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In his tenth year as the prime minister (PM), Manmohan Singh, often criticised and mocked for his stony silence, held forth on his own for a good 20 minutes in Parliament on Friday, defending his government’s handling of the economic situation and hitting at the Opposition for its ‘irresponsible’ conduct in the House.
The usually impassive Singh went so far as to questioning the Opposition’s habit of disrupting Parliament and affecting investor confidence. Singh, at his combative best, said: “The Opposition has never reconciled to the fact that it was voted out of power nine years back.” This remark led to a storm of protest.
For a prime minister not known to possess much oratorical flourish, Singh on Friday displayed remarkable resourcefulness as he shot quick replies to the Opposition’s accusations. When asked about the missing coal scam files, he said: “I am not the custodian of files in the coal ministry.”
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On Thursday, the PM had surprised many when he gave in to Opposition demands that he speak on the current economic crisis. He uncharacteristically stood up in the Rajya Sabha to say he would be making a formal statement on the economy on Friday.
After making a formal statement in the Lok Sabha on Friday morning, Singh hurriedly left for the Rajya Sabha, where he read out the same statement. This made the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Yashwant Sinha comment that Singh had “insulted the Lok Sabha” by not taking questions from the members of Parliament (MPs). It was during his reply to clarifications sought by members on his statement in the Upper House that Singh spoke impromptu, taking the Opposition to task single-handedly.
Singh first reminded the Opposition about its responsibility towards acting in a manner that restored “investor confidence” and then went on to enumerate its failings. “Have you heard of any country where the PM is not allowed to introduce his council of ministers?” he asked. Then, ignoring the protest from the Opposition benches, he went on: “Have you heard of a Parliament in any country where the Opposition shouts ‘prime minister chor hai' (prime minister is a thief)? The type of things that have been said here...”
In the uproar that followed, Deputy Chairperson P J Kurien kept pleading “order, order”.
At this point, the Opposition leader in the House, Arun Jaitley, shot back, “Honourable prime minister, have you heard of any country where the prime minister has won the vote of confidence by buying MPs?”
The din that followed from the ruling-party benches was deafening. Congress MP Mani Shankar Aiyar rushed to the PM’s defence, saying the PM was personally targeted and the comments be expunged from the records. He then shouted at Jaitley, “He is a liar and he is lying on the floor of the House.”
An impassive PM looked on, standing the while, and resumed unperturbed, addressing other economic issues raised by the leader of the Opposition. “I do recognise there is a problem. This can be resolved only if the Opposition does recognise its conduct in Parliament. This is not something that can be done unilaterally. It takes two to clap.” This was probably the first instance of a sharp exchange of words between the PM and Jaitley.
While political analysts and observers have been questioning “the new-found aggression”, calling him a “combative PM”, critics have pointed out the PM appeared defending his political image than addressing the economic challenges as required of him as an economist.
That the PM was acutely conscious of his own image as he defended the United Progressive Alliance government and its handling of the economy was evident as he said by way of closing remarks, “Whatever some members of the House may say about me, I command a certain status, a certain prestige and a certain respect in the Group of 20.”
