Shivshankar Menon Writes About Working with Dr. Manmohan Singh; No room for Ishwar Allah in BJP’s version of Hinduism
A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by MK Venu, Sidharth Bhatia, Pratik Kanjilal, Tanweer Alam, Seema Chishti, Sushant Singh and Siddharth Varadarajan | Contributing writer: Kalrav Joshi, with additional inputs by Anirudh SK
The Long Cable
Working with Dr. Manmohan Singh
Shivshankar Menon
Dr Manmohan Singh was in many ways the easiest boss that I worked for in 42 years with government. He was gentle, kind, considerate, and welcomed other opinions and reasoned debate. But this assumed that you had done your homework and knew what you were talking about. His sharp mind saw through waffling or ignorance. And he could be scathing in his opinion of those who tried to pull the wool over his eyes.
My dealings with him were mostly on foreign and security policy. He had few illusions about how the world worked, and saw things clearly. His long experience of dealing with the world had left him clear eyed. But that did not necessarily make him cynical. He understood that in diplomacy credibility is all. Honesty really is the best policy. Not full disclosure but honesty. For you are dealing with outside actors who are outside your control with independent sources of information. Unlike within the country, you cannot rely on laws or their enforcement internationally. And credibility was what Dr Manmohan Singh had in spades. The world had a healthy respect for his intellect and his integrity, and he used it in India’s cause. I have seen the respect with which world leaders sought and heeded his advice, and the influence that he exercised in gatherings like the G-20, East Asia Summit and elsewhere. It was not for nothing that president Obama called him his guru.
The teacher in him was always present. You always left a meeting with Dr Manmohan Singh knowing more and seeing things better. You invariably learnt something. Those who have worked in government will know how rare this is.
Most of all one was conscious of working with a most uncommon leader: a politician who was not at all a short term maximiser; a man of integrity among the unscrupulous; and a person of vision whose own life showed what was possible with skill, knowledge and effort. This was a leader who did not have to rely on propaganda, rhetoric or coercion.
What struck me again and again was his lucidity even on issues which must have been new to him. I later came to see that this sprang from his clarity of purpose. He had a broader political economy view of foreign policy, stressing its utility to the transformation of India into a modern, prosperous and secure country for all its citizens. This criterion gave him a way to judge the significance of both threats and opportunities, and to see one in the other. When the Colombo government was eliminating the LTTE as an effective military force in 2009, with all the political complications that brought us in India, he saw the chance to bind the Sri Lankans to respect our security red lines, such as no foreign submarine port calls. We were successful in getting them respected until 2014.
It was also his clarity of purpose that gave him the strength to press forward on issues where he was convinced of the national interest. On the civil nuclear agreement with the USA and the NSG waiver, for instance, it was his determination that kept us going when the prospects for it in the Indian political process were not bright. His willingness to stake the future of his government on the issue showed a sign of him that his gentle manner concealed.
He was also an example of professionalism, of an ability to be objective and to keep emotion out of official work. I once told him that the Pakistanis in Gah, his original home before Partition, were very emotional in their pleas for a visit by him. What he then told me about what his family had undergone during Partition, the family members they had lost, and the wounds, horrified me. When I asked him how he could still seek peace with Pakistan, his answer was simple, that it was in India’s interest, no matter what emotion might suggest. He then gave me a reasoned and logical set of arguments for what he attempted with Pakistan, which I believe, offers a way that future governments with turn to when the time is ripe. I am still amazed that he was able to follow the demands of logic and reason in his Pakistan policy.
Dr Manmohan Singh was not a demonstrative person. And yet he got along with leaders like George Bush and Wen Jiabao who came from very different backgrounds, educations and experiences. It was the life of the mind and ideas that excited him. He worked on his important speeches himself, and his farewell address to the nation laying down the office of prime minister on 17 May 2014 is a masterpiece of brevity while expressing his deeply held beliefs.
