In the 10 years that Manmohan Singh presided as the Prime Minister, India rose from being the world’s tenth largest economy to the world’s third largest economy, beating Japan to become the #3 only earlier this month. Foreign investments rose 500% during Manmohan Singh’s first term and 850% in the second, whereas the fiscal deficit dropped to an average of 2.5% during Singh’s first administration, from 5-6% during the previous government’s regime. India’s poverty declined thrice as fast during Singh’s governance – from 0.74% to 2.18%; while exports have doubled – from 17% during 2003-04, to 35% in 2013-14. Infrastructure spending increased to 7-8% rising from 5-6% before Singh’s leadership, and the Sensex rose significantly well during Singh’s governance: annualising at 15% during his first term and 13.9% during his second term, as compared to 5.9% during the previous government’s leadership.Ref. 5, 6
Not to mention, Dr. Singh struck a historic nuclear deal with the United States, where as successfully enforced a significantly stable foreign policy, maintaining cordial relations with the likes of US, Russia, China, Japan, Germany, UK and others. The Right to Information act was passed soon after his government took over, and became a sheet anchor that would help activists expose scams worth billions of rupees.
The success of Singh’s leadership perhaps, became his worst enemy. What his government achieved during the first eight years, it could not replicate during its last two years. The success of the former part of his rule developed high expectations, and when the government could not live up to them, the tables turned. A lot of blame for the government’s failure must be pinned on the global economic conditions, but there were faults in the administration nonetheless. Singh and his administration could not control the scams during their tenures, and when the scams saw the light of the day, the public and the market lost the little trust they had on the government.
In his recent book, ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’Ref. 7, Sanjaya Baru, the former media advisor to the Prime Minister, who is understood to be close to Dr. Singh, claimed that, during the second Singh administration, there came a time when the interference of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi in governance increased to a point where the Prime Minister was not allowed to choose the finance minister of his choice. Baru’s book further claims that, around the start of Singh’s second term, various ministers began to snub the Prime Minister, creating an atmosphere of chaos. The dual-power model was now beginning to show its dark sides, as Manmohan Singh tried hard to hold the reigns.
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