By: Jaithirth Rao, Founder & Ex-CEO, MphasiS
Sanjaya Baru’s book has been perceived as an attack on PM Manmohan Singh, by a disgruntled employee who was denied a job by the Prime Minister in his second term. This is a completely wrong reading of the book. It is, in fact, a defence of Manmohan by a member of his fan club. Fortunately, it is not a fawning hagiography. It is straightforward and gossipy, but not excessively so. It is an important contribution to contemporary Indian history; it can also be read as a text-book for those who wish to understand how politics and administration actually work in the India of our times. Like the Crossman Diaries in Britain in earlier times and like Duty by Robert Gates in the US in recent times, it throws light on contingencies and counterfactuals.
Future historians may see inevitable and inexorable patterns in the way things have unfolded in India in the last decade. Baru’s book will be a source that will help the historian focus with some humility on issues of choice and chance.
Baru was recruited by Manmohan and worked with him closely as Media Adviser. Baru is a loyal defender of his boss. Contrary to the popular perception of Manmohan being dour or politically clumsy, Baru makes the case that the economist-turned-politician is in fact, a clever and sophisticated operator. Manmohan’s excellent relationship with wily and experienced politicians like Sharad Pawar, Karunanidhi, Lalu Prasad, Harkishen Surjeet, Jyoti Basu and even Vajpayee and Jaswant Singh would not have been possible if he had been naïve or weak. On issues which mattered to Manmohan like Free Trade Agreements or the Nuclear Accord, he can be a cool and consummate political operator. But he does have its blind spots.
Whether it is because he has a lifelong commitment to civil service traditions that one department must not intrude on the turf of another department, or it is out of a conviction that party politics is not his forte, or for whatever unmentioned reason, Manmohan has kept himself severely and completely away from the Congress Party.
Perhaps, Manmohan felt that his own political guru, Narasimha Rao paid a price for intruding into areas where both fools and angels should fear to tread. The net result was that Manmohan had less support from his own party leaders and in Baru’s opinion that proved very costly for our "accidental prime minister".
There are some self-serving bits in this memoir. Manmohan’s performance in UPA-1 is portrayed as outstanding. After all, Baru was with him most of that time, was he not? And some of the achievements of that time seem to have a greater Baru imprint than that which other observers might concede. And virtually all the problems of Manmohan seem to have coincided with UPA-2 when Baru was no longer around! Nevertheless, Baru’s professionalism and better nature does assert itself almost everywhere in the book.
He gives himself far less credit than others who have written similar books tend to do. He is lucid enough to concede that in economic matters, effects are preceded by causes with some lags. The good times of UPA-1 were not merely because the global economy was strong, but because Manmohan inherited a good legacy from Vajpayee. The roots of many of the problems in UPA-2 were the results of the sins of profligacy committed during UPA-1 when economic growth was not only taken for granted, but treated with some contempt by the elitist do-gooders of the National Advisory Council, which could have been a source of anodyne amusement, if so many of its actions had not ended up being dangerous, even disastrous for the country. It appears that Baru’s publishers were keen to release the book right now. In a few months, there may be no interest in Manmohan and copies may not sell-----always a prosaic necessity.
The media and the BJP feel therefore that they have received a timely gift to beat the UPA-2 and its seemingly fatal inability to get the creative tension right ---the creative tension that exists in all democracies between the party and the government (just think of Gaitskell and Attlee, Nehru and Tandon, let alone Indira Gandhi and Kamaraj). The clumsiness of UPA-2 in handling the 2G problem (the infamous zero loss assertion) reflected their repetitive incompetence; the nadir of its economic policy-making was reached with the bizarre "retroactive Vodafone law". This silly and indefensible act has been criticized as discouraging foreign investment. What it actually did was worse: it signalled to Indian entrepreneurs and businessmen that they were not safe from a rapacious state and a hostile tax administration.
It is ironic that a postage stamp monarchy like Dubai has become the epitome of the rule of law and India has become at one stroke an unpredictable, whimsical state. The ghosts of Justice Subba Rao and Justice Khanna must be weeping. Baru informs us that Manmohan Singh was not only not consulted, but also almost deliberately not kept informed of this measure. This reviewer has heard in the gossipy India International Centre that the retrospective amendment was a conscious attack on Manmohan. Baru does not say so. But in the byzantine conspiracyridden atmosphere of contemporary Delhi anything is believable!
