Knowing the PM

While the NDA PM candidate L K Advani has spent most of his life in public life and so there is ample amount of information on his life, one hardly knows of PM Manmohan Singh's career before 1991. So what better to do on a weekend and understand the professional roots and natural loyalties of the PM.

One look at his writings and speeches before 1990 and one gets a clear understanding that he actually was a fan of the Nehruvian style of economy. Infact some of his preferred writers and teachers were communists. His early essays and his speeches specially on Government control over prices are indicators of his liking towars the license raj.

If we then move to his days as bureaucrat, the greatest impact on his professional life as admitted by him was P N Haksar, then advisor to Indira Gandhi and known by most as the key person behind the license raj, nationalisation of banks, ties with USSR, bringing bureaucrats including intelligence services under government control. He also has been credited with the start of darbar culture in Congress and the grand split in Congress which over a period of time led to Emergency.

In the meantime, right from early 70s to mid 80s, Manmohan Singh was a crucial figure in economic affairs of the country holding various positions as Finance Secy, Reserve Bank Governor, Member of Planning Commission. This period which many analysts recall as the darkest period in Indian economy, was complete with high inflation, a huge debt trap and stories of financial corruption in various ministries. Manmohan Singh at that time seems to have behaved just like a bureaucrat with no desire to do things the right way. Some of the 'highlights' of his tenure in various positions are

Highest rate of inflation - 30%
Creating the cartel culture in 1973 under the guise of nationalising wholesale trading of foodgrains

He showed his first signs of loyalty towards Gandhi family by first joining Chandra Shekhar government as an advisor when Rajiv Gandhi led Congress supported it and later by resigning when the support was withdrawn. This period if we all remember was the time when India was grappling with serious issues on internal security, economic doom and rising caste-religion conflicts. But to Manmohan Singh, loyalty to family was more important than loyalty to country's call in distress.

And now he wants 100 more days to repair the economy. Believe him at your own risk.