The American News Magazine, Time, at least in its Asian Edition has shown the Prime Minister on the Front cover and has called him an "under achiever." Compared to Barack Obama who has been raining drones on the hapless people of Pakistan, Man Mohan Singh cannot be accused of war crimes and that is saying much. The Americans have neither the political or intellectual right to judge the Prime Minister of India when their own Government is carrying out a merciless war of extermination in Afghanistan. Having said the obvious truth, let me move on to Man Mohan Singh.
The most remarkable feature about Man Mohan Singh is that he if featureless. By temperament he is a faceless bureaucrat and the dynastic fascist party has kept him there to keep the seat warm. A Prime minster without authority will be a liability to the political system and that is what has happened. He has to look behind his shoulders to keep his seat and hence the constitutional office he holds gets undermined everyday. In Prime Minister ManMohan Singh we have the strange situation of a political personage having to bear the responsibility for decisions he has neither made nor approved. Being a trained economist, Man Mohan Singh is certainly aware of the looming economic disaster, but he was not given the authority to do anything. Hence even the 6% growth is an "over achievement" and the PM must be complimented on it.
In the political realm too, Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh does not en joy any clout. Left to himself he would jettison liabilities like Chidambaram. But he is forced to keep this man as "Home Minister" in spite of court cases and proven instances of high crimes and misdemeanors. When factional loyalties count more than service to the country or intellectual ability, you have the present scenario in which the Home Minister is the concerted target of the Opposition and the result is Man Mohan Singh is left holding the can. The Prime Minister does not have a free hand in deciding any major policy issue. And this suits the dynastic fascists well and they keep Man Mohan Singh in office.
Man Mohan Singh is known to be personally honest, but the institutions under him turn out to be irredeemably corrupt. In the Narashima Rao Adminsitration, Man Mohan Singh as Finance Minister allowed the Harshad Mehta Scam to take place, but even the JPC which conducted the Inquiry was not allowed to call him as witness. Even now as Prime minister, Man Mohan Singh has allowed the 2G Spectrum Scam to take place right under his nose and yet the Prime Minister is being defended. The point is that Man Mohan Singh is not allowed to be the honest :darwan" or gatekeeper. Some crooks close to the ruling party/family are allowed to plunder the very garden this honest "darwan" is said to guard. The 2G Spectrum Scandal took place only because, the Prime Minister was not allowed to enforce the very decisions he took. Against this background, the very fact of survival is an achievement.
The Time Magazine is against Man Mohan Singh because he allowed Mamta Banerjee to oppose FDI in the retail sector. Walmart was all set to invad3e India until the Calcutta Didi force the regime of Man Mohan Singh to slide back on the issue. Even with regard to Pakistan, Man Mohan Singh is playing politics. Pakistan has not yielded on a singlr issue and yet the regime of Mna Mohan Singh wants to improve relations with Kasaabistan. Apart from corruption and man administration, Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh has not achieved anything and in both these he is certainly an Over achiever.