Did the Congress let down Manmohan given Baru’s assertion that the PM in fact got along well with the leaders of other parties in the coalition? In the decades to come, dozens of PhD theses will be written on this subject. Baru’s elegant, elliptical gliding defence of his boss will remain an important source book. Net-net a book worth reading---but not for the reasons that your TV Anchors give you.
Sanjaya Baru’s book has been perceived as an attack on PM Manmohan Singh, by a disgruntled employee who was denied a job by the Prime Minister in his second term. This is a completely wrong reading of the book. It is, in fact, a defence of Manmohan by a member of his fan club. Fortunately, it is not a fawning hagiography. It is straightforward and gossipy, but not excessively so. It is an important contribution to contemporary Indian history; it can also be read as a text-book for those who wish to understand how politics and administration actually work in the India of our times. Like the Crossman Diaries in Britain in earlier times and like Duty by Robert Gates in the US in recent times, it throws light on contingencies and counterfactuals.
Future historians may see inevitable and inexorable patterns in the way things have unfolded in India in the last decade. Baru’s book will be a source that will help the historian focus with some humility on issues of choice and chance.
Baru was recruited by Manmohan and worked with him closely as Media Adviser. Baru is a loyal defender of his boss. Contrary to the popular perception of Manmohan being dour or politically clumsy, Baru makes the case that the economist-turned-politician is in fact, a clever and sophisticated operator. Manmohan’s excellent relationship with wily and experienced politicians like Sharad Pawar, Karunanidhi, Lalu Prasad, Harkishen Surjeet, Jyoti Basu and even Vajpayee and Jaswant Singh would not have been possible if he had been naïve or weak. On issues which mattered to Manmohan like Free Trade Agreements or the Nuclear Accord, he can be a cool and consummate political operator. But he does have its blind spots.
Whether it is because he has a lifelong commitment to civil service traditions that one department must not intrude on the turf of another department, or it is out of a conviction that party politics is not his forte, or for whatever unmentioned reason, Manmohan has kept himself severely and completely away from the Congress Party.
Perhaps, Manmohan felt that his own political guru, Narasimha Rao paid a price for intruding into areas where both fools and angels should fear to tread. The net result was that Manmohan had less support from his own party leaders and in Baru’s opinion that proved very costly for our "accidental prime minister".
There are some self-serving bits in this memoir. Manmohan’s performance in UPA-1 is portrayed as outstanding. After all, Baru was with him most of that time, was he not? And some of the achievements of that time seem to have a greater Baru imprint than that which other observers might concede. And virtually all the problems of Manmohan seem to have coincided with UPA-2 when Baru was no longer around! Nevertheless, Baru’s professionalism and better nature does assert itself almost everywhere in the book.
The media and the BJP feel therefore that they have received a timely gift to beat the UPA-2 and its seemingly fatal inability to get the creative tension right ---the creative tension that exists in all democracies between the party and the government (just think of Gaitskell and Attlee, Nehru and Tandon, let alone Indira Gandhi and Kamaraj). The clumsiness of UPA-2 in handling the 2G problem (the infamous zero loss assertion) reflected their repetitive incompetence; the nadir of its economic policy-making was reached with the bizarre "retroactive Vodafone law". This silly and indefensible act has been criticized as discouraging foreign investment. What it actually did was worse: it signalled to Indian entrepreneurs and businessmen that they were not safe from a rapacious state and a hostile tax administration.
It is ironic that a postage stamp monarchy like Dubai has become the epitome of the rule of law and India has become at one stroke an unpredictable, whimsical state. The ghosts of Justice Subba Rao and Justice Khanna must be weeping. Baru informs us that Manmohan Singh was not only not consulted, but also almost deliberately not kept informed of this measure. This reviewer has heard in the gossipy India International Centre that the retrospective amendment was a conscious attack on Manmohan. Baru does not say so. But in the byzantine conspiracyridden atmosphere of contemporary Delhi anything is believable!
Did the Congress let down Manmohan given Baru’s assertion that the PM in fact got along well with the leaders of other parties in the coalition? In the decades to come, dozens of PhD theses will be written on this subject. Baru’s elegant, elliptical gliding defence of his boss will remain an important source book. Net-net a book worth reading---but not for the reasons that your TV Anchors give you.
