WHO IS THE BEST PRIME MINISTER WE HAVE HAD?

I just wondered who has been the best prime minister we have had in the history of independent India. If you ask this question generally, the name which will be thrown up immediately and spontaneously will be that of Jawaharlal Nehru. Some may say Indira Gandhi. A few BJP diehards may say Atal Behari Vajpayee. But when I began introspecting, believe me, the choice was not simple.

So here goes….

Jawaharlal Nehru
The first Prime Minster of independent India. Installed at the behest of Mahatma Gandhi when the Congress organization really wanted Sardar Patel. But whoever said Gandhi was democratic? As demonstrated in the case of Pattabhi Sitaramaiah vs. Subhash Bose during elections to the post of President of Congress during the English rule, Gandhi wanted his writ to prevail. He did pretty much the same after independence. So the first prime Minister of India was installed through an undemocratic act by the father of the nation.

Wow! What a Prime Minister to have nevertheless. A man who was erudite. A man who was an author. A man who knew, or thought he knew the history of India. A man who could give a speech like few others could. A man who was a dreamer.

A man who could charm Edwina Mountbatten, the Viceroyani as we would love to say. Wonderful. If you can get the wife of the last Viceroy to India to fall in love with you, a politician of a slave nation, you indeed get full marks as a man!

The man was a dreamer.

But the man was without the wherewithal to bring those dreams to fruition. His muddy thinking got us the middle path – the so called socialistic policy which was a cross between communism and capitalism. But often when you cross two different organisms, you get a mule – something which is barren, infertile, a beast of burden. And so the Indian economy rotted. Everything gradually became State controlled. Competition was never there and so efficiency was never a necessity.

The man had a deep mistrust of businessmen. So even those businessmen that had aided the struggle for independence had to eat the crow and the humble pie.

When everything becomes State controlled, corruption takes roots. When everything needs a license bribery is the via media. So, in more ways than one, Nehru installed the roots of corruption in the independent country.

The man was a dreamer.

In the dreams, everything is possible. It is also possible to forget reality so completely that you invite and show your military installations to Chinese. You dream of being seen as a messiah of peace. So you believe in Panchasheel. You are blind to the reality that is evolving in China behind the veil of Panchasheel. For all your erudition, you cannot think that where panchatantra is needed, you are putting in Panchasheel. So China attacks and knows even before attacking what the result is going to be. The nation is shamed.

But you don’t want to own up the responsibility especially when you have been pampered all along as someone great. So you do not admit any guilt. To a question in parliament from you own son in law, you give funny replies. This debate is parliament is famous and I recreate it below.

“Mr. Prime Minister, what about Aksai Chin? Are there any plans to take back the Indian land that has been annexed by China?” Asks Feroze Gandhi, Nehru’s own, but possibly hated, son-in-law.

After talking about here and there, Nehru manages the funny defense, “But not a blade of grass grows there. The land is completely barren. It is useless” Thereby he makes clear that he is not interested in taking it back. Pride, he can swallow and all Indians should too.

Feroze Gandhi comes back with the barbed witticism, “In that case Mr. prime Minister, not a blade of grass grows on your head too. Shall we take it as useless then?”

Nepal wanted to merge with India. Just think. Today ISI operates through that country too. Strategically it would have been wonderful if India had allowed its wish. But Nehru worried about his international image more than the benefit the country could derive. Nehru thought it would be seen as an imperialistic action and would rob him of the ‘messiah of peace image’. So, he declined!

USA wanted that we should acquire nuclear capability ahead of China and it would help us doing so. Ditto for that too – image of the messiah of peace will go out the window! So lose out on that opportunity too.

Nehru wanted universal franchise for our first general election. Others, Patel included wanted limited franchise for only those who were literate and later on a general franchise when literacy had spread. Nehru prevailed. Do you not think that the criminalization of politics today has some roots here? I believe that Nehru laid the foundations of criminalization of politics in India.

But let us end on a better note. He was the one who felt the need for IITs. He was the one allocated budget for these institutions and several others. He got all those huge dams made and called them the “temples of modern India.”

But just that much.

My vote: Nyet. I don’t want this Prime Minister today. It would simply kill India.

Your vote?

Lal Bahadur Shastri

Didn’t have a tenure where he could make a difference. Within this short tenure too he had to face a war. He acquitted himself more or less ok given the state of affairs that were handed over to him.

