NEW DELHI: A former media adviser to India's prime minister has alleged in a new book that Manmohan Singh allowed his authority to be undermined by Sonia Gandhi, president of the Congress party and standard-bearer of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.
Sanjaya Baru's book, "The Accidental Prime Minister", was published on Friday, days after India began a five-week election that is expected to oust Singh's Congress-led coalition from power after two successive terms.
Singh's spokesman dismissed the book as an incorrect interpretation of the prime minister's 10 years in power.
But the memoirs, which show the prime minister as subservient to a woman without an official government position, are likely to hand the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a stick with which to beat the Congress party in an increasingly acrimonious campaign.
"You must understand one thing. I have come to terms with this," Baru recalled the prime minister telling him in 2009.
"There cannot be two centres of power. That creates confusion. I have to accept that the party president is the centre of power. The government is answerable to the party."
Singh's spokesman Pankaj Pachauri described the book as "an attempt to misuse a privileged position and access to high office to gain credibility".
"The commentary smacks of fiction and (the) coloured views of a former adviser," Pachauri told reporters.
Baru was not immediately available to comment.
His book portrays Singh, 81, as an admirable man who held every important position in economic policymaking - including as finance minister when India embraced radical reforms in 1991 - before he became prime minister in 2004.
Singh also made history, becoming India's first prime minister from a minority community, and serving for longer than anyone other than a Nehru-Gandhi.
"On the other hand, the public perception that he accomplished this feat through unquestioning submissiveness lies at the heart of the image problem that came to haunt Dr. Singh," Baru said in his book.
Baru described Singh as an enigmatic man of few words who confessed when he became prime minister that he was not prepared for the role and shied away from telling his own "powerful tale".
But he said Singh's failure to assert himself after the Congress party was re-elected in 2009 proved to be a fatal flaw that weakened his authority and left him "in office" with some authority but not "in power".
He said that Singh conceded most of his turf as prime minister to Sonia Gandhi and senior cabinet ministers.
"The politically fatal combination of responsibility without power and governance without authority meant that Dr. Singh was unable, even when he was aware, of checking corruption in his ministry without disturbing the political arrangement over which he nominally presided," Baru wrote.
Ex-adviser says Indian PM was hobbled by Sonia Gandhi
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AS Karnataka —a southern Indian state — goes to polls to elect a new assembly on May 5, campaigning in the state has reached its peak. Political parties in Karnataka are leaving no stone unturned to woo voters. The key parties in the fray are the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S).
Five years after the BJP came to power on its own strength or the first time in a southern state, the Congress is confident it can win back Karnataka. The Congress victory in the state is expected to prove crucial for the party in the coming parliamentary polls. It will also spell a major boost for the Congress party in four assembly polls, scheduled for later this year. The Congress and the BJP will be locked in a direct contest in assembly polls in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
Pitching for her party in Karnataka assembly elections, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has displayed a greater aggressive tone in her campaign, targeting the BJP rule in Karnataka than ever before. While there is nothing surprising about the lady heading an election campaign or contents of her speeches, the difference in her tone and expressions is too conspicuous to be missed. This time around, her speeches are not marked by any passivity or gentleness as she passionately attacked the BJP for having betrayed the people’s mandate. During her first campaign rally in Karnataka, she strongly asked the people to vote for a change. Describing the period of the BJP’s government as “some of the darkest days,” she assertively said, “People want change. The need for change is now, and now.”
Within a week, the people’s verdict will reveal whether they have gone for a change of government or not. The lady has seldom been seen on camera and on stage, while addressing rallies with broad smiles and also varying expressions on her face. She is known to have projected a solemn look, with at times half-a-smile bordering her lips. The expression has usually remained the same, whatever be the content of her address. This scenario appears to have changed totally for Karnataka assembly polls. Her last Friday’s address in Karnataka is marked by a complete change in the style of her campaign speech.
The manner in which Sonia delivered her speech indicates that she is going overboard to personally reach out to the audience and convince them facially, verbally as well as politically. Blaming the BJP government for having served only its “narrow and selfish political ends,” Sonia pointed out that industries were no longer competing to invest in Karnataka. They were leaving Karnataka because of corruption, government interference and infrastructure issues, she said. Committing her party to bring political stability to Karnataka, Sonia also promised to restore the state’s image as a “bright state” of India. The “Congress will ensure that this Karnataka thrives and prospers,” she said.
Sonia’s Karnataka-campaign may be viewed as strategically motivated for several reasons. The tremendous change in her posture clearly reflects that lady is now more conscious than before of her images flashing across the country and the world on television channels, newspapers and the Internet. Her objective is to leave a positive impact and also appear optimistic about prospects of the Congress in Karnataka assembly polls. Perhaps, she is sure that the present-day communication technology can have a strong impact on voters’ decision.
If parliamentary polls were not less than a year away, Karnataka polls may not have mattered much. But with her nature of campaign in the state, Sonia has also set the stage for high-voltage campaigns in the parliamentary polls.
A point made by Sonia, during her speech in Chikamagalur, also indicates that special attention has been paid to strike a personal chemistry between herself and the audience. She reminded the voters of having voted for her mother-in-law in a by-election from Chikamagalur in 1978, which helped Indira Gandhi revive her political fortunes and assume office again as prime minister.
She said: “We can never forget and will never forget that Chikmagalur adopted my mother-in-law Indira Gandhi as your own sister. Thirty-five years ago, the people of Chikmagalur lent Indiraji a helping hand when she needed it most.”
If the BJP fails to return to power in Karnataka, some credit must go to the Congress leader, Sonia Gandhi.
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