Nice laurels he
has got
The Prime
Minister’s Independence Day Address had about 5329 listeners at Red Fort. Of
them, 3000 were schoolchildren. About 500 were civil servants and other
personal invitees to the occasion. Another 1500 were security staff. And 329
were people who turned up on their own to see the Prime Minister and hear him
speak. The remaining 12469207 residents of Delhi were absent.
What did they
miss? The PM’s address had 190 sentences. In their course, he used the word
‘we’ 94 times; roughly every other sentence started with this word. He also
used ‘our’ 121 times, and ‘I’ 34 times.
These figures
may give the impression that it was an egocentric speech. But such an allegation
would be mistaken. For the PM did not use the royal we. When he said ‘we’, he
meant ‘my government’. The speech was really meant to be a progress report on
what his government had done over the past year.
But that was not
always the sense in which ‘we’ was used. He also often used the word in the
inclusive sense of ‘you and I’. It is difficult to give a precise figure for
the proportion in which either sense was used, since sometimes it could have
been used in both senses. But approximately, he used it in the sense of ‘you
and I’ two-thirds of the times, and in the sense of ‘my government’ a third. In
other words, he spent about two-thirds of the time on the achievements,
aspirations and condition of the people of India – as he liked to see them – and
a third on what his government had done, was doing and should do.
This is par for
the course. I have not made a similar analysis of the speeches of previous
Prime Ministers – partly because I was not half as interested in what they said
– but I am sure that the ingredients of their speeches were the same – that
they spent part of the time reporting on – boasting about – what their
governments had done, and part of it exhorting the nation to scale new heights.
This is probably true of all PMs from Jawaharlal Nehru onwards.
But there was a
difference. This Prime Minister was very upbeat about India. He obviously
thinks that we are doing well and going places. Consider this:
The going has never been
as good for India in the past as it is now. Our economy has been growing at an
impressive pace of over 8%. Such rapid growth over three successive years is
unprecedented in Indian history. Wherever I go, I see our nation on the move.
Our industry and services sectors are showing impressive growth. I see a
reassuring confidence in our industry in being able to take on the challenge of
the rest of the world. The growth of the manufacturing industry has touched 11%
in the last quarter, generating many jobs for our youth and workers. I see our
service sector competing with the best and earning valuable foreign exchange.
All around us, we see new roads being built. The railways are expanding their
reach. New power plants are being built. New airports are being planned. Vast
industrial estates and Special Economic Zones are coming up. This dynamism is
the result of the enterprise, creativity and hard work of millions of Indians.
They are boldly taking our country into the future, treading on untrodden
paths. I am sure this will result in far greater prosperity for our people. I
sincerely believe that the most effective way to banish poverty is to generate
growth which in turn will create new opportunities for gainful employment.
Hence, economic growth is of primary importance for us.
Indian Prime
Ministers are generally ponderous characters, used to lecturing. In fact, if his
presence lifted anyone’s spirits, a Prime Minister would consider himself a
failure. So it is refreshing to see a PM who is happy about his nation, his
government and his performance and who tries to cheer up his people.
This
cheerfulness has been apparent for some time; it has been all the more
conspicuous because the Prime Minister has always been a serious and
conscientious person. One would not have sought him out for a night out. It is
not that he does not have a sense of humour. But somehow it happened that he
spent such a large part of his life doing Good things like serving his country;
in fact, he has done little else. So he got typed as a rather monotonous
patriot – a worthy, not to put too fine a point on it.
That is why I
think those 12469207 Delhiites did not turn up to listen to him: they have not
yet woken up to his transformation, and they expected the same old boring sermon
they got from Gujral, Gowda and Vajpayee in recent years. Manmohan Singh’s makeover
has come too suddenly upon them; even those who are close have not quite taken
it in.
What caused this
lifting of the spirit? I think the economist in him is dancing. His acolytes
have been telling him that the reforms he so heroically spearheaded in the
early 1990s have worked wonders – that India’s glowing economic performance is
due to it. India’s time has come, and the PM does not have to do anything; he
can just coast along and enjoy it.
But if times are
good for all of us, why does not everyone feel as lighthearted as the Prime
Minister? It is difficult to give an answer; perhaps the PM himself does not
know it. But I think it is due to the end of ambition. There is nothing that he
aspires to; or rather, everything he would aspire to is more or less
achievable. What is the worst that can happen? That the commies would pull down
his government? He would simply go back to being an opposition member of
parliament. He would sit in the verandah of his Lutyens bungalow and play with
his grandchildren.
That does not
mean that greater honours may not come to him. He may become President. Or he
may mediate between the Arabs and the Israelis. Or he may become a judge in the
Universal Saint contest. The possibilities are limitless. But none of them is the
object of his desire.
Should this worry
us? It should worry Sonia Gandhi. For while Manmohan Singh is at the peak of
the career he wants, Sonia is still in her 50s. While he has to take care of
his plants at most, she has to take care of the Congress. And without the
Congress, Rahul would not have much of a future.
Maybe it should
worry the people of India. For a contented Prime Minister is perhaps not the
one to try very hard for them. He may not make things better enough; he may not
guard against mishaps.
But for me, who
thinks our governments do only harm, it is just fine. Far be it from me to lament
if the Prime Minister is happy. Even he deserves it. If he takes to singing in
the bathroom, I would pay to listen to him.