Jai jawan jai kisan. Beyond this slogan, nothing else survives of his legacy today. The man was obviously incorruptible. The man had good intentions at heart. Whether he would have been able to convert those intentions into reality is a matter that cannot be known.

My vote: Cannot judge. So, NO.

Your vote?

Indira Gandhi

Iron Lady! The lady who either had the guts that her to take many bold steps, or was insecure enough to take those steps to show her opponents that she was not insecure. But not all the bold steps benefited India.

Also, for me the most hated, single person responsible to dismantling all major institutions of India!

I do not want to speak about the Emergency. Much has been written about it and everyone knows of the things. So, let’s speak of other things.

Took the steps for India’s first atomic explosion. But stopped dead after that she should have gone ahead while there was still time. But alright, that was one big positive.

The space programme developed mainly during her time. She had the energy, the vision, and the will to pursue the costly programme even while others, lesser people, could have thought that the resources were well spent in feeding the masses. A leader does not look at just one thing in the present to make decisions. The true leader has a vision about the future and what all things the country will need, will be known for, and will reap the rewards of. Indira had this vision and relentlessly pursued the space programme.

She saved the Indian tiger from the brink. Project tiger was her baby and she spared nothing to achieve the target. In her times, the tiger got back from the precipice and the numbers grew till it was completely out of danger. Contrast this with what the present Prime Minister is doing when the danger is greater. You will understand the difference between a strong and a weak prime minister immediately.

But she single handedly destroyed the institution of the President of India. We got a Jhaduwala President called Zail Singh because of her. The man had no spine and he verbally demonstrated it. Only he had spinal trouble so he couldn’t bend. Otherwise ….

Even before Zail Singh, she had defiled that office. The media says that the election of Pratibha Patil was the first to have been politicized like that. They are wrong. Just go back and see what happened in the contest of Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy vs. V. V. Giri. Reddy was the official Congress candidate. Mrs. Gandhi played politics to the extent that she made the official candidate lose and V. V. Giri win on, hold your breath, “Vote of conscience!” This is exactly what the opposition tried this time round and lost badly. They didn’t have the political savvy she had.

Political savvy she had in abundance. See what she did with the slogan Garibi Hatao. Go back and see what wonderful use she made of the elephant on which she rode to Belchchi where a few dalits had been massacred. That gave her high visibility and brought her back to power.

The other institution she destroyed was the Judiciary. She meddled everywhere – in the appointments of the judges, in their transfer etc. The final straw was the answer she gave to the Allahabad court verdict that went against her. She got the constitution amended to save her skin and declared Emergency.

She muzzled the press. Only very few journalists had the courage to stand upto the tortures that she through her Goonda son, Sanjay, had fixed for them.

She was the one who was responsible for the Sikh terrorism. Jarnail Bhindranwale was her creation. This is something that is actually well known.

All in all, a lady with iron in her. But also a lady with dictatorial ambitions, with a love for her sons that was greater than her love for the nation, with a vision that few leaders have, but with a feeling of insecurity that laid these visions and quite a lot of good work that she did to waste.

My vote: NYET! I do not want her to be the Prime Minister again. MAY BE IN HER NEXT AVATAR SHE WILL MUZZLE US BLOGGERS TOO IN THE NEXT EDITION OF EMERGENCY.

Your vote?

Morarjee Desai

The guy who drank his own urine and wanted all us citizens to do the same. Highly disciplined but actually quite rigidly so. Therefore useless as a disciplinarian. Conjured an image of an irate teacher with a cane in hand to beat the impish student.

Myopic. Sold gold so that the prices depressed. Reverse happened. People bought and hoarded gold and the prices went up. Also, even with the stick in his hand, could not discipline his own cabinet members. These guys spread a stink that got his government down.
My vote: Pathetic. Good that the term ended sooner than later. Saved the PMO from donning the smell that all public latrines in India do.
(And I do not want Modi to read this blog. If he thinks I have hurt the Gujarati pride, I will be Best baked!)

Your vote?

Choudhary Charan Singh

The only image I have of him is this: One night I was walking just near the road that laid to Nagpur airport. Suddenly a jeep with a blaring siren and a voice blaring over that din goes along the road announcing for all the people “The Prime Minister of the country, Chaudhary Charan Singh has arrived. Kindly be on the sides of the road to get a darshan.”

ONLY NO ONE IS ON THE ROAD TO HAVE THAT DARSHAN!

