Manmo-han Singh is a beleaguered man these days. Poor chap, he is getting it right, left and centre, at home and abroad, with nobody standing up for him and saying, “There, there… it’s okay. We all make mistakes… we all screw up big time. Don’t sulk. Everything’s gonna be alright...” But that’s not happening.

The reason it’s not going to happen either is because we all know nothing’s gonna be alright. And there’s no point in pretending a tooth fairy is going to drop by with a magic wand, wave it around and — voila — India will get back on track. The rather dismal truth is that India ki railgaadi track se phisal gayi hai. To get that train to huff and puff again as it steams towards a great and glorious future seems highly unlikely.
But, hello! Why do we need the Washington Post to tell us what is so damn evident? And even if the Post has put it all in a manner so blunt and unambiguous, it made us squirm, the point is Dr Singh does indeed cut a “tragic figure” that is of his own making. At 79, one expects a certain distilled wisdom to kick in. True, age is an unforgiving and harsh factor for most mortals, but in the case of politicians, it can be a gigantic attribute. Especially in Asian societies that still venerate and respect age. No matter what social scientists have to say about India’s love affair with youth (irritatingly dubbed “Youngistan”), we remain deferential towards elders (well… for the most part) and do yearn for a wizened old pitama of the epics to show us the way out of a bottomless abyss. Someone who has a vast and varied experience of life, who can guide and mentor others, who can be relied on to resolve a series of big and small crises. Dr Singh could have been… should have been… India’s father figure. But he blew it — for India and for himself.
What are the options in front of him? If he yields to pressure and does indeed resign, does it solve even a single problem? If he quits, what happens next? Will Sonia Gandhi suddenly emerge in a new avatar as Maa Kali and take charge of a chaotic, headless country? Will the BJP seize the moment and gain control over the reins of power? Or will we witness an outbreak of anarchy the likes of which we have not seen before? Which is the better, more sober option? A silent, weak Prime Minister, or a state dominated by opportunistic players ready to pounce on the rapidly deteriorating situation? The Post has referred to a “deeply corrupt government” and warned Dr Singh that he faces the “danger of going down in history as a failure”. Rather a failure than a despot or a tyrant — that’s one line of argument. But a failure at the cost of the country’s progress? Never.
In all this finger pointing, perhaps the root cause of this malaise has been overlooked. Endemic corruption has gone unchecked for over 50 years of our country’s existence. It is only far more in your face and brazen now. Or, more accurately, it is only in today’s more transparent times that we talk about the extent to which corruption has corroded our system. One just has to examine the daily charade that passes for parliamentary proceedings to know what a cruel joke is being played on the people of India. Yes, let it be said loudly and clearly — political parties have fostered and bred corrupt practices across the board. Can we single out even one political party with an untainted, blemish free track record? The Post tells us somewhat sanctimoniously that several things went disastrously wrong under Dr Singh. So they did. The Post goes on to list what those are… stalled economic reforms, the rupee collapse etc. But according to the paper, what is equally damaging to Dr Singh’s reputation is that “he looked the other way and remained silent as his Cabinet colleagues filled their own pockets”. Oh dear! That is just so unfortunate. His silence. His passivity. Par dekho toh sahi — that is the real Manmohan Singh. The essential him. That is the man he has always been… always.
It is our mistake that we bestowed him with exaggerated attributes he never possessed. We labelled him an economic wizard who’d lead India into the “Brave New World”. We expected him to almost single-handedly make us into a global superpower, quite forgetting the inbuilt weaknesses of our own system. It is really not Dr Singh’s fault that we read him wrong. As the Post reminded readers, he had famously told broadcaster Charlie Rose in 2006, “I am a small person in a big chair.” Truer words were never spoken. Can we just leave the guy alone now and look for other scapegoats for our collective failure?