The Prime Minister is increasingly being perceived as someone who is in office but not in power. Nothing else explains his failure to act.
One can possibly dismiss senior BJP leader and NDA chairman LK Advani's comment that Mr Manmohan Singh is "the weakest Prime Minister we have ever had" as one prompted by his party's political stand. However, the same cannot be said when prominent citizens and business leaders make a similar assessment of this Government.
Doyens from the field of business, finance, judiciary and other fields have written an 'open letter' making a desperate appeal to the Prime Minister to start governing the country. The 'open letter' has urged Mr Singh to initiate urgent measures on issues such as tackling corruption, bridging the governance deficit and ensuring independence of "investigative agencies and law enforcement bodies" from the executive.
The 14 signatories include some of India's most eminent individuals — Mr Azim Premji of Wipro, Mr Ashok Ganguli, former chairman of Hindustan Unilever Limited and an MP now, former Reserve Bank of India Governors Bimal Jalan and N Narasimhan, former Supreme Court judges BN Srikrishna and Sam Variava, economist A Vaidyanathan and blue ribbon entrepreneurs like Mr Deepak Parekh, Ms Anu Aga, Mr Keshub Mahindra and Mr Jamshyd Godrej. Some of them are close to the Government or even members of the National Advisory Council headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
That such eminent persons should issue an open letter instead of taking their grievances directly to the Prime Minister and the NAC chairperson to whom they have easy access serves to underscore their decision to make the matter of governance deficit a public issue rather than whisper about it at top-level meetings. Although drafted in sober and under-stated language, the open letter's contents are loud and voluble to all.
When they say they are raising issues of tackling corruption and ensuring independence of investigative and law-enforcing agencies from the executive "in order to ensure citizens that corruption will be most severely dealt with", they indirectly mean that like most citizens of India they are not satisfied with what the Government has done so far. They have told the Prime Minister that the way these issues are being dealt with has failed to strengthen the confidence of the people. In other words, there is sizeable deficit in popular confidence in the UPA's governance.
Lest the Government fails to read the message, these eminent persons have added that they have been compelled to write an open letter because "several loud and outraged voices in the public domain (are) clamouring on these issues, which have deeply hurt the nation". The assertion that the people no longer believe in the sincerity of those in power in New Delhi could not have been more tellingly packaged — the understatement is louder than a shout.
Yet, that is not all. The open letter explicitly says that the institution of governance is facing a crisis because "widespread discretionary decision-making has been routinely subjected to extraneous influences". There are flip-flops on environmental issues that clearly seem to follow political criteria rather than facts.
In effect, this public statement is an expression of erosion of faith, if not lack of confidence, in the integrity and competence of the Government headed by Mr Manmohan Singh. It is a warning to the Union Government that the mandate it received in the summer of 2009 has eroded considerably and the onus for this lies with the Prime Minister. In other words, what these individuals who are not aligned with any political party are saying what Mr LK Advani has been pointing out for long — just that he has been more explicit in stating the point that is now being reiterated.
Despite public clamour for action, the response from Mr Manmohan Singh can be best described as timid. Take the Cabinet reshuffle, for instance. Instead of exercising his authority and determination to generate confidence among the people that he is serious about setting up a Government that performs, Mr Singh has indulged in the usual game of musical chairs with a vague promise that a larger game will follow the Budget session of Parliament.
As regards corruption, the Group of Ministers met on January 21 to discuss the issue and "asked the Cabinet Secretary to form two committees to analyse the various reports of expert committees available with the Government to tackle the menace". It also "discussed the latest draft of the Lokpal Bill." There could not have been a better example of evading the issue.
The rot runs deep. Recently the Supreme Court took the Union Government to task for its dogged refusal to reveal the names of those who have stashed away black money abroad. The Government is dragging its feet over taking up the offer from Germany to reveal the information it has extracted from the European principality of Lichtenstein about these funds. It gets the information under the double tax avoidance provisions that require the names to be kept secret.
As we have seen in the case of Pune-based horse breeder Hasan Ali, there is a deliberate attempt to not let the people know who are the culprits who have transferred money abroad secretly. It is entirely possible that there are names on the list that can cause discomfort to the Congress and its allies in the UPA, and this could be the reason why it is trying to keep the names a secret as long as possible.
During the Winter session of Parliament the Opposition expressed its 'no confidence' in the Government by refusing to let both the Houses function. And there are indications that the Budget session could also prove to be a washout. That could bring the administration to a halt if the Budget or demand for grants is not passed before March 31. Many others, besides the NDA, have flayed Mr Manmohan Singh for his inability to demonstrate decisive leadership. They are social activists, professionals and people from the media and business world. In fact, it suggests a consensus of sorts across the nation.
As the Budget session draws near, these 'loud and outraged voices', as the open letter has aptly described them, are bound to grow into a demand for the Prime Minister to perform or quit. Some suggest that the second step is exactly what some important individuals in the Congress want him to take. The next few weeks are going to be crucial.
