Accidental Prime Minister Paperback – October 15, 2018

This book felt like act 1 of a Shakespearean tragedy. Alas, or fortunately, the tale ends in this book on the cusp of the mighty falling.The author, Sanjaya Baru, a one time media adviser to Prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh uses the tell all to (in his words) humanize Dr Singh and tells the tale of his (and the PM's) time in the PMO from roughly 2004 - 2008. I thought it was a good effort at storytelling, regardless of the political hay that has been made of it.Mr Baru tells the tale as a set of professional and personal interactions between him and Dr Singh, which I thought was appropriate for this sort of book. There are a few instances near the end where he recounts events he could only have known about second hand/ from afar, but his commentary on events seems candid and honest. Has he aggrandized his own role in the key events he narrates? I suspect he might've done, but not overly. Has he given a good account of his time observing the PM? Absolutely!To anyone who followed the political narrative in the heady days of the UPA 1 government, this book merely confirms what we all suspected rather than reveals anything new. I found it a riveting account and read it in a day, flat. The PM is revealed to be what everyone suspected, and I felt if anything that the book was far more generous to him on the subject of the failures of UPA 2 than he deserves.History is brutal in the short term, but much kinder in the long term, and for all the savage press Mr Baru and Dr Singh have got, I suspect it will be kinder to both the book and the man.As a candid account like this goes, whether it is forgotten or remembered in the long run is immaterial. India in general, and the Delhi 'durbaar' of the Gandhi family in particular are far too finicky about image and the repercussions of the truth to allow recent history to be accessible to us, the people. In giving us a peek into the echo chamber of 7 Race Course Road and Raisina Hill, I think the book has served well.

Hearing about the book in Indian media and opposition ministers touting this as evidence of a 'failed' PM, I was very curious but expected a book full of gossip and partisan reporting (as most Indian media is). However, this book turned out to be quite an insightful read into Manmohan Singh as a person, his leadership qualities, strengths (yes it does talk a lot about those) and weaknesses. It is mostly very reverential to Dr. Singh, which is understandable since the author is a long time associate.Finishing the book, I felt sad for Dr. Singh - who has so many stellar achievements but has gotten much disrepute due to various reasons. I also ponder whether the author has betrayed Dr. Singh by writing this account - especially given the launch right before elections and Dr. Singh's regard for his own privacy. (Though the timing could very well be the decision of the publishers given how much media coverage they have been able to get around it).Here are some notes from the book, which I thought are worth sharing:"Years later, while working for Dr Singh, I discovered that misleadingly friendly smile was especially reserved for his critics and opponents... As a journalist, I had heard stories of how Indira Gandhi would suddenly win over a detractor with a smile or a special gesture. As a communist in my youth, I had also read stories of how Stalin had invited a colleague home for dinner before he was sent off to Siberia or just shot dead. Dr Singh was certainly not a Stalin, nor was he an Indira, but I felt he may well have learnt a lesson or two about winning friends and disarming critics from her.""Narayanan’s favourite line was, ‘I have a file on you.’ He used it, humorously, with ministers, officials, journalists and others he met, leaving them, however, with the uneasy feeling that he wasn’t really joking.""Politics is about power and patronage, and ministerial positions are won not just on the basis of competence but also in recognition of a politician’s political clout or loyalty to the leader.""The Congress party refused to allow Rao’s body to be brought into the party’s headquarters on its way to the airport, and Sonia chose not to be present at the Hyderabad cremation.""We all knew that NDTV had an inside line to the CPI(M) since NDTV’s Prannoy Roy was married to Radhika Roy, sister of Brinda Karat, a CPI(M)leader and the wife of Prakash Karat""When the Left finally withdrew support to the government in July 2008, it tried till the very last to get Sonia to save the government by dumping Dr Singh and replacing him with a ‘pro-Left’ PM. Karat failed where his predecessors had succeeded, because by July 2008, Dr Singh’s personal credibility and his standing as PM had reached such heights that the Congress would have been grievously wounded if Sonia had dumped Dr Singh to please the Left and retain power."

This book has the following pros and cons:1) Strong and gripping narrative. The author can really put you into the action , the body of each of the characters.2) You get to learn about Nuances about MMS , his views and his policies that never saw the light of day.Cons:1) Very clear case of bias by the author, author doest cover fully cover all the view points or narratives. Just takes a partisan view on many many policies of MMS.2) The author was the media advisor to Manmohan Singh, however his role in the book often takes that of political strategist, or political advisor also which is really strange and might also be uncalled for.