The great pretender of Indian politics, L. K. Advani, is unlikely to fulfil his vaulting ambition to become the prime minister of India. Like the Jacobite pretender Bonnie Prince Charles who failed to capture the English throne, the Grand sire of the Hindu right, is similarly doomed; the throne in Delhi will always be out of his reach despite his charioteers and the chariot (rath).
History will judge Advani for his many contributions including the infamous IC 184 hijack but many of us remember him for the cruel epithet he hurled at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the only occupant of that high office outside the Nehru clan to make it his own twice over. Whether Singh deserves the label of being the weakest prime minister or is it Advani’s searing bitterness that gives this idea currency is what we are set out to examine.
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) 2 when it came into being promised much; the irascible Prakash Karat, a constant thorn in Singh’s first tenure had been humbled, the BJP was in shock and Lalu Yadav had been served up his just desserts for buffoonery. Indeed it appeared as though Singh had single-handedly won the election for the Congress Party, a second time in a row.
But all this was then; now, he is a pale shadow of his former self, a lame duck prime minister, well past his sell-by date, his authority within the party and the country fatally compromised. The economy, at a tipping point with rising inflation, growth stalled and the rupee in a free fall. And all this under the watch of a prime minister who should know his economics if not his politics!
The 2G scam, the biggest in our history, the Anna Hazare crisis, the ignominy of a cabinet minister and other senior functionaries housed in Tihar jail, the painful sight of a prime minister arriving in foreign soil to sign a historic water agreement only to be thwarted at the last minute by a cussed ally are all the hallmarks of Singh’s second tenure in office. The dysfunctionality is unmistakable.
Advani’s charge therefore has more than a ring of truth, the real seat of power is indeed at 10 Jan Path; Singh, merely a rubber stamp, doing the bidding of a lady whose sole claim to power rests on being the widow of a Nehru scion. If these claims are right the dignity of the office of the prime minister of India has been badly damaged; a bad precedent set and God knows what this will portend for us in the future.
But is the jaundiced eye of Advani colouring our views? Let us take a re-look at him. For one, the man is honest but then is that adequate? To be the prime minister of India, we need competence besides honesty, and does he therefore have that blend of hard and soft power to lead a billion plus people of a country that aspires to be a global power? What indeed are his achievements? Has he shown leadership? Has he broken the mould and set the country on to a new course? Ludicrous though it might sound given the current dead-end on many issues, the man has in reality taken some steps to chart the country’s rise. He has broken some of the shackles to set us free from our old ways; a simple man doing the best he can under very difficult circumstances.
His most obvious successes are the game changers like the ground-breaking nuclear deal that he single-handedly steered through an unruly Parliament in 2008 as well his huge contribution in 1991 when he set India on a different trajectory, the benefits of which are indisputable even to Advani and to large swathes of middle India.
Ironically despite him heading a government that has earned the sobriquet of being the most corrupt in history, it was under his watch that the RTI Act was passed; the most basic and essential weapon to fight corruption. By itself not a magic wand but a principal tool to prise open murky deals.
The infamous FDI retail bill which has been mothballed for now is another bold step that has game–changing potential like the 1991 decision of opening up the economy. A win-win for all stake –holders, the farmer and the consumer; it would also create that critical back-end infrastructure for storage, warehousing and distribution for our farm produce.
Undoubtedly his single biggest failure is his inability to put across an overarching idea to capture the imagination of his countrymen; he is no Vajpayee in speech-making or combative like Indira Gandhi and that indeed is his Achilles heel. He has never won an election; he is no mass-leader, consequently unable to force his will. He appears beleaguered and ineffectual and on the Lokpal issue totally outmanoeuvred by the Savonarola of Ralegan Siddhi!
Yet to carp like Advani is unjust, he is no Nehru or Indira. History will however be kind to him; it will put him ahead of the others including Vajpayee under whose watch the country had to endure a Godhra.
Ravi Menon is a Dubai-based writer working on a series of essays on India and on a public service initiative called India Talks.
