Many people, especially those belonging to the metropolitan cities and having left-liberal sensibilities, seem to yearn for an age when the country was ruled (even if only in name) by a gentleman called Dr Manmohan Singh. They seem to imagine that Dr Singh was a saint who was only a victim of circumstances. An architect for the economic reforms under the tutelage of the forgotten late P V Narsimha Rao, Dr Singh is seen as someone completely above board.
For what it’s worth, I think Dr Singh is actually *less* criticized than he should have been!
The reason is that because of his seniority, soft-spokenness and erudition, people assume that he was not responsible for the choices he made (becoming the puppet of Sonia Gandhi). It was as if like in a 90s Hindi movies, a good man was acting as the mafia don because the real don had kidnapped his son and blackmailing him!
However, I daresay that Dr Singh was very much responsible for his actions (and inactions) and his numerous horrifying statements. I list down some of the most reprehensible ones-
1. Saying the the minorities have the *first* rights to the resources of the country (imagine the hue and cry if ANY politician said anything like this anywhere in the world)
2. India’s biggest diplomatic debacle in the last 2 decades- came right through Dr Singh’s mouth- Sell-out at Sharm-el-Sheikh (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/sellout-at-sharmelsheikh/article1057457.ece)
3. Failure to reign in his Home Ministers (especially Mr Chidambaram, later accused of gargantuan corruption cases, incidentally) and other powerful interests when they were out creating the phantom of “Hindu terror”. These charges were so flimsy that they were somewhat retracted even by Chidambaram's successor (http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/shinde-apologises-for-hindu-terror-remark-ahead-of-budget-session/article4435746.ece) but the moniker did stick a bit for sure. It caused immense damage to the country (and 80% of its largely peaceful population) and gave Pakistan a stick, however weak, to beat the country with. It even prompted the crown prince Rahul Gandhi to claim in front of US embassy officials that the country faces a bigger threat from "Hindu Terror" than Islamist extremism. One can only look back at such loose comments with trepidation!
4. And of course, his failure to reign in the free-for-all loot and corruption- which saw us seeing the worst of the both the socialist style corruption and capitalist style corruption.
Dr Singh wasn’t wrong when he said “history will judge me” (after leaving the office). It sure would. I only suspect, more strongly than before, that it would not do so favourably.
For what it’s worth, I think Dr Singh is actually *less* criticized than he should have been!
The reason is that because of his seniority, soft-spokenness and erudition, people assume that he was not responsible for the choices he made (becoming the puppet of Sonia Gandhi). It was as if like in a 90s Hindi movies, a good man was acting as the mafia don because the real don had kidnapped his son and blackmailing him!
However, I daresay that Dr Singh was very much responsible for his actions (and inactions) and his numerous horrifying statements. I list down some of the most reprehensible ones-
1. Saying the the minorities have the *first* rights to the resources of the country (imagine the hue and cry if ANY politician said anything like this anywhere in the world)
2. India’s biggest diplomatic debacle in the last 2 decades- came right through Dr Singh’s mouth- Sell-out at Sharm-el-Sheikh (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/sellout-at-sharmelsheikh/article1057457.ece)
3. Failure to reign in his Home Ministers (especially Mr Chidambaram, later accused of gargantuan corruption cases, incidentally) and other powerful interests when they were out creating the phantom of “Hindu terror”. These charges were so flimsy that they were somewhat retracted even by Chidambaram's successor (http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/shinde-apologises-for-hindu-terror-remark-ahead-of-budget-session/article4435746.ece) but the moniker did stick a bit for sure. It caused immense damage to the country (and 80% of its largely peaceful population) and gave Pakistan a stick, however weak, to beat the country with. It even prompted the crown prince Rahul Gandhi to claim in front of US embassy officials that the country faces a bigger threat from "Hindu Terror" than Islamist extremism. One can only look back at such loose comments with trepidation!
4. And of course, his failure to reign in the free-for-all loot and corruption- which saw us seeing the worst of the both the socialist style corruption and capitalist style corruption.
Dr Singh wasn’t wrong when he said “history will judge me” (after leaving the office). It sure would. I only suspect, more strongly than before, that it would not do so favourably.
