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Sonia
Gandhi: The de facto Prime Minister?
Siddharth
Srivastava
She
may not be the de jure prime minister of India, but as dynamics
within the ruling Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
unveils itself there is no doubt that Sonia Gandhi is the de facto
ruler of the country.
It was earlier predicted that Sonia would limit herself to playing
political mentor to new premier Manmohan Singh as it is no easy task
heading a coalition of parties owing allegiance to regional satraps
and often opposed (like the Left) to the Congress at the local
levels. It was thought that issues of governance and administration
would be Singh’s fiefdom, while Sonia as chairman of UPA would
handle aspects of strengthening the Congress party organisation and
alliances. But, as things unfold in the new government it is
apparent that Sonia’s ``inner voice’’ might have stopped her from
donning the mantle of premiere of the country, it has not prevented
her from ensuring that all power in the current administration rests
with her.
In the latest move Sonia heads a 20-member National Advisory Council
(NAC) that will oversee the implementation of the common minimum
programme charted out by the coalition partners in the new
government. The post bestows Sonia with a cabinet status and the
council has been entrusted with a full-fledged secretariat that will
be housed in a prime government building. More importantly, Sonia
will now be empowered to deal directly with ministries and the
bureaucracy hauling them when necessary. Indeed, the whispers in
official circles already speak of vacancies in the NAC and not the
Prime Minister’s office (PMO) as the most plum postings to vie for.
It may be recalled that in the earlier dispensation the PMO under
former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee exercised exclusive
control over issues close to Vajpayee, including foreign policy that
was driven by trusted principal secretary Brajesh Mishra, much to
the chagrin of the foreign ministry. It is not yet clear which
subjects are likely to be chosen by Sonia, but letters and phone
calls are sure to flow from the NAC directly to ministries. Reports
suggest that the intelligence bureau chief has already had a
one-to-one meeting with Sonia at her residence.
The formation of the NAC follows the near-total stamp of Sonia in
the new ministerial and bureaucratic set-up. Old Congress hands who
owe their existence in politics to their loyalty and patronage of
the Gandhi family have been handed the important and powerful
ministries --- defense minister Pranab Mukherjee, home minister
Shivraj Patil, HRD minister Arjun Singh, foreign minister Natwar
Singh are old Gandhi loyalists. It is noteworthy that in a recent
statement Natwar said that Sonia is likely to visit Pakistan soon to
further relations between the two countries. There was no mention of
Manmohan. Indeed, these senior ministers consider themselves to be
more competent and experienced than the prime minister and make no
bones about their views in private and have an audience in Sonia.
Mukherjee had at one time appointed Manmohan as governor of the
Reserve Bank of India.
The bureaucratic appointments so far too bear the Sonia leitmotif –
national security advisor J N Dixit has worked closely with Sonia as
well as her late husband Rajiv Gandhi; M K Narayanayan who has been
appointed special advisor to the PMO was intelligence chief under
Rajiv; Pulak Chatterjee appointed to the PMO was earlier Sonia’s
private secretary when she was leader of opposition; B L Joshi, a
former police officer, who has been appointed lieutenant governor of
Delhi is known for his proximity to the Gandhi family.
The question is, how do all of these augur for the future of the new
government. It is not an enviable position that Manmohan finds
himself. If he asserts himself, he risks rubbing those who may
launch a whisper campaign against him feeding Sonia and others with
stories that suit their interests. It has happened in the past with
establishments across the world and there is no reason why it cannot
happen again. If Manmohan lets things be, he faces the brunt of
opinion such as the one recently in Economic Times: ``you need to
signal that you are in charge and cannot be trifled be. At some
point you will have to crack the whip and force people to fall in
line. You cannot be seen as somebody who keeps giving in to allies
because you have only 145 seats in Parliament. Not can you afford to
keep running to Sonia for support. You must be seen as your own man.
Choose your ground, and then strike out. The sooner you do it, the
better.’’
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) too is sniffing a rat in
the whole exercise. The BJP has been hard-pressed to come up with
legitimate issues to attack the government. Its tirade against
Sonia’s foreign origin fell flat when she refused to be prime
minister. The new leader of opposition L K Advani then launched an
attack on the composition of ministry with several ministers
belonging to key Congress ally from Bihar, the Rashtriya Janata Dal,
having been charge sheeted in courts on criminal charges. This
argument too did not hold much water as several ministers of the
erstwhile government, including then deputy prime minister Advani
and defense minister George Fernandes faced charges in court on the
destruction of the Babri mosque and the Tehelka corruption scandal
respectively. Latest reports suggest that the BJP, finding it
difficult to attack the squeaky clean image of Manmohan, is
preparing to take on the current dispensation around a campaign
pegged as ``bechara (helpless) Manmohan’’ caught between a powerful
party president and coalition allies. The line of offense will then
likely be trained at Sonia whom the BJP sees as a greater threat to
its own electoral prospects.
Indeed, an overbearing Sonia and a pliant Manmohan is not the best
of circumstances that the new government should engender. Perhaps,
in time Sonia will have to dip into her ``inner voice’’ once again
and hear the words that power has to come with responsibility. She
cannot fire without facing the bullets. It is not healthy for
democracy. Either she should step-in or keep out.
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