That did not mean that he did not have a sense of fun and of the ridiculous. In private he could laugh with the best of them. This was a side that I wish the rest of the world could have seen, but he was at heart a private person.
What I will most remember about him is his capacity to inspire affection and loyalty in a truly human way. Working with him restored one’s faith that decency and morals could have a place and might succeed in politics. He was right when he said that history would judge him better than the contemporary media and opposition parties.
Shivshankar Menon was Manmohan Singh’s National Security Adviser from January 2010 to May 2014. He was earlier India’s foreign secretary from 2006 to 2009.
Snapshot of the day
December 26, 2024
Siddharth Varadarajan
Manmohan Singh’s death is all over the national press but has also stirred the world press. The New York Times remembers him as a soft-spoken and cerebral leader who “spurred India’s economic boom”, Andy Mukherjee writes in Bloomberg that his death “deprives the nation of sage counsel at a time when his reforms are being replaced by empty bluster.” The Washington Post said his “financial reforms helped transform India into an emerging power” but “allegations of government corruption during his second term” tainted his legacy. But the allegations — which were turned into arrests and criminal cases by the Central Bureau of Investigation under the supervision of the courts — ended in acquittals despite the best prosecutorial efforts of the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014.
In Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s assessment, Manmohan Singh was “devoured by populist furies”. Harish Khare writes that there was a method in the fury of corporate-led media campaign against Manmohan as Big Business increasingly saw the economist PM as an obstacle to their plans for greater profit. He also recalls Manmohan’s open attitude towards media criticism.
“In the cut and thrust of Indian politics, Singh was a singular exception, a leader without mass following or mandate,” writes Salil Tripathi in Foreign Policy. “He was elevated to his position by a party no longer strong enough to impose someone from the Nehru-Gandhi family, and his technocratic skills and probity made him acceptable to coalition partners. The fact that he wasn’t a natural politician was both his strength and his weakness.”
For the BBC, the five highlights of Manmohan Singh’s career: economic liberalisation, reluctant liberalisation, rights to education, information and identity, his apology for the anti-Sikh violence and the nuclear deal with the US.
There are many anecdotes doing the rounds, this one from Ramu Damodaran is especially evocative, as posted on X by Sanjeev Bikchandani:
“My first meeting with Dr MMS was in July ‘91, the day I joined Prime Minister Narasimha Rao’s office. The devaluations of the rupee had taken place a few days earlier. He came to the PM’s Race Course Road office and walked straight into his room from the car. On the way out he detoured to come to my room. He had a small envelope in his hand which he gave me saying “please make sure this is credited to PM’s Relief Fund.” I opened the envelope after he left to find a cheque for a huge amount I cannot now precisely remember . With it a note saying “Representing the difference in rupee value of my assets abroad consequent upon devaluation.”
Manmohan was a trained economist who studied under Joan Robinson, Nicholar Kaldor and IMD Little. But one forgets how much of an academic he really was:
Delhi University plans to introduce a PhD in Hindu Studies from 2025-26 session, reports the New Indian Express.
“It was not the Wright Brothers but an Indian sage, Maharishi Bharadwaj,who invented flying”, Uttar Pradesh governor Anandiben Patel said in Lucknow yesterday.
The budget for the Mahakumbh in Allahabad has grown from Rs 20,000 in 1882 to Rs 7,500 crore, with a footfall of 40 crore now expected.
The Rupee having weakened to record lows, crossing Rs 85 to one dollar has consequences, assesses this report in Financial Express. “A weak currency will inflate the import prices of two key agricultural commodities – edible oil and pulses. A spike in the cost of imported fertilisers like urea and DAP could have adverse fiscal implications.”
Three years after the Supreme Court issued notice on a public interest litigation filed by the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers (IFAT) seeking social security measures for gig workers, the NDA government says fundamental rights of gig workers have not been violated, and have cited the e-shram portal as ‘proof’.
