A late Manmohan Singh may prove an asset for the Indian National Congress and, in the long run, is likely to pose a challenge to the Bharatiya Janata Party. A week’s time is enough to give an idea that history will really be much kinder to the former Prime Minister.
Hardly anyone expected that so many articles would flood the top newspapers, websites, magazines, periodicals, etc. in no time, to praise all his achievements to the sky. Not a single person—even his bitterest critic—endorsed the expression ‘Maunmohan (Dumb) Singh’, used in the past by his successor for him. Instead the tribute-payers were unanimous that his silence was always golden.
Never in the period between 2014 and 2024 has the BJP appeared to be as uncomfortable before Manmohan Singh as now. Though there was no apparent intention of almost all those who paid floral tributes to him to make comparison between him and his successor, or even his predecessor; yet the BJP is alarmed over the way people who have absolutely nothing to do with the Congress have been applauding the decision of the party to first appoint him as the finance minister in 1991 and then Prime Minister in 2004.
BJP is nervous
The BJP bigwigs who have always attacked ‘Italian’ Sonia Gandhi for not working in the interest of the country are a bit jittery on this count. Not only Manmohan Singh’s contributions in the field of Economics appreciated by all these experts or those officials who have worked with him, even his foreign and domestic policies earned a lot of kudos after he breathed his last on December 26 night. He taught the art of silent diplomacy without globe-trotting and embracing reluctant hosts or guests at the drop of a hat.
The problem with the present Prime Minister and his ministerial colleagues is that those policies of the Manmohan Singh government which they have been criticizing (for examples MNREGA, Right to Information, Right to Education, National Food Security Act, etc.) were hailed as big game-changers by all these impartial ladies and gentlemen. They have after his death exposed as to how a large section of the media and the BJP carried out a campaign to unnecessarily tarnish the image of a person of impeccable character. A phrase ‘policy paralysis’ was coined during the final years of the United Progressive Alliance-II government when the fact was that the landmark National Food Security Act was enacted in September 2013. No, the government was not dysfunctional then as was projected.
The title of the book (and later a film made on it), “The Accidental Prime Minister” penned by his former media advisor, Sanjaya Baru came under heavy fire now. The role of the then Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai has once again come under scrutiny and his figures questioned. The obit-writers also drew the attention towards the fact that all the corruption charges levelled then have been overturned by the court. Nobody now knows as to who is the Lokpal or Lokayukta and Anna Hazare is a forgotten man.
Better late than never, the jury is out. Manmohan Singh was a victim of a sinister campaign. Though some BJP leaders and spokespersons, especially in TV programmes anchored by the friendly journalists vainly tried to once again create the image that he was merely a puppet of Sonia Gandhi they were all strongly countered by those who have no political objective and ambition.
In fact, it came out as to how Rahul Gandhi apologized before Manmohan Singh after the former tore the copy of ordinance passed by his government in September 2013 overturning Lily-Thomas ruling of the Supreme Court.
Saffron propaganda punctured
The non-stop propaganda of the Sangh Parivar against Manmohan Singh-Sonia Gandhi duo received the strongest rebuttal in the last over a week, and that too from independent political pundits and those who have worked with Manmohan Singh in the last half century. The BJP is certainly on the backfoot on this count. The upcoming generation, which has in the last over a decade, had hardly heard or read anything positive about Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi are somewhat taken by a complete surprise over the way the achievements between 1991 and 1996 and 2004 and 2014 are being glorified by men and women who have nothing to do with politics.
As even the most partisan and biased media houses were compelled by the occasion (death of a former PM) to give space to such a soul the BJP has been left with no option but to indulge into damage limitation exercise. But it is finding it difficult to counter some of the hard facts and figures highlighted in the last over a week.
What is making the apologists of the BJP uneasy is the fact that when one sketches a much larger profile of any person of eminence one at the same time inadvertently diminishes the stature of others in the race. This is happening at present.
IT Revolution Manmohan Singh’s death has provided an opportunity to objectively re-visit the history of India since late 1980s. The tall claim of the Information and Communication Technology Revolution of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government (1998-2004) also got exposed. Actually there was nothing for the BJP to boast as the internet came to India in 1997. The IT Revolution would not have taken place had the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi not launched a massive campaign to spread telephone connectivity to all the nooks and corners of India. Work in this direction could be completed in the early 1990s. The cable television revolution also came up in 1991-92. And the man who should be given credit was Sam Pitroda, who came under strong criticism by the BJP in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha poll for no valid reason.
As everything has been analysed in such great detail in the last few days, the BJP is struggling to come up with a fresh narrative. The task is not so easy.
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