New Delhi:
It was always going to be an uphill battle but I think the Prime Minister has just made the task of getting the Congress elected to power for a third time at the Centre a little bit harder.
At what was being seen as his valedictory press conference on Friday, Manmohan Singh not only said the wrong things on key issues but failed to articulate a single positive reason why people should vote for the Congress when elections are held a few months from now. (
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In all, I counted eight blunders of commission and omission at his press conference. That's quite a lot, for an interaction that lasted a little over an hour. (
Watch the PM's media interaction |
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First, on corruption - one of the biggest issues to have contributed to the unpopularity of his government - Manmohan Singh used specious arguments to make light of people's concerns. The big allegations of corruption - of tainted allocations of spectrum and coal -belonged to his first term as Prime Minister and not his second, he claimed. Despite knowing this, the electorate brought the Congress and United Progressive Alliance to power again in 2009, he said, arguing that in the eyes of the people, the coal and spectrum scams were obviously not a big deal. (
10 big quotes from the PM's press conference)
This argument is bogus on factual grounds because the details of the shady coal and spectrum allocations came fully to light only during Manmohan Singh's second tenure, even if the scams themselves pertain to his first period. As for his logic, is it any different from the BJP's dodgy argument that Narendra Modi's handsome performance at the hustings in December 2002 meant he had been absolved of any responsibility for the 2002 communal massacres that wracked Gujarat?
Second, Manmohan Singh insisted he had tried his best to ensure that coal and spectrum were allocated in a transparent manner. But this begs the question of why, as Prime Minister, he was unable to follow through on a method of resource allocation he knew the exchequer needed. In the case of spectrum, he may claim the line minister, A Raja, did not heed his advice. But when it comes to coal, there was a time when the PM himself directly ran that ministry. So why didn't he do what he knew was best?
Third, when asked about the recent allegations of corruption involving the Congress Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Virbhadra Singh, Manmohan Singh gave a truly astonishing reply. He said that he had received a letter from a senior BJP leader about the matter on December 29 and seen reports in the press but had "not had the time" to look into the charges. There could not have been a more eloquent illustration of the UPA government's attitude to corruption than this.
Fourth, while admitting that tackling inflation remained an important challenge, he claimed rising prices was not such a big problem after all since real wages had risen and people were better off. But is that really the case? A recent report of the International Labour Organsation has noted how real wages in India had actually fallen by 1 per cent between 2008 and 2011
(Read full report here)If the ILO is right, one can imagine how the mass of Indians whose standard of living has actually fallen in recent years because of higher prices are likely to react to Manmohan's claim that a little inflation will not hurt them.
Fifth, when asked to identify his biggest achievement as Prime Minister, all that Manmohan Singh could fall back upon was the nuclear deal with the United States - a deal which belongs to his first tenure. A shrewder politician would have made mention of half a dozen big achievements -- including the Right to Information, the Right to Education, the Lokpal Act, the Criminal Law Amendment Act, or NREGA - and said it was impossible to choose any one. The nuclear deal was indeed a big accomplishment for India but the Prime Minister's inability to highlight any achievement from his second term will only reinforce the popular perception that the Congress has frittered away the past five years.
Sixth, the Prime Minister showed a canny streak of aggression and realpolitik when he questioned Narendra Modi's credentials for the prime ministership by saying India did not need the "tough leadership" of a man who presided over the massacre of innocent citizens in Ahmedabad in 2002. But a few minutes later, he lost the moral high ground by giving a mealy mouthed answer to a question about what his government had done to give justice to the Sikh victims of the 1984 massacre.
Using the 2002 killings to attack Modi's "toughness" was clever - in a sense, Manmohan Singh was anticipating the 'legal' defence of BJP supporters that their leader had been given a "clean chit" by a trial court - because it shifted the terrain of debate towards the Gujarat chief minister's manifest administrative failure. Sadly, the Prime Minister did not develop the argument into a decisive punch, leaving the impression that he was simply trying to score a quick point and move on. (
PM's sharpest attack on Narendra Modi: he 'presided over mass massacre)
Seventh, Manmohan Singh's repeated references to Narendra Modi reflects another strategic blunder the Congress is making in the run up to the election, which is that Modi is no longer the principal or perhaps even the most dangerous opponent of the ruling party. That position will increasingly be occupied by Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party. Nothing the Prime Minister said during his press conference suggested the Congress is even aware of the formidable challenge the AAP will pose in India's urban constituencies. Indeed, everything he said on corruption will likely push angry voters even closer towards the AAP.
Eighth, Manmohan Singh missed the chance to rise above the hurly-burly of party politics and electoral considerations and give a call for all Indians to reflect upon the recent violence which convulsed Muzzafarnagar, the ongoing cases of sexual assault on women and young girls, the brittleness and intolerance that are becoming increasingly apparent in the fabric of society. He should have declared his government's intention to stand by the right of all Indians to live, worship, work, travel and love in the way they want, without interference or snooping from the state, politicians and organs of law enforcement, without the threat of violence.
Had the Prime Minister delivered a message that demonstrated his commitment to the liberal, plural society that the vast majority of Indians want in order for them to be able to get on with their lives, his wider political appeal might have generated more traction despite the double burden of corruption and inflation it comes burdened with. But he did no such thing, relying instead on statistics and sophistry that were already well beyond their sell-by date.
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