Manmohan Singh - don't discredit the great man!

I have been an admirer of our Prime Minister,Dr.Manmohan Singh for over a decade now. He is the man who needs to be credited with our liberalized mindset these days. He has also been instrumental in getting globalization and pioneering economic reforms when India was at its economic nadir in 1991.

But the same Dr.Singh is drawing flak now, for his supposed "weakness" and "inability to be stern". While those accusations are arguable, one can never take the credibility and integrity of the man away. He is one of the sharpest brains in the country's economic horizon and a much needed one at that.

I get the feeling that Dr.Singh is first an economist, who chose politics to use his prowess for the greater cause of the country. And in that endeavour, he wins hands down. But, when the same professional is given the mantle of the Prime Minister, people are casting aspersions. That is not acceptable.He is not a natural politician. He possibly doesn't have the mass appeal of a Vajpayee or the strategic political skills of somebody like the late Pramod Mahajan. To therefore expect a popular PM is a fundamental flaw. One needs to look at the contributions of a leader to a nation. And Dr.Singh's stellar performance far outweighs the most accomplished political leader that India may have produced. It is no joke to open up currency fluctuations to a free market economy. It is further no joke to create awareness of economic reforms in a highly fragmented society. Dr.Singh has done this. And he is a respected economist and looked upon as a veyr knowledgeable man in the international fraternity. Let us not forget that he has enough and more experience in India's economic policies than most of the other criminal politicians that we have around us.

Just that Dr.Singh is in a situation, where he is unable to use his prowess in finance and economics in the political seat of a Prime Minister these days. That is asking for a huge shift from the man. He has never been the headline hitting man. He is quiet by nature, but no less steely. Political considerations and coalition politics are slowly creating windows of opportunity for people to target the man.

Let us not do that to a man who has been one of the jewels of India. If we cannot find a full-blown politician as areplacement or give the political climate in the country a clear, majority mandate, let us at least not discredit a great man!