Bark without bite

Why is it that Manmohan Singh does not speak out bluntly and more often as Prime Minister, instead of letting all and sundry, putative allies and the honest opposition, dictate to him and his government? As the whole country can see, the fact that the Left has no bite with which to back up its incessant barking has been exposed by one brief Prime Ministerial comment to a Kolkata newspaper, daring the Communists to do their worst. Everyone has known all along that whenever Dr Singh chose to throw down the gauntlet, the Communists would simply not be able to pick it up. So the question remains, why does the Prime Minister not do this more often""and lead his coalition government more effectively?

The answer will explain much that is wrong with this government, and it is that Dr Singh feels constrained. He is an anointed Prime Minister more than an elected one; the one who anointed him holds the reins on many issues, so he has little room for manoeuvre; even his intelligence chief seems to be aligned more with the party boss than with the Prime Minister. And Dr Singh is not the kind of person to assert his position or prerogative, lest it be seen as biting the hand that placed him in South Block. Such signals are not lost on the pack around him, who see that the real decision-making centre when it comes to many vital matters is the party president, Sonia Gandhi. They generally make it known that they do not consider Dr Singh to be their boss. Indeed, they frequently fail to defend their government and explain its position. And given how often Mani Shankar Aiyar airs his views, ministers seem to speak out against government policies more often than they do in their defence. The Congress's allies get the message and also do as they please""so the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's M Karunanidhi announces from Chennai who will be the new communications minister in New Delhi! Having to suffer all this, especially for a man who has never been known for his assertiveness, seems to have created a mindset in which Dr Singh decides that he will keep his head down and do what he can, and let the rest pass. The result is a hobbled government.

The irony is that while Sonia Gandhi wields genuine power and therefore can rightfully expect recognition of her due, the Left Front is in a mess in both Kerala and West Bengal, the two important states that it rules. In Kerala, vicious in-fighting within the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the eruption of sundry scandals have destroyed the state government's credibility. In West Bengal, the twin setbacks of Singur and Nandigram seem to have destroyed the self-confidence of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. So the Left is in no position to face the electorate, because it might lose half its seats in the Lok Sabha. Everyone can see this, but no one in the Congress has used this knowledge to tell the Left where it gets off. Dr Singh has finally spoken out; he should have done it much sooner.