By definition, political mandates are merely signals of change. The real change comes through personalities and events. If it was circumstance that thrust the halo of a reformer on former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, it was the force of Atal Bihari Vajpayee's persona that enabled India to blast into the Nuke Club and the NDA to dart into national consciousness in its first 100 days in 1998.

So it is natural that middle-class India, that has come to expect pyrotechnics on the menu, perceives the UPA's first five months to be a damp squib. It does not matter that neither the circumstance-the arithmetic of a coalition that is a cocktail of the Left and Congress' conglomerate politics-nor the personality lent themselves to a big bang opening. Manmohan Singh is no Vajpayee but expectations that ride mandates are ruthless. Anointed to lead the UPA, Manmohan commands an iconic status as an agent of change.

PICTURE SPEAK

TEAM SPIRIT: Manmohan (left) with Sonia and senior Cabinet colleagues

What was served though was an endless stream of raucous sophistry. The chaos in the Northeast, the confusion on foreign direct investment (FDI) and a minister on the run-all seemed to suggest the prime minister was hapless. Particularly with regional satraps at times behaving like sultans in the UPA durbar. Worse, through this regressive politics, nothing seemed to be moving forward. Aficionados liken Team UPA's performance with that of the Indian cricket team. It allowed the agenda of its maiden session to be set, rather wrecked, by an Opposition that refuses to accept defeat, hoping for a fall of the UPA aided by celestial support. Mercifully that was not to be. Neither is Manmohan a quitter. As he said, "It is a perception that will not materialise."

Contrary to those notions, he is not shy of engaging the Opposition or any opposition for that matter and is evolving his own style in the thrust and parry of politics. Those thumps of the memorandum on his desk when the NDA came visiting him on budget amendments really set the tone. But the "rude" prime minister also made it a point to brief Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani on the Indo-Pak talks and even requested him to visit Pakistan on a peace mission.

To tackle the quintessential piques of coalition allies and the Left, he has, alongside Congress President Sonia Gandhi, launched lunch diplomacy-the UPA's own food for work programme. His handlers now promise a breakthrough in FDI on civil aviation and telecom. The economist who had a hand in ideating Indira Gandhi's "garibi hatao" theme now has his focus on a "rozgar badao". Having worked with five prime ministers, he understands the politics of give and take. Some believe him to be a quiet charmer. But charm doesn't guarantee performance. Colleagues bunk cabinet meetings and when they do attend, they are obsessed with their political constituencies. Although not novices, many of his colleagues don't have their heart in the job. As he hawks austerity, his colleagues are scheming to find ways to spend and splurge. As with the cricket team, there are, says a cabinet colleague, "players, tourists and baggage". But such is the kinetics of the coalition dharma that Manmohan has to drag the carriage along.

ALL THE PRIME MINISTER'S MEN

The India Today team met and ranked all cabinet ministers and ministers of state with independent charge on their performance and popular perception. P. Chidambaram FINANCE 1 H.R. Bharadwaj LAW AND JUSTICE 18 Mani Shankar Aiyar PETROLEUM, PANCHAYATI RAJ 2 A. Ramadoss HEALTH AND FAMILY 19 Arjun Singh HRD 3 P.R. Dasmunshi WATER RESOURCES 20 Sharad Pawar AGRICULTURE 4 T.R. Baalu SHIPPING AND HIGHWAYS 21 Praful Patel MoS, CIVIL AVIATION 5 Sunil Dutt YOUTH AFFAIRS AND SPORTS 22 Kamal Nath COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 6 S.M. Dev MoS, HEAVY INDUSTRY 23 Dayanidhi Maran IT, COMMUNICATIONS 7 S. Vaghela TEXTILES 24 Pranab Mukherjee DEFENCE 8 Oscar Fernandes MoS, STATISTICS 25 Kapil Sibal MoS, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 9 Ram Vilas Paswan CHEMICALS, FERTILISERS AND STEEL 26 Laloo Prasad Yadav RAILWAYS 10 Meira Kumar SOCIAL JUSTICE 27 Renuka Choudhary MoS, TOURISM 11 Subodh Kant Sahay MoS, FOOD PROCESSING 28 Raghuvansh Prasad Singh RURAL DEVELOPMENT 12 Vilas Muttemwar MoS, NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES 29 Ghulam Nabi Azad PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT 13 Kumari Selja MoS, URBAN EMPLOYMENT AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION 30 S. Jaipal Reddy INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING 14 A. Raja ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS 31 P.M. Sayeed POWER 15 Mahabir Prasad SMALL-SCALE INDUSTRY 32 Natwar Singh EXTERNAL AFFAIRS 16 Shivraj Patil HOME 33 Prem Chand Gupta MoS, COMPANY AFFAIRS 17 Sis Ram Ola LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT 34     P.R. Kyndiah TRIBAL AFFAIRS 35 While individual scores have been rounded off, rankings are based on decimal placings

Thankfully there are performers in the pack as the assessment by India Today's editorial team has shown. His No. 2, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee who donned the fleece jacket and visited Siachen is pushing the plan to modernise the forces. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is drafting a plan for rural India "to increase per hectare and per cattle head yield". Finance Minister P. Chidambaram is all smiles and hands sceptics a sheet full of numbers that, he quips, "speak for themselves".

Very simply: first-half GDP is at 7.4 per cent, exports are up, industrial production is growing and investments are flowing in. True, inflation is higher and worrisome but it is essentially petro-inflation and Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar is staking his credentials as a former career diplomat to get India cheaper crude. In a sense, the "economic ministries" are gung-ho and talking sense too.

Unlike its first 100 days, the UPA now seems to be working with a plan. If Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav has re-opened the Godhra files, the Congress is organising some excavations. Putting CBI on to Tehelka, they promise, is just for starters. A committee, which includes Mukherjee, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, hrd Minister Arjun Singh, Kapil Sibal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, is looking at files to detect acts of commission and omission.

So far so good. These are but survival tactics. The story of political compulsions works only thus far. Here on, it will need performance and leadership. And leadership, as Margaret Thatcher said, is by definition not consensus. Manmohan may take heart in Abraham Lincoln's words that the "best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time". Except that you could also run out of time.

-with bureau reports

Next

Index