WHEN INDIRA GANDHI USED TO ARRIVE, THERE NEVER WAS AN ANNOUNCEMENT AND THE ROAD USED TO BE TTEMING WITH PEOPLE TRYING TO GET A DEKKO.

My vote: Who cares!

Your vote? I don’t care what it is! So don’t bother.

Chandrashekhar

The great man actually became a puppet to get to the chair. Couldn’t do anything and cut a very sorry figure.

The less said the better. There is nothing to say either.

No need to vote. Sad that I write this after his death.

Rajiv Gandhi

The man who brought computers to India! You think so? Balls. The man was a comedy item. Hamein dekhna hai; Hum dekhengey; Hum Dekh rahe hain. GOD, and in the upper case!

For all his dekhna hai, dekhenge etc., the man was completely blind! He did not see the reality. Also the man, the only Prime Minister with that brute majority, who could not do anything.

I think that the man was the king of all foolish people who ever occupied that post. Let us see why he earns the title of the King of Fools.

The man first opposed the tamilians and favoured sinhalas in Sri Lanka. Then he sends Indian Peace Keeping Force to the island nation to see to the well being of Tamils. This was not the only time that he tried to play on both sides. There will be other examples I will recount. But here, it got our forces into a tizzy. They did not understand why they were there in that Nation, what they had to do, what exactly was their role. Many got killed, many wounded, and almost all utterly demoralized. And India won brickbats from both Sinhalas and Tamils. Mr. Gandhi also earned the bomb that took his life later. I THINK THERE CANNOT BE A BETTER EXAMPLE OF UTTERLY MUDDY THINKING.

But look at what he said in the parliament immediately after the Bofors controversy broke. The statement was to the effect that neither he nor any member of his family had received kickbacks in the deal! There was no need of this statement and the spotlight fixed on him automatically after this statement. Even before this he had told the parliament that there was no middleman in the deal. Later when it was proved that there indeed was a middleman, he was made to look like a liar. One after another, he used his own statements to hang himself.

Then look at the Shah Bano case and judge for yourself. The divorced lady was demanding subsistence (alimony? My memory regarding this is a bit hazy) and the Muslim clergy was opposing this. The court ruled in favour of the lady. Rajiv got this decision overturned in parliament to win the Muslim votes. This was bad as it is. You play the Muslim card inspite of talking about secularism. But the foolishness came after this.

Someone must have told him that his handling of Shah Bano case would lose him Hindu votes. So the guy now played the Hindu card and got the doors of the ram Lala Temple at Ayodhya opened and allowed shilanyas. He thought he had votes from both the communities now. He thought he was being very smart.


Dono thaur say gaye Pande
Na halwa mila na mande
(you get worst of both the worlds)

You go out to get the best of both the worlds, you must remember that you can get off getting the worst!

But that was not all. He also gave the memorable “Naani Yaad Dila Doonga” speech. He became the most loved subject of the cartoonists after this speech and a spate of bollywood and other street comedians used this line to extract unlimited laughter from the audience.

I mean, the man was an idiot. He was such a big idiot that with the biggest majority in the history of Indian Parliament, he could do nothing.

My vote: GOD, I will somehow make do with the likes of indira Gandhi, even Morarjee Desai and his cane, even Chaudhary Charan Singh, and may even considering drinking my own urine, but don’t get me Rajiv Gandhi again. Please…. Please….. Please…..

V. P. Singh

The man who divided the nation on caste lines. The man who otherwise achieved nothing in his short tenure. The man who was a sore loser – because his government was going to go, he hoisted Mandal Commission on a haless nation.

Also, this man is still a burden on the nation. His daily dialysis and blood transfusion bill has to be paid from my pocket – I pay the taxes and they go to make this man live longer than he deserves.

My vote: Let him pay for his own dialysis and blood transfusions.

Your vote: Even if you say something positive, you think I am going to listen?

Narasimha Rao

Famous in the media as India’s only pouting Prime Minister. He spoke nothing and yet got on the nerves of the media. The media loved Rajiv Gandhi because he spoke, a little too often actually. The media hated Rao because he never ever opened his mouth.

His was a minority government. Dependent for life on the crutches willingly provided by the BJP. But look at what good he did with even the minority government and contrast it with what Rajiv lost with even the brute majority.

