The prime minister's assertive intervention in the nuclear debate is important given the political background that preceded it. First, through most of the year, Manmohan Singh's isolation within the Congress party hasn't exactly been classified information. It does not take a "mole" to figure this out. In several areas of policy, some in the cabinet and in the Congress fold have had little hesitation in departing from prime ministerial initiatives or have sought deviously to bypass Manmohan Singh altogether.
For example, this was clear in the controversy over reservations and on the clamour within the Congress party for a rollback on the rise in fuel prices. Rather than projecting an image of unstinting support for the prime minister, the Congress party has perversely functioned as a sort of quasi-opposition!
Second, taking the cue from the Congress party's open attempt to marginalise Manmohan Singh's influence and buoyed by successes in the assembly elections in May, the government's allies in the left and the DMK have weighed in with their hazardous salvos too. Recall the DMK and the left's consternation over the attempted disinvestment in the Neyveli Lignite Corporation and the subsequent halt to the entire disinvestment process.
While authority drained away from Manmohan Singh, he seemed curiously unwilling - or unable - to respond directly to his political adversaries. Consequently, the oft bandied criticism that, in the present dispensation the "unelected" prime minister is a mere cipher seemed to resonate in the public's perception.
In the run-up to the Indo-US debate there was a feeling that Manmohan Singh had been forced into a potentially difficult position by his leftist allies and some of his "non-aligned" Congressmen yet again. However, the manner in which Manmohan Singh rebutted this presumption during his parliamentary address surprised not just his doubters but perhaps may have also surprised the good doctor himself. The tentative self-effacing disposition associated with him was replaced by a hitherto unknown aggression.
As Manmohan Singh mounted a reasoned defence of the Indo-US nuclear deal, declaring firmly that "our sole guiding principle in regard to our foreign policy, whether it is on Iran or any other country, will be dictated entirely by our national interest" there was a sense that, finally we were witnessing a prime minister defending his government's policy rather than an uncomfortable bureaucrat thrust forcibly into the spotlight.
The Indo-US nuclear deal is much more than an arrangement that seeks to confer international legitimacy on India's status as a nuclear state or to partially satisfy India's growing energy demand. The real deal straddles a complex geopolitical canvas involving an acceptance that a deeper relationship between both the democratic nations is in each other's self interest.
In the Indian context, the deal stands to augment the onset of a purposive and dynamic foreign policy that aims at a constructive engagement with the wider world to achieve India's strategic objectives. Also embedded in it is the critical necessity of forging a stronger risk management strategy to contend with China and Pakistan.
More than a decade ago, as finance minister, Manmohan Singh carved a new beginning for India's economy. As prime minister today, he is at the cusp of achieving a momentous turnaround in India's foreign policy. Emboldened by his performance in the Upper House, Manmohan Singh must turn his attention towards providing a greater impetus to the reforms process through the force of his convictions. There is no doubt that Manmohan Singh's intellect, reformist credentials and integrity in public life distinguish him from the specious morality and limited abilities of most of the Indian parliamentary milieu. The Indian public recognizes this. After his combative prime ministerial performance, the Congress party ought to recognize this too.
(Rishabh Bhandari is a lawyer at a global law firm in London. These are his personal views.)
first published:August 21, 2006, 11:21 ISTlast updated:August 21, 2006, 11:21 IST
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It is too soon to tell whether Manmohan Singh's robust and elegant defence of the Indo-US nuclear deal in last Thursday's debate in the Rajya Sabha marks a turning point in his prime ministerial tenure. Nonetheless, his impassioned address before the Upper House is an event of some significance. Perhaps not since Atal Behari Vajpayee's fiery parthian volley during the no-confidence motion that stymied his thirteen day government in 1996 has any other prime ministerial speech induced an equal sympathy.
The prime minister's assertive intervention in the nuclear debate is important given the political background that preceded it. First, through most of the year, Manmohan Singh's isolation within the Congress party hasn't exactly been classified information. It does not take a "mole" to figure this out. In several areas of policy, some in the cabinet and in the Congress fold have had little hesitation in departing from prime ministerial initiatives or have sought deviously to bypass Manmohan Singh altogether.
For example, this was clear in the controversy over reservations and on the clamour within the Congress party for a rollback on the rise in fuel prices. Rather than projecting an image of unstinting support for the prime minister, the Congress party has perversely functioned as a sort of quasi-opposition!
Second, taking the cue from the Congress party's open attempt to marginalise Manmohan Singh's influence and buoyed by successes in the assembly elections in May, the government's allies in the left and the DMK have weighed in with their hazardous salvos too. Recall the DMK and the left's consternation over the attempted disinvestment in the Neyveli Lignite Corporation and the subsequent halt to the entire disinvestment process.
While authority drained away from Manmohan Singh, he seemed curiously unwilling - or unable - to respond directly to his political adversaries. Consequently, the oft bandied criticism that, in the present dispensation the "unelected" prime minister is a mere cipher seemed to resonate in the public's perception.
In the run-up to the Indo-US debate there was a feeling that Manmohan Singh had been forced into a potentially difficult position by his leftist allies and some of his "non-aligned" Congressmen yet again. However, the manner in which Manmohan Singh rebutted this presumption during his parliamentary address surprised not just his doubters but perhaps may have also surprised the good doctor himself. The tentative self-effacing disposition associated with him was replaced by a hitherto unknown aggression.
As Manmohan Singh mounted a reasoned defence of the Indo-US nuclear deal, declaring firmly that "our sole guiding principle in regard to our foreign policy, whether it is on Iran or any other country, will be dictated entirely by our national interest" there was a sense that, finally we were witnessing a prime minister defending his government's policy rather than an uncomfortable bureaucrat thrust forcibly into the spotlight.
The Indo-US nuclear deal is much more than an arrangement that seeks to confer international legitimacy on India's status as a nuclear state or to partially satisfy India's growing energy demand. The real deal straddles a complex geopolitical canvas involving an acceptance that a deeper relationship between both the democratic nations is in each other's self interest.
In the Indian context, the deal stands to augment the onset of a purposive and dynamic foreign policy that aims at a constructive engagement with the wider world to achieve India's strategic objectives. Also embedded in it is the critical necessity of forging a stronger risk management strategy to contend with China and Pakistan.
More than a decade ago, as finance minister, Manmohan Singh carved a new beginning for India's economy. As prime minister today, he is at the cusp of achieving a momentous turnaround in India's foreign policy. Emboldened by his performance in the Upper House, Manmohan Singh must turn his attention towards providing a greater impetus to the reforms process through the force of his convictions. There is no doubt that Manmohan Singh's intellect, reformist credentials and integrity in public life distinguish him from the specious morality and limited abilities of most of the Indian parliamentary milieu. The Indian public recognizes this. After his combative prime ministerial performance, the Congress party ought to recognize this too.
(Rishabh Bhandari is a lawyer at a global law firm in London. These are his personal views.)
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