Manmohan Singh: The reformist who mastered the art of wielding delegated authority
Manmohan Singh was one of those rare people who achieved greatness by dint of hard work and merit, and then found grander greatness thrust upon him. He became the Prime Minister, because the then Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, needed someone trustworthy and capable to occupy the position that was rightfully hers as leader of the majority group after the 2004 general elections but she deemed politic to renounce, for assorted reasons. He thus did not have direct authority from the people, but enjoyed delegated authority, granted by the political party that had won the largest number of seats.
ET Year-end Special Reads
Corporate Kalesh: Top family disputes of India Inc in 2024
The world of business lost these eminent people in 2024
Fast, faster, fastest: How 2024 put more speed into your shopping
Also Read: Manmohan Singh passes away at 92; PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and others mourn former PM's demise
Also Read: Remembering Dr. Manmohan Singh: A legacy of economic reforms and leadership
It is commonplace for people to describe Manmohan Singh as the author of India's economic reforms. This is naive. Narasimha Rao brought in Singh as his finance minister, true. But reform is a political task, not a technocratic one. Rao might have had some margin for shifting blame to a finance minister, in case reform turned politically too hot to handle, but there was no way he could have escaped responsibility for whatever policies his government pursued. Prime ministers are the authors of large systemic changes,
