It all started
at home. The opposition accused the Congress lead UPA government of policy paralysis when it
failed to come up with a worthy policy reform in its second stint. Inflation
was riding high, foreign investment was slowing down and a string of corruption scandals battered the government. A home grown middle class movement against corruption
and the government’s poor handling of the whole movement further damaged its
image. The government’s inability to perform and slowing down of the economy
brought the corporate India to the front-line. Corporate India openly blamed
the government of failing to live up to the expectation and deliver long
promised reforms. All was bearable till this point. But suddenly the matter started to
get international attention.
It was The
Economist which published first of the series of the “damning” articles against
the Indian prime minister. In its December 17th, 2011 edition (India’s
political paralysis – Gasping for breath) the newspaper started the article saying, “A LESSER man might have quit by now. Even Manmohan Singh's fabled
ability to endure humiliation is being tested”. The reference was made to
Mr. Singh being undercut by his colleagues including Mrs Sonia Gandhi. If this
was not enough, the same newspaper yet again in its April 14th 2012
blog called Banyan, accused Mr. Singh of leaving a job half done (referring to
the economic reforms). The matters became worse with the Time magazine branding
the prime minister an underachiever in its mid July edition. Quickly after the report, The Independent
of the UK branded him a poodle of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi.
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| Will the real underachiever please stand up |
This generated a
huge uproar in the country; the politicians first ignored it but later lashed
out at the foreign media and accused them of spreading false information and
insulting the head of the state. The opposition parties took the opportunity
and the BJP (the main opposition party) said the Time magazine is late to the party (implying that the prime minister was always an underachiever). Public opinion rode
high on patriotism and social media buzzed less with support for the prime
minister and more with, “how dare you say something about my prime minister?”
The common man took it too personally and eventually The Outlook, a
weekly Indian newspaper came up with its own version of Mr. Obama being the real underachiever.
No one can deny
that Mr. Singh has failed to deliver in his second stint. There was no big
ticket reforms pushed through parliament. The only policy decision worth
remembering was to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) into multi brand
retail, which sadly was reversed within a fortnight. The Indian middle class loathes
the ruling UPA due to high inflation and a consistent inflow of corruption scandals. However,
the moment criticism comes from foreign countries it’s not welcome.
In all this
madness, what comes out clearly is the relevance of India to rest of the world.
How many times does The Economist or the Time magazine talk about the head of
the state of Lesotho, or Estonia, that too on their cover? All the attention
that Mr. Singh and India is attracting now is because India is too big to be
ignored. Indian economy is now linked to the world economy. Stung by domestic
slowdown western companies are looking towards the untapped markets in India.
Policy paralysis or underachievement by Indian government is as much a worry
to the west as it is to Indians.
The Outlook can
always launch a counter attack, which at its best was juvenile, given the usual
scope of coverage by the magazine. The masses can pour their anger on the
Internet, politicians can use the situation for personal gains, industry can
feel vindicated, but in all this cacophony there is a subtle message which says
India is becoming important in world affairs. Someone in the government should
read this message. Stand still too long and others will overtake. There are many
of them by the way.
