On the brief drama outside the finance ministry in North Block last week — produced and directed, of course, by 10 Janpath — the kindest comment has been: “Ceasefire yes, but will there be peace between the warring ministers?” The question is born not of cynicism but of bitter experience almost since the morrow of the Congress-led UPA’s return to power with a stronger mandate than before.
Two years and four months of the Manmohan Singh government, expected to function more effectively and cohesively in its second innings, has been dysfunctional and in disarray. It also remains mired in one scam after another, and the more it tries to extricate itself the deeper it sinks. The good doctor, his shining image now eroded considerably, chooses to do nothing except to deny responsibility for, and even knowledge of, his own government’s wrongdoings. That should explain the huge crisis created by the finance ministry’s office memorandum to the PMO on 2G spectrum and home minister P. Chidambaram’s role in it. The document saw the light of day under the RTI Act.
It would be unfair to blame Dr Singh alone for this dreary, indeed dangerous, state of affairs. Unfortunately, he has never had the political authority without which no Prime Minister can run a government worth the name. Anna Hazare was wrong when he lamented that there was not one Prime Minister in the country but four. Astute observers of the scene point out that practically every minister, including the very junior, regards himself/herself as Prime Minister. However, since the fountainhead of power in the present dispensation is Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the primary duty to either mend or end this egregiously harmful situation is hers. But regrettably, she too is showing no sign to act.
Without beating about the bush let me repeat what I have said on this page before: the experiment of diarchy — Mrs Gandhi heading the Congress Party and the UPA, and Dr Singh running the government — that looked so promising in 2004 has now flopped. It has outlived not only its utility but also its futility.
Should this situation persist until the next election, whether held in 2014 or earlier, the Indian National Congress in its present form would be committing collective political suicide. Especially because the government, paralysed by its ineptitude and indecision, is also incredibly insensitive, notwithstanding its nominal commitment to aam aadmi.
Could there have been anything more callous than the sworn affidavit of the Planning Commission, filed in the Supreme Court, asserting that anyone spending `32 a day in urban areas and `26 in villages was “above the poverty line”? Public anger over this was immense but the commission’s deputy chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, was unmoved. However, as soon as Congress’ “heir apparent”, Rahul Gandhi, expressed displeasure, Mr Ahluwalia scurried and announced a virtual reversal of his earlier pronouncements. Why couldn’t this have been done earlier? But then that is how this country of a billion plus people is governed.

Even for a government notorious for dragging its feet, the UPA’s monumental incapacity to take a decision on the literally burning issue of Telangana is shocking beyond words. The problem is not new or sudden but has been around for more than four decades. In 1970, Indira Gandhi had the strength to crush a virulent agitation for a separate Telangana, masterminded by one of her party men, Chenna Reddy. She also had the skill to mollify him by first appointing him governor of Uttar Pradesh and then chief minister of Andhra. Since 1990s the issue has been on the boil again and wouldn’t go away.
In 2001, when it was out of power both at the Centre and in Andhra, the Congress adopted the Telangana cause as its own. In the Lok Sabha elections in 2004 as well as in 2009, it included the formation of Telangana state in its election manifesto. But, as usual, it did nothing to make good its promise. After the 2009 poll, the party became smug. For, in Andhra, under the vigorous leadership of chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR), it had won hands down in both Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi, led by K. Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR), was routed.
Within months, however, the applecart was upset. YSR died in a helicopter crash, and the Andhra Congress was left with no leader of any consequence. In November 2009, KCR went on an indefinite fast to press the Telangana demand. On December 9, the Congress panicked and after a late-night meeting of the Congress Core Committee, conceded the demand. Thirteen days later it backtracked because of strong opposition in the non-Telangana regions of Andhra. To buy time the Srikrishna Commission was appointed, whose non-committal report was submitted in January this year. The Manmohan Singh government has sat on it all this while.
On Gandhi Jayanti, while Telangana remained shut for the 18th day, KCR went on a “token fast” at Rajghat in Delhi. Pleading for more time the Congress sent its Central minister in charge of Andhra, Ghulam Nabi Azad, to Hyderabad for a fresh round of consultations with all the “stakeholders”. All this is a farce. The Congress high command is scared of taking a bold decision because of a vertical and intractable divide on regional lines within the Andhra Congress.