By IANS,
New Delhi : Ministers and secretaries in attendance at cabinet meetings in the last few weeks are seeing an entirely new and unfamiliar face of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh — a man driven by an idea and a determination to carry it through, brooking no dissent.
According to insiders, this transformation was first seen during a crucial meeting last month when Manmohan Singh virtually chided Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh when he tried to speak at a presentation on allowing foreign equity in multi-brand retail.
“Are you the finance minister or commerce minister?” the prime minister is understood to have questioned Ramesh, even asking him to let the designated ministers alone speak on the portfolios they handle.
“This is the time for big-bang reforms. If we have to go down, let’s go down fighting,” a senior minister quoted Manmohan Singh as having told the meeting, asking his cabinet colleagues to stay united, instead of questioning every intended government decision.
In the process, even objections and reservations from cabinet ministers, known to be lukewarm towards reforms, are being brushed aside, say privileged sources with inside knowledge.
“The last cabinet meeting (Thursday) was held in pin-drop silence. No murmurs and no whispers. Only those ministers and secretaries spoke who had a matter listed for decision,” a senior official told IANS speaking strictly on condition that he should not be identified.
“You can imagine. The cabinet meetings took as many as 21 decisions in a matter of just two hours. So that leaves you with around five minutes per matter. That time is taken away by short presentations. So where was the room for any debate of dissent?”
A senior minister said the new facet of the prime minister also coincides with the exit of Pranab Mukherjee who became the president.
“Pranabda was the one who would calm the ministers or even scold them like he did Dinesh Trivedi even though he was from a different party as railways minister. Someone has to bell the cat. After Pranabda, who is left to do that? Only the prime minister,” he said.
“Also, the signal has also gone out loud and clear that ‘madam’ is completely backing the prime minister. So no one dares to defy her,” the minister added, referring to the full support Manmohan Singh has secured from Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The same firm resolve also led the prime minister, otherwise shy of facing the cameras, to agree to a rare TV address to the nation last month to explain the rationale behind the reform-oriented policies being pursued and seek people’s support for them.