Sanjay Baru book on Manmohan Singh as “accidental prime
minister” illustrates a set of events which substantiates a widely
held notion about him. The success of Manmohan led UPA in 2009 elections,
according to Baru is widely attributed to Manmohan Singh .But that result was
clearly “hijacked” by Congress circles and assigned it to the Gandhi family,
particularly Rahul Gandhi. Manmohan ‘s inherent inability to own that
success of 2009 and take Congress from the shadows of the Gandhi family, can be
seen as a monumental failure in Indian politics. After 2009, Congress circles
were busy trying to build Rahul Gandhi as a successor by weakening the prime
minister and his office.
It’s not a secret that, Congress party is run more or less like
a family run “conglomerate” than a political institution. All the positions whether
it is a position inside the party or public offices are filled by people who
display overweening allegiance to Gandhi family or those who don’t pose any threat
to them. With the help of some "cherry picked" technocrats and legal
luminaries they ran the government which largely served their purpose and their
partners.
Along with a weak government, headed by an “accidental prime minister”
with no political authority, there was a weaker and divided opposition.
In fact,there are times when government and some opposition have colluded to take some
decisions to help some corporate interests. Apart from disrupting the
Parliament from time to time, opposition found no purpose in uniting and launch
a public movement against government policies. It was this “mutual
understanding” of the political establishment which gave birth to anti-corruption
movement launched by Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal. In response, government
and opposition worked hand in hand to oppose any public demand for
accountability and institutions to check corruption.
As elections have descended, the emergence of Modi from the
opposition camp, who promises everything to everything is seen as an answer to
Congress’s “dynasty rule”. In fact, it is the dwindling nature of democracy
and transparency in political parties which are translating into corruption and
ineptitude in their functioning. The answer to “good governance” lies in the
functioning of inclusive democratic institutions which can be made only by
political institutions which works in an inclusive and democratic manner. Well
a country like India shouldn’t be at the mercy of a person or a family.
