Much is being written and spoken on whether Manmohan Singh was a true statesman or the 'weakest/weak Prime Minister'.
The tag 'weakest Prime Minister' came in 2008 in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections in 2009. It came from L K Advani - who was already declared BJP's and NDA's prime ministerial candidate.
Dr Singh's press conference came in 2010 on completion of his first year in the UPA-2. It was on May 24th. The media conference was conducted by Dr Singh's new media advisor Harish Khare - who was earlier Resident Editor of 'The Hindu'.
Yes, you have guessed it right. The Sickular brigade was all around. But the media conference had some lapses - which was like a common thing in Congress era.
Mortals did not get chance to ask questions. One northeast journalist (a woman) got the chance to quiz the country's Prime Minister when Manipur was under Bandh, Telangana issue had hit Congress credibility and there were also issues such as Inflation.
She honoured herself and the entire region when she asked Dr Singh how much and what else will his government do for "infrastructure developments".
Prior to her the first questioner was from 'Hindustan' (Hindi daily of the Birla family run paper). The paper and the particular journalist were definitely among those who had "confidence" of the government's media managers.
Of course that journo is a good friend of mine ! From the same newspaper house another journalist got chance to ask question. Like a dutiful Congress-loyalist and BJP-haters for ages, he gave a brief lecture on the performance of the Prime Minister and his government.
That gentleman made news in 2023 also.
In fact between my senior colleague R C Rajamani (an ex-PTI and ex-The Statesman) - we discussed later Harish Khare's management of the show. Rajamani was a silent scorer when it came to making candid observation and he told me "Didn't you miss the apartheid style in the hall".
I could guess - what he was hinting. Still I allowed him to complete his sentence - Rajamani said : "I thought there was some kind of apartheid even in the way journalists were categorised (sought to be) and seated in different areas with sticks with Numbers -- Editors, Chiefs of Bureau, Regional press, Hindi press, Urdu press etc".
Khare also put a ban on 'supplementary' question. Hence there was substantiations of the answers to complex and important issues.
The then Prime Minister (and the czar among economists) remained silent on food inflation.
Rahul Gandhi and his eco system led by Jairam Ramesh would like to take note that the food inflation had touched 16.5 per cent.
There was a classic way of answering this question too. Dr Singh said as a result of "steps" taken by his government, there were signs of prices showing moderation.
The vast space that separated PM on dais from the large gathering of journos (over 700) perhaps had symbolised the growing distance between the ruler (rubber stamp or otherwise) and the common people -- the aam aadmi !!
Mind you - the AAP had not come into being and even Anna Hazare-led stir that shook the foundation of the Manohan Singh regime was also bit far off.
"What's your opinion about the press conference" -- asked my mentor and tormentor Rajamani !
I responded -- "The picture of the PM sitting and also looking much lonely on the large dais of Vigyan Bhavan summed up the mood of the government and the leadership -- a smugness that is far removed from the reality". Rajamani paused for a while and said, "I will give my reaction if you sponsor coffee in the Parliament House".
It took about 40 minutes to reach the spot and as coffee came in - Rajamani was at his best and remarked:
"Today I can safely say the Congress's first family never tolerated anyone doing well in the party...the search for a man with a good image sans political ambitions ended with the mild mannered economist.... This government will not do well by 2014".
My guru was emphatic and prophetic !!
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| Guru, Chela and original 'Gurudev' Tagore (Parliament Library premises) |
That was also the time when DMK Minister A Raja was also embroiled in a long running spectrum scandal. Mamata Banerjee sought to make a virtue of her long absence from the national capital. Trinamool also quit the cabinet at a later stage during UPA-2. - Ajay Mazumdar, Kolkata
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