Book Review: The Accidental Prime Minister

Sanjaya Baru's, 'The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh', ringed quite a few bells in the political circles when it was launched amidst the Indian General Elections of 2014. It is the only book written by a high level official till date about his experience in the PMO. Now, Sanjaya Baru was PM Manmohan Singh's media advisor for four years from 2004-2008, the period when UPA-I was in power. The book provides an excellent account of the way the government functioned under the Congress party, the descriptions of Manmohan Singh as a politician, economist and finally as a human being makes one realise that how a right man was trapped in a wrong position burdened by excessive authority from the dynasty and party opponents from within.

The book brought a political storm in the country questioning the
timing and intent of release

The publication of the book amid general elections was a controversial move. The Congress came out on all fours attacking Baru to be opportunistic in order to gain some fake fame. But, Mr. Baru personally thought that he will be criticised for giving a positive view about Manmohan Singh and his governance style in the book. Well to agree with Mr. Baru, The Accidental Prime Minister is indeed a positive account of the man. What is inherent in the writing style is that Baru is deeply sympathetic towards Manmohan Singh and has always desired to help him going out of the way taking chances even at the expense of earning some critics in the UPA government. The description of the Ex-PM leaves one wondering about the exceptional qualities and intelligence that the man possesses. What Baru thinks about the book is totally right and without doubt no other book has been and will be more positive about Dr. Singh in years to come.

The next bell rings due to the title of the book. Especially, the words The Making and Unmaking. Firstly, why was he made, what was his role defined as and then why was he Unmade. Another question is, if he knew that he was being unmade why din't he just resign and save his face. The book again answers both the questions clearly from the perspective of Manmohan Singh.

Mr. Baru openly admits that The Family (Sonia-Rahul)
destroyed Dr. Singh's legacy

First discussing the making of Dr. Singh. He accepted the offer to be the PM because he thought that he will get a free hand in taking decisions related to the government as he had a free hand in handling the finance portfolio in the Narsimha Rao government. In effect, he thought that he would run the government and Sonia Gandhi would run the Congress party i.e. the CEO-Chairman model. But the whole model was a trap.

It has been clearly mentioned and observed that from the very first day Manmohan Singh was sidelined by the party president. He din't have the power to appoint his ministers, was not consulted by the Finance Minister in budget matters and was not even respected initially by the senior members of the cabinet who called the PM by his name. So, being the PM Mr. Singh never got that autonomy which he got as the Finance Minister.

What went wrong for Dr. Singh after 2009? Why suddenly the relationship between him and Sonia took a downward dip. Well, to this Sanjaya Baru is himself to blame partially since he tried to make Dr. Singh realise that the UPA-II has come to power due to his stewardship of the country during the past fiver years. Enough evidence of the same has been provided that how people voted for their 'Sardarji' just like people voted for Modi in 2014 elections and not necessarily for the BJP. This thought of being the real hero of the UPA-II turned out to be costly for Dr. Singh since no Congressman could let the image of any person being projected as bigger than those of Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka. He was not allowed to re-appoint Mr. Baru as his media advisor (Dr. Singh had to refuse Mr. Baru after he had invited Baru back and the latter had already resigned from his job in Singapore).

Dr. Singh had enough opportunities to resign and even his wife and daughter wanted him to resign on some occasions, the last being Rahul's open disrespect of the PM and the parliament on the issue of an ordinance on convicted legislatures. But he din't resign because the humble man thought that the country would be worse off under some other PM. Few would doubt this thinking of Dr. Singh as the possible contenders of PM post at that time were likes of Arjun Singh and AK Antony. Dr. Singh's blind eye to the culprits definitely disturbed Baru.

The writing style of the book grips the reader as Baru tries to bring out the well known truths that were never being spoken explicitly. And the controversy was there because a former media advisor was out in the field blaming the top deck, the dynasty system that was prevalent in the century old political party. That Sonia Gandhi was the ultimate decision maker in the UPA is clearly mentioned and even acknowledged by Manmohan Singh in a private conversation with Baru.

Lastly, the description of his relationship with the PM has been done in the finest manner. Mr. Baru was close to the PM and always felt a desire to credit the PM for whatever good he has done. The PM trusted Baru the most and the latter was privy to personal discussions regarding various ministers, heads of states and other matters. He was one of the few people who was allowed to meet Dr. Singh after his heart surgery and Mrs. Singh acknowledged that how the small meeting filled Dr. Singh with renewed courage and vigor to fight to recovery.

The book is a must read for every person interested in politics. One needs to realise that in an effort to unmake Dr. Singh and take the Rahul-Sonia duo to the top the Congress party has ended up routing itself at the national level. With just a handful seats in the Lok Sabha not even deserving to be called an opposition the party needs to get up from the dynasty politics system and introduce democratic system. Had the command been in Dr. Singh's hands the situation would have been different for the Congress. For more information refer to the must read book by Mr. Baru.