The accidental prime minister by Sanjay Baru

"The accidental prime minister" by  Sanjay Baru. The book is published by Penguin in April 2014 and is 320 pages long.

Sanjay Baru worked as media advisor to Prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh during his first term which is dubbed as UPA1. Author was working as editor of a news paper before joining the government and was a week known and respected figure. It is a curious thing that Dr.Singh chose an economic journalist to be his media advisor over a political journalist.

The book starts from UPA winning majority and follows the formation of government, authors appointment, his tenure, his equations with colleagues from congress and coalition, his way of handling things, his non assertive nature, his lack of political clout, how the ministers did not feel obligated to him for their position but to Sonia and so on.

Manmohan Singh was seen as puppet Prime Minister. One of author's responsibility was to build 'Brand Manmohan' and to show him as an independent person.

Authored has covered all important topics, policy decisions and events during his term like managing the coalition, his SAARC policy, 123 nuclear deal, Pakistan policy, foreign policy, how he prevailed despite difference of opinion with Sonia on some subjects and how he dared leftist parties to withdraw support etc.

Author has tried to emphasize that Dr. Sing could have and should have protected his turf and become more assertive. His docile and unambitious nature became to be known as his ineffectiveness and he was called authority without power. Author thinks he had better relations with ministers from coalition than congress ministers.

Author has praised Dr.Singh as an incorruptible person and a good human being with high moral standing. He praises him for keeping his family away from politics. He even hints frustration at Dr.Singh letting opportunities go and not insisting that his cabinet follow his high moral code.

During his second term as Prime Minister (UPA2), author had resigned and relocated to Singapore. Dr. Singh wanted to reappoint him but Congress party overruled PM. Then the corruption scandals started to tumble out one by one. This is where author blames Dr.Singh for his spinelessness and for caving in to Sonia Gandhi. Allowing himself to be sidelined was his biggest mistake.

It was interesting to know that Dr. Singh can not read Hindi and his Hindi speeches were mostly written in Urdu, in which he was fluent, or in Gurumukhi.

When the book was published, congress party made so much noise about the timing and of political conspiracy. But in reality I did not find the book sensational or revealing inside secrets. Author has spoken about Dr.Singh highly and criticized him for reasons he was criticized by everyone including Congress party.

So is this book a rambling of unsatisfied bureaucrat or is it a self proclamation of "I warned but he ignored" or is it the treachery of trusted lieutenant or is it the bitterness of an ousted fellow? Or is it a conspiracy by opposition parties?

Well I think it is none of the above. Author had refrained from making himself glamorous or important. The book is written in a restrained manner. He has refrained from taking credit for everything and has written in a factual tone giving glimpses of how the bureaucracy and government functions. How personal equations solve the problem rather than ideological ones.

A good book to browse. Only those who are  extremely interested in the subject should read it thoroughly.