Shourie's scathing attack: Should MMS have been PM for one term?

Bangalore, Aug 27: Former Union Arun Shourie's clear utterances that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is honest in financial matters but intellectually dishonest and that India won't recover from its current economic crisis till Singh, who is in office for nine years now, is replaced with Narendra Modi are strong observations.

Shourie's view that Manmohan Singh is the polling agent of Modi has also expressed the sorry state of the prestigious prime minister's office in India.

This time, the BJP perhaps has made the most realistic criticism of a government that has been left in a corner after a slew of corruption charges and an economic slowdown. Shourie has explained briefly but effectively why Narendra Modi has emerged as an alternative before a large section of the nation.

It is precisely because the leader of the current government has failed to rise on the occasion and has been found going in the hiding each time there is am uproar against the government. It is the PM and not the indifferent Gandhis or other garrulous Congress leaders who have done more service to the Gujarat leader, who has taken big steps towards the national politics.

Shourie's criticism of the PM was relentless. He said the latter was only adept in blaming others for every problem that his government has faced. From the secretary in the coal scam to the global economy for the falling rupee, the prime minister gave little example of a leadership. This is where Modi, a man known for giving positive leadership to a state in the federalism, gained immensely.

It is not that India hasn't seen scams taking the centrestage previously and is likely to see more of them in the future no matter which party comes to power but Manmohan Singh's defensive attitude and failure to rise to manage a coalition did him more personal harm.

Former prime ministers like P V Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee had also seen corruption surfacing during their times but they also had a legacy which made them memorable. Manmohan Singh is the only prime minister who will end his tenure at the top without bothering the history-keepers.

Manmohan Singh is perhaps a prime minister who could have done the best by serving a single term. He went on only to put his own reputation and the country's fate in danger.

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