct and blunt, there has been not one scintilla of evidence of his being in charge, leave alone his providing inspirational leadership on the model of Winston Churchill during the war, or Jawaharlal Nehru or Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in the early years of Independence, or even Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi after their own fashion and according to their own lights.
PASSIVITY AKIN TO PARALYSIS
During the recent debate in the Lok Sabha on the Adjournment Motion on the riots and killings in Assam, Manmohan Singh sat, like one of Madame Tussaud’s figures, through all the commotion generated by L.K.Advani’s verbal barbs against the UPA, which stirred even the normally staid Sonia Gandhi to the extent of her pushing the Treasury benches into retaliatory shouting.
In such a situation, a Nehru would have immediately stood up and taken command of the House, and by deft touches of the right sentiments in the right language restored harmony and goodwill.
Or take the shape that Baba Ramdev’s movement has assumed. It is as if he alone is striding the entire landscape, whipping into a frenzy his swelling followers with his Mark Antony-like orations, and the Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues are nowhere in the picture.
Actually, thanks largely to the passivity akin to paralysis of the Government, the Baba has been able to wash off much of the muck the Government contrived to stick on him and has emerged as an admired knight-errant of rectitude in public life, forcing the Government to cower.
Here again, a dynamic, self-confident and, at the same time, sensitive, Prime Minister would have seized the initiative right at the start of the brewing of trouble, pressed into service the whole paraphernalia of communications facilities, reached out to the people, and won them over with a clear, convincing and constructive exposition of his approach to the various issues at stake which are agitating the people’s minds.
The constituents of the UPA, in their mistaken sense of loyalty to party or individual, should not let this dangerous drift, resulting from the leadership vacuum, so palpable and so patent, to continue.
They should realise that the nation is above every other consideration.
Not to put too fine a point on it, the time has come for Manmohan Singh to become an Emeritus Prime Minister.
The greatest and best service he can do at this stage is to hand the baton to someone else and take some well-earned rest.
I shouldn’t worry too much over who that someone else is: For aught I care, it could be Rahul Gandhi, Digvijay Singh or even Sonia Gandhi herself. Whoever it is, it is bound to be a distinct improvement on the present parlous situation.
Keywords: Independence Day, Manmohan Singh, Centre State relations, economic growth, credit ratings, Moody's, Baba Ramdev, Assam riots,
Comments:
UPA is not a Govt at all. There is Sonia, the fountainhead of supreme power, who has no administratative experience, who cannot choose men of competence. She has white skin and that beguiles the fools of this coutry. She also has an old,rickety apparatus called Congress which she uses for her and her family's wellbeing.She chose a person as PM who is bookish and has never been a leader in his own right.The rest of the team consists of time-servers whose only worth is loyalty.So yada yada.
Every minister (all political parties) has decided to adopt the stand "Make hay while the sun shines". None of them give a damn about this country or their constituents.
I guess the article is well-intentioned and thought provoking. But the difficult language discouraged me from reading it in full.
See these words:
"One indication of the put-down is the near-blanking out of Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s plan for reviving the economy in the media of industrial countries. Even the expected write-ups on his rather unusual recall by the UPA dispensation were missing.
One could read the thoughts that must be passing through the minds of observers who, whatever their preconceptions or predispositions, are shrewd and perspicacious to a degree."
I was having a tough time making sense of them. So, however great the article's contents are, it won't help if aam aadmi can't grasp it because of the choice of words. Can you please tone down the level of English in your articles, so that it is more approachable to all readers? Thank you.
This article is spot on. As an outside observer who's enjoyed some really memorable times in India, I truly hope that India can fulfill it's destingy to be a great power house nation. But apathy and complacence will surely be detrimental to a great country such as India. Leadership means assertiveness and a will to follow the strength of citizens who recognize that change is inevitable if it wants to be proud of it's own achievements. Please don't let apathy slow your progress. Best wishes to all the citizens of India!
