Why should history be kind to Dr Manmohan Singh – a leader who oversaw many disasters

 The following article was written for OpIndia. Pasting it here for reference.

India’s Prime Minister from 2004 to 2014, Dr. Manmohan Singh passed away on December 26, 2024. Amongst the things people were remembering about him, was his one utterance that became very popular –“I hope history will be kinder to me”. I kept wondering – why? Why must history be kind to a leader who oversaw many disasters and only a few good things?

Consider this startling statistic that concerns the life of citizens of India. In the 10 years before and in the 10 years after he became the Prime Minister, India has seen far fewer deaths and injuries from terror attacks than what we saw in his 10 years as Prime Minister. 

Number of civilians and security persons killed from 1994 to 2024

English media anchors lose no opportunity to tell us how every life is important when they want to hype up isolated incidents of violence in a large country such as ours. However, they simply wish us to forget the terror that was prevalent when Manmohan Singh (and Sonia Gandhi) was ruling because it shows him in a bad light. Only the 26/11 Mumbai attacks occupy media space right now, but the list of bombings on various civilian places from 2004 to 2014 is quite long. Up until the 26/11 attacks happened, the Prime Minister of the country was so helpless that he could not even fire the woefully underperforming Home Minister. I cannot help but keep thinking why must history be kind to a leader like him? 

For a moment, let’s keep all media debates and arguments on his performance aside. Let’s just take a look at what his own party considers as his achievements. The Congress party released the following infographic on their X handle (formerly Twitter), after Dr. Manmohan Singh passed away. 

My intention is not to debate the history and nature of these achievements. My intention is to highlight yet another startling fact. Do you notice how the infographic has zero achievements to show in 2004, 2010, 2011, 2012 & 2014? For 5 out of his 10 years in power, Dr. Manmohan Singh’s own party says he has zero achievements. Of the 12 achievements that his own party lists out, 3 of them pertain to the Nuclear Deal. His own party is confirming that his 2nd term was such a disaster that they don’t even know what to write about it. I cannot help but keep thinking on why must history be kind to a leader like him?

We spoke about the terror attacks in various places in India during his rule. The Congress party thinks that one of Dr. Manmohan Singh’s greatest achievements is to establish the National Investigative Agency (NIA) after 1000s of civilians were either killed or injured. He took 4 years to even do such a basic thing, but sure, history should be kind to him.

The English media tells us that we have been unkind to him regarding corruption. For a moment let’s leave out all the opposition and media out of this. His own ministers in UPA2 accused his own ministers of UPA1 of corruption. Were they being unkind too? The highest official in the department of Coals (Secretary) was convicted in the Coal Mines scam. The minister directly handling the Coals ministry was Dr. Manmohan Singh himself. Were the courts being unkind too? 

Bereft of any significant achievements during the 2004 to 2014 reign (as confirmed by the Congress party itself), the English media talk about him being a dignified person; a calm person etc. What good are these qualities if as Prime Minister of India, he sets a benchmark of being helpless? He famously said, “we are passing our burden to our children who have to repay this debt”. Imagine the great economist saying this to justify his actions. Why must history be kind to a leader who passes burdens to our children? 

Speaking in the Parliament sometime after winning the 2009 elections, Dr Manmohan Singh said that since the people of the country have given a higher number of seats to UPA (compared to 2004), all criticism directed against him should be put to rest. It is of course true that the people of the country voted in favour of UPA (though they still did not win 272 seats). The MNREGA, the farm loan waiver, and the Nuclear Deal – have all helped UPA retain power in 2009, despite the repeated terror attacks. That’s the beauty of democracy. Now, by that same yardstick, the people of the country have badly rejected Dr Manmohan Singh (and Sonia Gandhi) in 2014. The memories were so bad (and of course, Modi’s performance was also good) that the people of the country continued to reject the Congress party for 3 consecutive elections (2014, 2019 & 2024). By Dr Manmohan Singh’s own logic, why must history be kind to a man who presided over such a disastrous reign?

Sure, he has done some good things. No one is denying him credit, wherever it is due. People of the country gave UPA a higher mandate in 2009 too. More such details about his tenure and all Prime Ministers of India can be found at the PM’s Museum in New Delhi (which by the way, was built by his successor Narendra Modi!). Sentimental dialogues such as “History will be kinder to me” may play well to the galleries, but the people of the world’s largest democracy have given their verdict about his legacy. In his death, the people have also shown great respect to the departed soul. Let’s not confuse that respect with washing away the actions of his disastrous reign. There is no reason why history must be kind to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.