Decade of Decay!

Finally the PM comes out of the hiding and opens up to the media, so he was in out of the mute mode turned on in general mode. Now the question is what was he trying to convey? As always it lacked a sense of purpose and did not appear intended to convey anything meaningful. Now, getting onto the next question was this his farewell speech like most of the media was speculating? If yes then it was more disastrous than Rahul Gandhi’s election speech. The prime minister went on to say he did not want a third term and Rahul was the most suited for the job (ok wait the joke lies in next paragraph). Both the sentences put together would have sounded a little significant had it come a bit earlier
the bus has passed and it’s too late now. So what was his meet all about? Confused?  Let me tell you.

Manmohan feels he is being unfairly targeted by all and the air needed to be cleared. So going by his speech today where he wanted to dispel the negative perception around him, here also he failed miserably and could not achieve much - ironically he is still considered by many an honest man, incorruptible at a personal level, and, believe it or not, his government has been the most reformist in the last few decades despite the coalition constraints. Had he communicated more frequently and more honestly with people, history would have been kinder to him. His effort comes too late in the day. But he forgets that Never in India's history has the office of the Prime Minister been the subject of such ridicule. MMS makes Devegowda look good!

Here is the real fun; this presser was aimed at berating Narender Modi. He also said that the BJP spoke of the Gujarat chief minister as being a strong candidate. "Strength is not massacring innocent people in the streets of Ahmadabad”. The prime minister was uncharacteristically direct in his attack on the BJP’s Prime Minister Candidate; he went on to say that Modi would be a disaster if he becomes PM. Here the Irony dies a million deaths, a prime minister who has been sullied by a novice, dumb, foolish and a drug addict Rahul Gandhi calling the ordinance non-sense and thrown out, from being weak to spineless to puddle to Gandhi family supplicant. For five years at least he led a government many felt did not exist. Ministers chose to ignore his authority and the biggest scandals in the country took place under his watch. As quality of governance took a dip, everything else around, including the economy, slipped. All the while public anger was growing. The only response from the government was silence. Pakistani soldiers come and behead our soldiers, attack our cities, openly threaten our country. Chinese army comes and occupies our land for more than 20 days, Sri Lankan navy openly shoots out innocent fishermen and we do nothing. Italian marines shoot our citizens and what did you do? Sent them home to celebrate Christmas! And later they refused to come back only after the Supreme Court intervened did they come back. But PM chooses to continently ignore all the facts and instead uses adjectives like outstanding credentials etc to describe Rahul Gandhi.

When asked about corruption, Manmohan Singh said those things happened in UPA-1 (2004-09), and since his government got a stronger mandate in 2009, even assuming the Congress got a mandate to rule in that election, does this mean corruption gets sanctified? He admitted that the scams did unearth some “irregularities”, but “the dimensions of the problem were overstated by the media and the CAG” (Comptroller and Auditor General). Again, blames the media for his failures. Then on a question whether he ever thought of resigning during his nine-and-a-half year tenure so far as PM. He said he “never felt like resigning anytime.” What a revelation! If he “never felt like resigning” in a scam-scarred regime and during an era of acute economic mismanagement (during UPA-2), for which he blamed coalition compulsions or global factors, clearly he is immune not only to criticism, but to attacks of conscience too clearly he has developed a thick skin in these years, then an equally bad answer came in response to a question on inflation. While admitting that inflation was a problem, he said this had to be counter-balanced by the fact that the UPA government gave farmers better prices and rural wages were rising faster than inflation. In the past he has famously said that food inflation was caused by higher wages and because people were eating better, and now he says that as long as wages are rising faster, inflation is less of a problem. Well, Mr. Economist PM. When inflationary expectations get generalised in the economy, wages and prices will indeed chase one another in an endless spiral. In effect, inflation will never come down in this situation. It’s simple law of economics, which unfortunately you have forgotten in the attempt to justify your wrong doing.  An achievement he said he was particularly proud of was the Indo-US nuclear deal. But to be straight, the irony is this deal hasn’t delivered any increase in nuclear power investment in India, and in-turn this should have been the lowest point of your career where the infamous cash of votes scam broke out which not only sullied your image but the entire country’s reputation in the eyes of the world. It’s the result of which India and Indians are looked down upon and are subject to humiliation on foreign countries.

My personal view is Manmohan Singh is the ultimate survivor. Manmohan Singh has survived 10 years as PM by saying Ji Huzoor, Yes Ma’am, to the Dynasty. Some would think it was a high price to pay for being a doormat to Dynasty. To sum it all it was DECADE OF DECAY!!