Statesman Manmohan

Throughout the campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP described Manmohan Singh as a weak prime minister who could not a take a decision without consulting the high command of the Congress. That perception is likely to undergo a change after Singh went out of his way to protect RBI governor Urjit Patel who was facing some tough questions from a parliamentary standing committee of which Singh was a member. Prior to the meeting, the former prime minister requested members not to lower the prestige of the Reserve Bank of India and urged them to treat the governor with respect. When Digvijaya Singh and Saugata Roy asked Patel if there would be a run on the banks if restrictions were lifted, the former prime minister told the RBI governor, “you don’t have to answer that question”. Manmohan Singh’s intervention saved Patel the blushes within the panel meeting, but on the outside it probably saved the banking system a veritable nightmare. The BJP should appreciate that Singh’s intervention came at a time when the Congress had launched a campaign against the government and the RBI on the issue of demonetization. What Manmohan Singh just taught the Congress and perhaps even the BJP is that politics is okay as long as one does not undermine an institution like the RBI.