Manmohan to revive Janata Durbar

In the beginning there were netas who went amongst the public and gave darshan at their janata durbars. Act two saw black cat commandos, Special Protection Group (SPG) personnel and A K-47s obscuring the view of the public and the neta somewhat.

Enter Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has decided to co-exist with both the imperatives of his job "" meeting the public and security paraphernalia.

Starting from last Friday, the Prime Minister has revived the practice of holding janata durbars or meeting ordinary members of the public every Tuesday and Friday from 9 am to 10 am. Like with all things however, Manmohan Singh has decided to give it his own stamp.

Instead of meeting hundreds of petitioner on an open lawn and giving "darshan", the PM has asked his grievance cell to screen letters from the public and allot them time on individual basis.

"The PM receives many letters everyday, these are scanned by his grievance cell and determined to be genuine or otherwise, according to which time is allotted," said a senior official in the PMO.

In the previous government, the old lawn style Janata durbar was held till security considerations made the PMO discontinue the practice. "This is the PM's middle ground between the two considerations.

Tuesday saw children from a Lajpat Nagar School meet the PM, expressing the fear that their school might be closed down soon. A freedom fighter who had been allotted land wanted to know whether he could leave it as a bequest to his son. An MLA from Andhra Pradesh wanted to meet the PM to discuss farmers suicides in his constituency.

"People want to meet the PM for different reasons, sometimes people with a similar grievance are told to meet him together, sometimes a petitioner get to meet him alone," added the official.

In all, the PM managed to meet 30 people in the space of an hour on Tuesday. Two precious minutes per person. "People appeared satisfied that at least they had their say," said an official.

Janata durbars were a way in which ordinary people could circumvent the bureaucratic red tape surrounding political leaders to put forward their grievances.

Manmohan Singh has been considered the most "invisible Prime Minister" till date, with the starting of his durbar, the PM is very much for anyone who wants to meet him.