The India that you see today, the India that is vibrant with its largely open economy and 9% GDP growth is the India that this pouting man launched. He had the savvy and the guts to give India a Finance Minister like Manmohan Singh. Media says Mr. Singh is architect. I think it was Narasimha Rao. He was the Prime Minister and he had the sense to put him up as Finance Minister and let him have a long rope inspite of protests that were vociferous and inspite of the fact that the government was in minority.

If Mr. Manmohan Singh were really the architect, he would have done much better in his innings as Indian Prime Minister. But look where is Mr. Singh headed currently. Nowhere. Mr. Rao had the political savvy and the guts and the stoicism that should be there in a leader to make a nation move forward even if the others do not share the vision.

The blot on him is that he did not do anything to save the Babri Masjid from being demolished. But I think no one could have prevented that. If BJP leaders themselves could not prevent that symbol which was essential for their future el;ectoral victories, nobody else could have either.

The actual blot is his bribing of the JMM MPs to vote in favour of his government during the no-confidence motion. He saved the government but those were not the means he should have used. Makes him seem perverted.

Also, one of the most erudite Prime Ministers we have had in this country where it is not necessary that the Prime Ministers are educated. He even wrote books. A novel, wow!

My vote: Right up there. May be one of the best we have had. But let us go further before we finally decide.

Your vote?


Deve Gowda

The guy was a compromise. The only thing he could really achieve was that last speech in the Parliament just before he got the boot – the “Old man in a hurry” speech. I am sure all of you must have heard it live. This most insipid of the Prime Ministers suddenly made me sit up with that speech and take notice. He made me laugh. He put egg all over Sitaram Kesri’s face and on the faces of all the Congress men too. Wow! What a performance.

But that is all.

My vote: Not necessary.

Your vote? Not necessary even if you do.


Indra Kumar Gujaral

His brother, the painter, was deaf. I have half a feeling that he went deaf trying to decipher what Indra Kumar Gujaral was saying. I could never understand one word he spoke. Probably no one did either. And that is how he probably stayed as Prime Minister over a year.

Vote? Nah. Don’t see the need. And you don’t bother either.


Atal Behari Vajpayee

The poet. The man who probably was the ultimate speech giver of Indian politics. Also, a Prime Minister of the first truly opposition Government of India – till his time all others were some time or other members of the Congress.

If Narasimha Rao laid down the policies that changed the nation, Vajpayee was the one who accelerated the change. He was also the one who had the guts to explode a nuclear device and declare India a Nuclear weapons capable state. He withstood the sanctions and got India through the turmoil into a state that led directly to prosperity and confidence. It was during his time that the Indian pride rode really high.

I do not want to count the economic reforms that were made during his regime. They are literally too many.

But the political savvy was in running a coalition Government of 23 parties (some of which of the likes of Mamata Banerjee) and yet giving a wonderful governance.

Blots? Exchanging the hijacked passengers with terrorists and in what obscene manner?

Gujarat riots and the non-handling of Modi.

Allowing Kargil to happen.

My vote: Right up there. But let us wait till the end for the final word.

Your vote?

Manmohan Singh

When he came to power, I felt happy. I wrote in a magazine “Stars must be shining upon India. Even when a good man like Atal Behari Vajpayee lost, and even when jokers like Laloo were around, India gets another good man as Prime Minister. It does not matter which party lost and which came to power. It is actually India which has won.”

I do not feel so happy now. I feel that I had overrated this man.

First things first. He learnt nothing from Narasimha Rao. He is the most spineless 70+ man I have seen. Even Chandrashekhar had more spine than him. This man is obsequious and for God knopws what reason. He has no thunder. His voice is a sqeak, only marginally better than Gujral. All his policy announcements are really pathetic whines because he cannot get them carried past either Sonia Gandhi or the left.

How many reforms has this economist been able to do? Zilch in his entire tenure. Moreover, he has clearly lied in case of the Jharkhand imbroglio. He also is the person who leveled the laughable allegation of BJP hiring tantriks to have him killed. Is he mad? If BJP does so, it will be for Sonia, not him. He is not important enough to waste tantriks upon.

To me the guy seems to be the Sikh avatar of Rajiv Gandhi. After him, this is the only guy who knows really well how to lose goodwill once earned.

My vote: He should go back to London School of Economics and make them hear his whiny voice.

Your vote?


Final Verdict

• To me, Narasimha Rao has been the best Prime Minister India has ever got.
• Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee is a close second.
• The worst that we have had are Rajiv Gandhi and Manmohan Singh in that order.
• For most of the others, who wants to waste words.
• For Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, better luck next time!