INDIA has been and will be Great Nation,The Youth of this Great Nation
must Owe through great dedication their Moral,Economic,and Social
responsibility. For an Example we throw our garbage,spit,urinate,etc
out on the street and expect the municipal machinery to do the work,
Hey Ask A Question AM I A RESPONSIBLE CITIZEN OF THIS GREAT COUNTRY ?
Today we are like spectators in a stadium we even do not hesitate to
advice the likes of Dhonis,and Tendulkars in the game of
cricket.Secondly we Tweek,express frustration,anger,on the social
networking sites.The biggest fear are we getting too dependent on the
government.
Criticism for the sake of it is self defeating.These days it is considered faishonable to find fault.Just list the problems we are facing and try match them with possible solutions, keeping in mind the character of the nation, you included and then consider the feseability of implementation and we come to dead end.Increasing population,limited resources,democracy where every one claims authority to exercise control with no accontability, viticm of greed , hatred and ego.Please suggest solutions to problems keeping in mind the dynamics governing this complex country, where so many laungages are spoken and so many religions are practised, with absolute freedom.eg no names please
Enjoyed reading Shri B.S.Raghavan's column. Time magazine did no injustice to Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh critiquing him an ‘underachiever’ as all indices from each part of the economy show he does not seem to have inkling how to sort India out. And, if there were an Olympic Gold for a country with the most ‘underachiever leaders’, India would win that, hands-down!
The Economsit in its latest iseue terms our governance as "rotten". Did
nwe edeserve this appellation after 65 years of indpedendence? UPA has
to think about tjhis. nomsit in
as long as the UPA in power the country will be rudderless. the country is running on Ram Bharose. there is no urgency in any field or matter, government busy in buying ministers to keep them afloat.
Excellent analysis.None in the present UPA government baring chidambaram
and anthony have the stature to be ministers and this includes manmohan
too.Sonia Gandhi is destroying India with her useless power
structure.But then we were the people who voted in this useless
government hence we are bound too suffer
i only hope the people of INDIA read this article and wake up !!!!!!! we are not
going to get any better unless we vote a change .
Could not have articulated better..
"The constituents of the UPA, in their mistaken sense of loyalty to
party or individual, should not let this dangerous drift, resulting from
the leadership vacuum, so palpable and so patent, to continue.
They should realise that the nation is above every other consideration."
Gandhi parivar has lost its respect. Most of the politicians lost their path, the path to
serve country. Now corruption is becoming root problem. A honest man earning
5000 rs per month also spends his life comfortably, while a corrupt person having
crores of money also not giving him satisfaction.
Mr. PM lost his goodwill, that he has earned prior of becoming PM. :(
Take this government and the present set of political class to any good
doctor and they will prescribe euthanasia asap, only then our nation can
hope for a new dawn. And certainly, we don't want Mr.Rahul Gandhi and
his likes, however young they may be. By the way, where is his path
breaking alternative to Lokpal Bill.
The absence of governance, refusal by a person, to whom just certain circumstances gave the PM’s position on a platter, to sit back and think or stand up and act rising to the occasion and the bankruptcy of the political leadership as a class, et al have been brought out in a language only a veteran of BSR’s stature can handle.
UPA-II, by design had a one-item agenda of remaining in power for five full years. Dr Manmohan Singh was entrusted with the task of ensuring this. He took it literally. Heavens may fall, ‘Curiosity’ may land on Mars, Advanis, Hazares and Ram Devs may say what they feel, CAG may write any report, PM will not move a finger until forced by the benevolent employer. The agonizing inaction in the midst of chaos the nation has been dragged into has reached such an alarming level that even on the Independence Day, people ‘celebrate’ by expressing their anxieties and apprehensions.Any change in leadership, will be for the better. That is the feeling one gets.
Leadership vacuum everywhere based on hear and sight. Dr. Singh is someone who
can do magic behind the curtains but traits needed of the hour are missing in him.