Paramilitary veterans want old pension scheme back
The old pension scheme continues to haunt the Modi government. The Telegraph reports that paramilitary veterans are asking for its return and are also seeking army benefits. National coordinator of the Confederation of Ex-paramilitary Forces Welfare Associations, Ranbir Singh, says a memorandum will be sent to the Prime Minister’s Office seeking an appointment with Modi “to press for our longstanding demands for restoration of the old pension scheme for paramilitary personnel.”
No room for Ishwar Allah in BJP’s version of Hinduism
A well-known Bhogpuri folk singer, Devi, was stopped from singing Mahatma Gandhi's favourite bhajan, ‘Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram, Ishwar Allah tero naam’ and also forced to apologise to the crowd at a BJP function held — ironically — at the Bapu Sabhagar auditorium in the state capital to celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on December 25. Former Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey was among the BJP leaders who took the microphone away from the singer and shouted ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans in order to pacify the party faithful upset by Devi’s full-throated singing of the ‘Ishwar Allah’ line.
India pips China in global IPO rankings
The Financial Times reports that India has overtaken China “as Asia’s top market for company listings this year”, with rising stock prices giving a boost to IPOs (initial public offerings). Swiggy and Hyundai Motor India were the prime movers. But the picture is not entirely rosy for those who are not promoters:
“Obviously the number of transactions has gone up but the average ticket size per transaction is down about 75-80 per cent in the last two years,” said one Mumbai-based banker. “Now, what that tells me is [companies are thinking] ‘run for the hills, let’s try to cash in as quickly as we can, whatever we can while market conditions remain supportive’.”
“But as the world’s most populous nation’s rapid growth slows, with corporates reporting weak earnings and GDP growth falling sharply to 5.4 per cent in the third quarter — the lowest rate in almost two years — foreign portfolio managers have turned cautious on its frothy equity market.”
Reportedly
India’s relationship with Bangladesh seems to be driven by contradictory impulses. On the one hand, you have regime-media stating that India is unlikely to sacrifice Sheikh Hasina by acceding to Dhaka’s request for extradition because “any such move will send a wrong signal to Indian allies in the immediate and extended neighbourhood.” Other reports suggest that India may be looking to build ties with the BNP as it is the only mainstream political force left in the country, and is preferable to the students, JeI and army coalition that has control over Dhaka’s policies. That may be a wish of the Modi government but it is unlikely that the BNP will easily forget its blind support for Hasina.
Deep dive
Literacy rates are rising fast in India, writes Abhishek Waghmare for Data for India, “but how literacy is defined matters, as does the manner in which surveys on literacy are conducted, resulting in some illiterate people being missed from official statistics.”
Prime number: One Indian every six hours
This year, one Indian was deported every six hours from the US, according to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Report. The number of Indians deported has grown by 400% between 2021 (292 out of total 59,011 deported) and 2024 (1,529 out of 2,71,484). ICE has already drawn up a list of individuals slated for deportation, and nearly 18,000 undocumented Indians find themselves facing the prospect of being sent back home.Opeds you don’t want to miss
Dr Manmohan Singh “was an under-rated PM, whose gentle manners and old-world courtesy obscured a keen intellect, strategic wisdom and a willingness to take risks if a matter of vital national interest was involved,” remembers former foreign secretary Shyam Saran who “used to call on him at regular intervals and engaged him in lively conversations on the latest developments across the world.”
Kapil Sibal writes that the situation in the country today “is worse than the Emergency.” He warns that, “this nation is being made subservient to the wishes of a chosen few—economic oligarchs who have aggrandised wealth and a political establishment that has ‘bulldozed’ the opposition, publicly stating that they will rule this country for the next 30 years.”
“The dialogue between our NSA and the Chinese Foreign Minister has only brought out an agreement on some peripheral issues without touching upon the core Indian concern of Chinese opportunism on the boundary,” writes former army chief General Deepak Kapoor (retd). “Some or all the above factors may have impelled China to shift from a rigid, non-negotiable stance since 2020 to accept changes in the Depsang Bulge, Charding La and Chumar areas. It is certainly not from a position of weakness.”
