HVK Archives: Ceasar's sardar
Ceasar's sardar - The Economic Times
Editorial
()
8 October 1996
Title : Caesar's sardar
Author : Editorial
Publication : The Economic Times
Date : October 8, 1996
It was long suspected and has now been proved - Dr Manmo-
han Singh is a politician after all, not a mere techno-
crat. He has been made a member of the Congress Working
Committee, a sign that he has arrived. Even more, it is
a sign that the new Congress president, Mr Sitaram Kesri,
wishes to project him as new symbol of the party's desire
to rid itself of (at least reduce) the impression of
being corrupt to the core. For the last five years, Dr
Singh has been viewed as a technocrat transplanted in the
Cabinet by Mr Narasimha Rao. Economists had a different
view - many felt he was as much a politician as a techno-
crat. But neither politicians nor economists had antici-
pated that Dr Singh would create a sensation by declaring
at the last meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party
that 'Caesar's wife must be above suspicion'. He did not
specify who Caesar was, or his wife. But the general
interpretation was that Rao was Caesar, and his wife (or
rather wives) were his bevy of corrupt ministers. At a
stroke, Dr Singh distanced himself from his old chief.
And he has now been promoted to the CWC as a symbol of
what Caesar's wife really should be like.
There is, however, a problem. You cannot cohabit with
dubious characters and still be above suspicion. The
only way to cleanse the Congress Party is to purge it of
virtually its entire leadership at central and state
levels. And Dr Singh has neither the backing nor, we
suspect, the stomach for such a task. In effect, he is
being used by the Congress to pretend that it has turned
a new leaf. Nobody will take this very seriously, and we
suspect Dr Singh himself sees the limitations of the
charade. Yet his elevation represents progress in the
political system. We have had more than enough of Sukh
Rams and Kalpnath Rais in politics, and we badly need the
induction of people of undoubted personal honesty like Dr
Singh. A few years ago it would have been unthinkable
for such persons to rise in politics - those that climbed
the ladder had very different qualifications. It is
heartening that the churning in political life is, at
long last, displacing the Sukh Rams and catapulting the
Manmohan Singhs into positions of prominence.
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