A K Bhattacharya: Manmohan's first press meet as PM

NEW DELHI DIARY

It was Bangkok where Dr Manmohan Singh held his first press conference after assuming charge as Prime Minister. On the third and final day of his first overseas visit as PM, Dr Singh addressed a group of Indian journalists at  a small conference room at The Oriental, the hotel where he stayed along with other delegation members.

The ostensible purpose of the press conference was to brief the media about his participation at the first summit meeting of what has now been rechristened as the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral, Technical, and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

Press conferences by Indian Prime Ministers have become very rare. The last time an Indian Prime Minister held a formal press conference in India was in 1990. And that was V P Singh.

Since then, Prime Ministers have met journalists in small groups. So, the only time an Indian Prime Minister holds a press conference, though on a smaller scale, is when he goes abroad along with a group of Indian journalists in an Air-India plane.

Dr Singh's press conference in Bangkok, therefore, assumes great importance. Most likely, he too will follow his predecessors and avoid holding a formal press conference in India.

So, how did Dr Singh fare in his first press conference as PM? As always, Dr Singh was direct and forthright while responding to questions.  At no point did one feel that the Prime Minister was trying to duck an issue. 

Manmohan Singh seemed to be "answering" all the questions, while many of his predecessors, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee, were known for "fielding" questions. There is a big difference between the two. By fielding questions, you do not satisfy the information hunger of a journalist and, therefore, the people. But by answering the questions, you demystify issues and facilitate understanding.

There were only two tricky questions for Dr Manmohan Singh at his Bangkok press conference. And his response to both of them was candid, even though he knew that a frank answer could land him in political trouble.

One question pertained to the presence of tainted ministers in his cabinet. An easy way out for him would have been to simply say that he would not respond to any questions on domestic issues.

But that is not how Manmohan Singh handled the question. Looking a little anguished by the tainted ministers controversy, he spent a few minutes on what he thought of the entire issue and even suggested how his government hoped to resolve it.

The second question was on how the government hoped to deal with the Iraq hostage drama. Once again, he was not only candid, but even requested National Security Advisor J N Dixit to explain further the government's plan.

And when Mr Dixit said something that the Prime Minister feared might create panic, he intervened and "urged" the journalists not to highlight what had been stated by the National Security Advisor. Mr Dixit had said that the government was prepared to evacuate Indians in Iraq if the situation so demanded. Dr Singh felt that any news that the Indian government was prepared to evacuate Indians from Iraq could create panic.

It was an unusual request from the Prime Minister. But the genuineness of the request moved most journalists and the next day's papers indeed did not highlight the evacuation plans. 

It is rare for any Prime Minister to build such an equation with the media in such a short time. No media likes to be dictated about what has to be written and how.

But when the Prime Minister "urges" it to refrain from highlighting what is not in the national interest, the media complies with that request.  That is the impact Manmohan Singh has created on the Indian media.

How different was Manmohan Singh's first press conference as PM from the first press conference he had addressed as finance minister in 1991? In both the conferences, he sounded genuine, earnest, and forthright.

There was no attempt at beating about the bush. In 1991,  Dr Singh used some phrases to describe the way he would run the economy to bail it out of the crisis. 

These phrases have now become very popular and successive finance ministers have used them to describe the thrust of the economic reforms programme. "There are no free lunches," Dr Singh had said while explaining the rationale for removing subsidies.

In his press conference in Bangkok, Dr Singh did not have an opportunity to use any of those phrases that he popularised as finance minister. But he did use one phrase while responding to a question on the presence of tainted ministers in his cabinet.

"In public life, the best can become the enemy of the good," Dr Singh said while explaining how taking a clear stand against the presence of tainted ministers would have stalled Congress efforts to provide an  alternative government at the Centre.  It remains to be seen if this phrase too becomes as popular as the ones he used as finance minister.

akb@business-standard.com