“Simply taxing the very rich fairly, just as others in the country are taxed, would generate much more revenues for the government and at least contribute somewhat to reducing the obscene economic inequalities in India,” argues Jayati Ghosh, in support of the Thomas Piketty proposal. “This is both feasible and necessary, and there is really no excuse now for the Modi government to avoid doing it,” she writes.
Former DG of Assam Rifles, Lt Gen PC Nair (retd) writes that the anti-junta Arakan Army now has “control over 14 out of the 17 townships of Rakhine in Myanmar, besides one in the neighbouring Chin state. It is just a matter of time before the entire state of Rakhine now falls under the AA’s control. The consequences of this must be faced by India, China and Bangladesh.”
“The most invaluable sources are those whose names never appear in print, but who provide background information; the scaffolding that supports our stories. During elections, they provide tutorials on caste equations, political rivalries, and the shifting loyalties of local leaders in various constituencies. There are also those who we may not call for months, but still go the extra mile to arrange interviews,” writes Sobhana K Nair.
Lt Gen HS Panag (retd) reminds us that “despite the decade available to prepare for the transition to permanent commission and equal opportunities for career progression—as directed by a 2010 Delhi High Court judgment, which was never stayed by the Supreme Court—the armed forces did not do so. The current problems stem from a hastily executed policy and the resultant inadequate grooming of women officers for higher ranks.”
“Now everything is open, and yet audiences are so bored of the insipid fare on screens big and small, they’re neither out for a movie night, nor clicking through big-budget web dramas. When everything starts bombing for Bollywood, things take a sinister turn in Mumbai,” reminds Andy Mukherjee.
Bapsi Sidhwa works were “studies of human foibles, but equally displayed the resilience of human spirit,” writes Deepa Mehta.
Listen up
Sarbpreet Singh was born in Sikkim and lives in the USA, and in the course of engaging with his identity, has written powerful books on Sikh history, and worked on its music. He joins Amit Varma to discuss his life, his writing, his music and the lessons of Sikhism.
Watch out
At a press conference in January 2014—months away from his defeat in the general election—Manmohan Singh was asked how he responded to the BJP’s charge that he had been a “weak prime minister”:
His reply was devastating, taking direct aim at the ‘strongman’ looking to replace him:
“I do not believe that I have been a weak Prime Minister. That is for historians to judge. The BJP and its associates may say whatever they like. But if by “strong Prime Minister”, you mean that you preside over a mass massacre of innocent citizens on the streets of Ahmedabad, that is the measure of strength, I do not believe that sort of strength this country needs, least of all, in its Prime Minister.”
Over and out
Varun Grover on how standup comedy thrived under Manmohan Singh:
His government - like all governments - was flawed, creating enough relatable material to go viral. And they did push back - like introducing the draconian IT Act Sec 66A late in the day.
But unlike many other governments of past and future - MMS didn’t practice brutal censorship or punitive action against humour/satire. The entire social media opposed the IT Act or the various acts of alleged corruption/inefficiency without being labelled anti-national or getting r*pe threats.
The artists - not just professional standup comedians but big film stars also - felt safe sharing jokes about the govt policies/PM/ministers.
A sense of freedom is the biggest incentive artists crave for - and the MMS govt provided that above anything else.
Thanks Dr. Saab.
Waacking, a US gay clubs dance style from the 1970s, is making waves in an Indian show. Directed by Sooni Taraporevala, the BBC says the “series has been released at a time when many Indian cities - big and small - are witnessing a renewed interest in waacking.”
That’s it for today. We’ll be back with you tomorrow, on a device near you. If The India Cable was forwarded to you by a friend (perhaps a common friend!) book your own copy by SUBSCRIBING HERE.