Has Manmohan Singh become the Sachin Tendulkar of Indian Politics?

Sachin Tendulkar - arguably the greatest batsman in the world…EVER! There is no cricketing record that the Little Master has not bludgeoned. One century away from 100 international hundreds – PHEW! The man’s a genius! Whether its his trademark straight drive, or the effortless leg glances, or even the cheeky T20 stuff he has been belting out lately – the guy’s batting has class written all over it. One thing, however, that has been missing from his repertoire is being a successful captain of the Indian Cricket team.

One might say that he redeemed himself somewhat while leading the Mumbai Indians in IPL. But, we don’t really count T20 in the same league as the longer versions of the game, now do we? Besides, even in the T20s, Sachin’s captaincy was never really awe-inspiring. Nothing even remotely as awe-inspiring as his batting anyway! So, the point is that while we consider Tendulkar to be among the greatest batsmen of all time (with the likes of Bradman, Lara, Gavaskar, Sobers and Richards), he will never figure in our list of top leaders of the game.

When we talk of the top captains for India, there is the Ganguly camp – with almost 99% of this camp being Bengali, and 100% of the world’s Bengali population being part of this camp – confused??? Well, let me give you an analogy to clarify things – “all almonds are nuts, but not all nuts are almonds” – get it? No, I didn’t say all Bongs are nuts – where did you get that from?!?!? Anyway, let’s move on! Then, there are the Azhar loyalists (this number seemed to rise steeply around the Bijlani phase – surprise surprise!!!); the Pataudi faithful; and of course, the Dhoni clan! There’s no mention of Tendulkar here!

Looking at the recent state of affairs in Indian politics, I wonder if Manmohan Singh too has been cursed by the same bug off late. Great man, but not-so-great leader??? There is no doubt in my mind that he is a brilliant individual, a financial wizard! In fact, I remember when he was the Finance Minister, our Economics teacher in school used to give us sermons on the good that he had done to India’s economy – post ’91 liberalization and all that jazz! Therefore, thanks to Mrs. Surkund, all the students of Class X E (Batch of 1996), held the man in great respect! But, the question is, has the great one lost his touch?

Scams have been hitting the nation left, right and centre. Actually, come to think of it, lately all scams have been hitting mostly at the centre while the left and right watch in shock - the 2G scam; the CWG scam; the Adarsh Society etc. People seem to be losing faith in Manmohan Singh, they’re questioning his role in the government, his authority in the presence of Sonia Gandhi, and even calling him the PM’s title-holder till Rahul Gandhi eventually grows up! Well, how much is he to blame here for all the wrong-doings of those around him? I mean, after all, this is politics! We know that things are bad. We know that the people are worse! And when your best available bet is a person like Suresh Kalmadi, can you really blame Singh for corruption and scams?

Isn’t this reminiscent of the good old Sharjah days? India losing yet another series final to Pakistan on what happens to be yet another Friday. Sachin gets out LBW to Aaqib Javed – “paisa khaya hoga saale ne”! Then walks in Azhar – OUT the next ball. “Yeh kyon khelega Pakistan ke khilaf”! So on and so forth…End result, as expected, India loses the match. Back in those days, remember how Tendulkar had assumed the role of India’s lone saviour for a good amount of over 10 years, so much so, that our batting line up was almost considered as Sachin Tendulkar and the 10 tail-enders. Even with that record, it just took one in-swinging yorker from Aaqib Javed for us to turn against him! Somehow, we just forgot that a month before this dreaded Sharjah series, Tendulkar was the Man of the Series and his innings had helped India win that triangular series back home.

For me, each of these scams is like a dismal Sharjah series that Manmohan Singh, as an individual, and the Congress, as a political party, need to move past. India is a nation of corrupt politicians – we have learnt to live with that fact! Punish the corrupt – sure! But, hoping to clean up politics entirely – not going to happen anytime soon! We know that there will be the Kalmadis and the Pawars that, between the two, have the capacity to own all of Maharashtra – and that is exactly what has happened too! Indian politics has become like a sales job really – the fixed salary (read actual government designated salary) is bollocks, so you have to concentrate on the variable component (read spectrum allocation fee, treadmill company selection fee etc.).

My view is this - you can’t hold one man responsible for everything wrong with the nation! Sure, he sits at the head of the table, but if his family members are jackasses, you can’t completely banish the family! You simply weigh your options before sitting to dinner with them! If percentage of good outweighs percentage of jackass, you go break bread with them. Besides, what are your options? The family across the street is even more obnoxious, isn’t it? The saffron décor, the vegetarian food, the boring ideologies – who needs them?!?!

Wikipedia tells me (don’t judge my ignorance, just read on) that Manmohan Singh is only the second PM, after Jawaharlal Nehru, to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term in office. That, to me, is simply an amazing statistic! Imagine what that does to his resume! Prime Minister of India…TWICE!!! How can any one better that??? So, my opinion (yes, you are open to have your own) is this – in cricket terminology, Manmohan Singh is a great batsman, almost Tendulkar like in class and calibre. But, he is not limited to just that. He is a great captain as well. His side does have a lot of weak links, but you do need 11 players to make a side. You can’t enter the field with just 5 players, can you?