Yogendra Yadav, Atheeq assert why history will be kind to Dr Singh

Speakers insist Singh balanced free market approach with welfare measures, handled political compulsions well

Bengaluru: Civil society members heaped praise on the recently deceased former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Swaraj Abhiyan founder Yogendra Yadav, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) LK Atheeq and Professor Narayana A from the school of policy and governance at the Azim Premji University made the remarks during a talk entitled “Legacy of Dr Manmohan Singh: The present and future of India” at Gandhi Bhavan in Bengaluru on Friday organised by Jagrutha Karnataka (JK).

Yadav recalled Singh’s life in terms of personal, political and policy. “We are kind to him today. Perhaps, historians will be kinder to him 50 years from now,” he said, referring to Singh’s famous 2014 quote “I honestly believe that history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media or for that matter the Opposition in Parliament”. Yadav defended Singh from critics who lambast him for transitioning India from a socialist economy to one that embraced liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG) as finance minister in 1991.

“We were told by different shades of the left that this (privatization of the 90s) was the beginning of the end, that our economy would be colonized by the US. None of that had happened. Manmohan Singh didn’t dogmatically say capitalism was delayed by 50 years in India. He said that India had reached a stage where it could compete with others. He was not a free market fundamentalist,” he said. “There is something like socialism, capitalism and capitalism with a 20 per cent discount and that 20 per cent is not insignificant,” he added.

Farm loan waiver lauded: Atheeq, who served in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) pointed out Singh, went against the advice of his top officers in declaring a farm loan waiver of Rs 71,000 crore in 2008. He also pointed out that Singh reposed faith in robust welfare measures. “In 2008, Sharad Pawar was the (Union) Agriculture Minister.

Everyone was advising Dr Singh was advising him to not waive farm loans, telling him it’ll spoil practices and that farmers won’t repay loans in the future. However, we were surprised to see the PM make the argument that the terms of trade weren’t in the favour of farmers. That they committed a high input cost in terms of seeds, fertilisers and the like but received less in return, pushing them into a debt trap and therefore loan waiver was a necessary relief” he said.

Yadav also defended Singh for handling political affairs as PM from 2004 to 2014. “They say he (Singh) was guided by someone. He was guided by someone whom people voted to be made Prime Minister (referring to then Congress president Sonia Gandhi). He wasn’t guided by a businessman in Ahmedabad (referring to billionaire and PM Modi’s aide Gautam Adani). Anyone who was properly guided wouldn’t approve of demonetization,” he said.