Former PM and nonagenarian leader Manmohan Singh emerges as flashpoint in Indian politics

NEW DELHI - One of India’s most respected politicians, former prime minister Manmohan Singh has mostly been out of public view in recent years because of his frail health.

But the nonagenarian Congress leader’s rare appearance in a wheelchair in Parliament on Monday to vote on a crucial Bill concerning the administrative control of capital New Delhi has won him renewed respect from many individuals, prompting nostalgia for his leadership but also unleashing political bickering over his legacy.

“Dr Manmohan Singh was severely misjudged by this country, he was not only a strong Prime Minister but also a dedicated and dignified leader,” said X user Roshan Rai.

While the Congress Party and other opposition politicians gushed with praise for the member of Rajya Sabha (the Upper House of the Parliament) – one even hailing him as a “beacon of integrity” – the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was clearly not impressed.

In a post on X in Hindi, the party described the Congress’ decision to have “a former prime minister sitting on a wheelchair late at night in the House in such a state of health and that too just to keep its dishonest alliance alive” as “extremely shameful”.

It was not just Dr Singh’s dedication to parliamentary proceedings that won him praise. Like many others, former journalist Maya Mirchandani recalled his actions in 2012, following ethnic violence in the north-eastern state of Assam. He visited the region to meet locals at a relief camp, and even fielded questions from journalists there.

That visit stands in sharp contrast to Mr Modi’s continued absence from Manipur, a north-eastern state that

has witnessed ethnic strife

since early May, along with his public reticence on this issue.

Ms Mirchandani was present at the camp in Kokrajhar and tweeted her photographs of Dr Singh visiting it in 2012.

She said it was a way for her to point out how the then Prime Minister had reached out to those affected, as well as to recollect the “dignity of politics” back then, unlike the “coarse” political rhetoric today.

“As a prime minister, I think Dr Singh was fundamentally a decent man,” she told The Straits Times.

“People in the midst of an ethnic conflict need to know that somebody is watching, that somebody’s taking cognisance of the gravity of the situation.

“What may come of it is a different question, but it’s this idea that someone from the very top is listening, and from all accounts that seems to be missing from Manipur.”

Dr Singh has been assailed by the BJP even on this count.

Its leader and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma noted last week that he did not visit Kokrajhar in 2008, when riots had struck the same region, and that his “hour-long visit (in 2012) provided no healing touch”.

Dr Singh has had a chequered legacy

as India’s premier from 2004 to 2014.

Known for his humility as well as erudition, the Oxford-educated economist steered India through some very difficult times, including the 2007-2008 global financial crisis, and won a second mandate with a stronger tally for his party in 2009.

He even held together a coalition-government stitched around the Congress through turbulent times, including in 2008 when the Left Front, led by the Community Party of India (Marxist), withdrew its support over the Indo-US Nuclear Deal, which Dr Singh pushed through despite opposition. Under the deal, India, which is not a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, agreed to place all its civil nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards in return for American civil nuclear cooperation.

But his second tenure was tainted by several scams, a floundering economy and price rises as well as a divided Congress leadership that led to a sense of “policy paralysis”, causing many Indians to become disillusioned with him.

Dr Singh’s authority as the prime minister was also allegedly undermined by a rival power centre around Mrs Sonia Gandhi, who served through his two stints as the influential Congress Party president, leading many to perceive him as a weak prime minister.

However, Ms Neerja Chowdhury, a veteran journalist, said respect for Dr Singh has gone up since he left office along with the realisation that “maybe he was not fully given his due”.

“He did allow a lot of corruption (to fester) around him, yet he, personally, was seen as an upright prime minister who didn’t have an individual agenda, as someone who understood the ins and outs of governance and administration having held many top bureaucratic positions,” added Ms Chowdhury, the author of How Prime Ministers Decide, a book released in August that analyses the operating styles of several Indian prime ministers since the 1980s.

“Manmohan Singh was a quiet worker, dealing with the nitty-gritties, always dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s of what should be done.”

This, she added, was unlike Mr Modi, who “does everything on a grand scale”.

“He (Mr Modi) wants things to change, move forward, make an impact, but sometimes where they falter is in the nitty-gritty aspect of things,” Ms Chowdhury said,

bringing up demonetisation as an example.

The November 2016 demonetisation exercise, championed by Mr Modi and which withdrew high-value currency notes from circulation in a sudden swoop, was succeeded by more than 70 notifications in less than two months, including several that rolled back key decisions.

Dr Singh, who turns 91 on Sept 26, continues to be respected as a “fatherly figure” in the Congress Party today.

“He cuts across all kinds of party factionalism,” said Mr Rasheed Kidwai, a senior political commentator who covered Dr Singh’s two stints for The Telegraph newspaper in India.

He noted that the resurgent nostalgia for Dr Singh’s leadership is connected to “rising dissatisfaction” among many Indians over Mr Modi’s track record, who, he added, has struggled to deal effectively with several challenges such as the strife in Manipur and tackling corruption.

“Contrary to Mr Modi’s boisterous and aggressive style of working, Dr Singh never brought himself to the fore. Instead, he let his work speak rather than any bravado or grandstanding,” Mr Kidwai told ST.