Sanjaya Baru’s Book on the Prime Minister… Not Done

KC PRADHAN, MF (Yale)

I am following the comments on the book [Sanjay Baru’s “The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh”], both in national dailies and online, for last one week with a little bit of sadness. I thought it was a non-issue as far as Sikkim was concerned but since it did appear as headline in a local daily, I could not resist expressing my thoughts.

As a fellow Yalee having gone through the same mould at Yale University, the book is a sad outcome and does not reflect well on the product of the prestigious varsity. Manmohan Singh picked him as his Media Advisor and he had his full trust in him for a good five years. Taking advantage of inner stories accessed being in high position and to publish such intimate details on the eve of the election for some personal gain is sad and shows an abject lack of finesse. Once you serve your master and served in full faith, to pull the rug from under him when the going is not good is not a done thing. It is utter betrayal of trust. If every confidential secretary of a person in high position goes about bringing out such publications, where will the country stand?

The details given in the book are already in the public domain and there is nothing new to be surprised of. But to give a seal of authenticity to all such gossip as if to empower the opposition in the election fray and importantly on the eve of his relinquishing office has raised many eyebrows besides hurting the feeling of such a saintly figure.

Manmohan Singh, from an Indian standpoint, might be a weak Prime Minister. But among all the extrovert personalities of the Indian polity at present, he is the only person whom the world Leaders at large listen to. He is a gem of a man. Honest and well meaning. He is demitting office within a month and a half anyway and moving quietly to a Government allotted quarter at 3, Motilal Nehru Place, formerly occupied by outgoing CM Sheila Dixit presumably in his antiquated 1996 Maruti 800. And along with him is Gursharan Kaur, graceful and most dignified better-half of a person of that stature India had ever seen. Her grace, simplicity and vastness of knowledge in her own right, especially Sikh religion, helped the Prime Minister immensely to glide in the high society of world leaders where the better halves play equally important roles. The late Kushwant Singh had written sometime back: “I returned home happily exhausted and served myself a hefty Patiala to re-charge my battery. I began to muse over the work of wives of men in positions of power. In Western democracies they play positive roles. Besides looking after their homes and children, they receive visiting heads of States, sit beside them at State banquets and join their husbands at social functions.” And has rightly said “Gursharan Kaur is the first woman who has performed the duties expected of the wife of the Prime Minister of India”

Leaders of the world powers that gather occasionally hardly care for a Leader who lacks niceties, no matter how large a country is. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh fully fulfilled the space and made considerable efforts to make them embrace India in their inner circle. It is accepted he is not a politician per see with all the tags attached but a gentleman politician alright. He is a thinker and an academician by training and rightly, Prime Minister by accident or rather ‘necessity’. An unassuming person like Sonia Gandhi, who by sheer compulsion had to be in political arena, turned into an ace and shrewd politician that awed not only India but world at large turning herself into one of the most powerful women in the world in so short a time. So there was a happy mix of politically shrewd Party President and Prime Minister as a thinker. India with such diverse regional politics and ethnicity with their won way of thinking is the most difficult country in the world to govern. Yet the duo did their best with best of intention for the country. People at large should understand ‘silence is not spoken’. On the other hand, Gandhi family has instilled in themselves a sense of purpose for India by dint of their family background going back to five generations. In Indian politics they have their uses and would continue to be so. Mudslinging for the sake of vote banks does not augur well. Elections come and go. But the citizens in this rather transparent world, thanks to tele-communication technology, continue to be more educated, enlightened and matured to chalk out their destiny.  

Adieu Mr. Prime Minister, you will always be in Sikkimese hearts for the blessings you bestowed in your won silenced ways and we wish you well.