India needs someone who is honest, visionary, selfless, benevolent, courageous,
bold, stubborn when it comes to getting things done, God fearing but not G-fearing,
enterprising, energizing, inspiring, etc. The ideal ship would have been that build
based on the principles of the Anna Hazare movement with someone like Aamir
Khan at the helm. Oh well...
Indian spring and India a rudderless ship are phrases used in my
comments which the Hindu, for reasons unknown, does not publish. Mathew
There is leadership vacuum or to be more precise backseat driving going on. The de facto
leader has no accountability. Sonia Gandhi using a subterfuge called NAC, has committed
serious economic blunders from which Congress party will never retrieve this country. Added
to this by falling a willing victim to coalition compulsion, it has made nitwits and corrupt-to-
the-core MPs ministers who have cleaned up the Treasury. With such track record,
Manmohan Singh will go down in the history as the most incompetent PM and complicit to all
misdemeanors. By 2014, we will be official banana republic joining failed States in the
region - Pakistan, Nepal & Bangladesh.
The author wants to satisfy some of his bosses in the
opposition.Without knowing the real truths he concludes UPA only
responsible. his memories are short sighted that he doesnt tell us
about the unruly behaviour of the opposition. The opposition, in
loksabha one stance another in Rajyasabha,he forgot to pointout.
Supporting FDI retail in manifestoes and opposing in legislation is
the habit of opposition. Advanis deviating speech from ASSAM to 2008
events in Loksabha sparked controversy. Without criticising Advani
this so called gentleman put the blame on UPA leadersip. He can hide
the facts to sometime but not always
Given the proven competence and experience of PM in the public service Sonia Gandhi alone is to be held responsible for a)Bottling up PM as no more than a figurehead, b)rewarding only incompetent sycophants (Home minister Mr. Shinde is the example)and playing the vote bank politics all these years through social engineering that has gone horribly wrong but she is not bothered because PM is her insurance policy.
Time has come from all respected political commentators to go behind the wail and bring the failure of Sonia Gandhi up front and hold her to account to bar of public opinion.
I wonder why Mr. Raghavan shied from going to logical end by not attributing failure of PM to her.
To call India at 65 as a rudder less ship is inappropriate and uncalled for.The very fact that
a country of 1180 million people speaking one hundred and odd languages and
dialects,professing all the religions of the world,geographically and ecologically as diverse
as unimaginable,world so called powers competing for markets is itself a unique
achievement.Leh the highest airport,Kuttanad the paddy fields below sea level,the Indian
spices,the Sikh,Jat,Madras and Gurkha regiments;non- violence and satyagraha as tools to
fight injustice etc are typical of this great country.Financially Indians may be poor,but they
remain rich in tolerance,patience and perseverance.No one speaks on the carrying capacity
of India with it's natural resources.The countries borne along with India have either become
autocratic or run militarily.The great Bharat is a moving ship with natural tribulations and
shakes.Remember Australia has a population lesser than the tinniest state of Kerala.
Bigeest threat to a nation are its converts. As converts are not loyal to nation and for alein culture i.e ISlam. Converts divided India and india lost 1/3 land. Now same converts who are now vote bank for congress will ask for more.
What happend in Kashmir ,Assama and attacks in Mumbai if Hindus don't wake up end is near.
Good article
The title should have been rudderless ship on rocky and stormy sea ready to go down anytime. A government whose pillar is to get as many votes on the basis of caste and religion is bond to steer the nation without any foresight. The riots in Assam could have been prevented if correct policies been taken sixty five years back. The Bangladeshi illegal immigrants should have been rounded up and sent back to Bangladesh. This did not happen and the result is there to see. The ruling congress party did not take action because of the muslim votes The same is the case with Kashmir The state should have been fully integrated into India long time back and the illegals sent to Pakistan The congress did not do this and the situatin is getting out of hand. The huge trade and fiscal deficits, technically backward industry with incompetent management is pushing India economically and technically backward leading to an economic debacle which the world has not seen The Hindu may not publish this
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