A letter to the honourable Prime Minister of India

Dear Prime Minister,

It is with great anguish that I record these thoughts of mine in a year that was supposed to be your signature one. During the last two months, the Indian political space has witnessed an upheaval of sorts that could have significant consequences in the next parliamentary elections, and as a result prove significant in this country's future.

Over the last six months, I have witnessed, first with admiration, your evolution as a politician from a suave academic and economist and then with trepidation and alarm, the denigration of one supposedly honest and one who supposedly stood for values and ethos into just one of those politicos.

Even when Indian parliamentary democracy reached its nadir through the cash-for-vote scandal on the 22nd of July, here was a citizen silently cheering you on in the belief that it was all for a noble cause. When you, honourable PM, took on the Left single-handedly much against the whims of all the powers at the Centre, an entire nation rejoiced, undoubtedly surprised. For a country with an aspiring middle class which had been let down by the regressive policies of the Left, here was their messiah- their saviour in times of a distress. Your mass appeal reached such heights that Sonia Gandhi was forced to ask "why not" to a question on whether Manmohan Singh would lead the UPA in the next General Elections; Akshay Kumar suddenly found a competitor vying for space for the tag of 'Singh is King' and the Congress was suddenly looking upto you for direction. As one noted television anchor put it, "Manmohan Singh would go down in the annals of Indian history for having changed the economic landscape though reforms as Finance Minister and now for having changed the Foreign Policy map through the Indo-US Nuclear Deal". India Inc. rejoiced at the prospect of the derailed reforms process being put back on track with the Left no longer existent to change track. And an aspirational India- for long on the cusp of becoming a global force- rejoiced at the prospect of being a recognised global power at last.

But the reality, Mr. Prime Minister, would put most to shame. We have seen the worst game of political one-upmanship since then and what really pains me is that you, Mr. Prime Minister have been at its forefront. Bihar has been ravaged by floods over the last fortnight, and Mr. Prime Minister, you felt that your relationship with Lalu Yadav was so sacrosanct that you didn't find time to discuss things over with CM Nitish Kumar! Ratan Tata- the epitome of corporate value and responsibility not only in India but all over the world has been hit hard by protests from some nondescript individuals in Singur and Mr. Prime Minister, your Government prefers to turn a blind eye because it could do with a few seats from the Trinamool National Congress in the next elections! The Nano project was going to be India's claim to fame in the global manufacturing industry and now it has become an object of scorn! What is more despicable is that Mr. Tata took up the project in West Bengal to put it on the path of industrialisation and look at what we have got into! When that Commerce Minister par excellence, Mr. Kamal Nath tried to put in a word for Mr. Tata, he was shouted down by powers at the centre. And we thought you were pro-reforms!

Nothing in recent Indian history has been as cataclysmic as the abject internal security scenario. First, the Gurjar agitations that paralysed life in North India; the spate of bombings in Ahmedabad; the never-before witnessed pleas for separation on Indian soil in Kashmir and all the violence as a result of the Amarnath Land Dispute and now communal riots in Orissa between the Hindu and Christian community. It just goes to show the nature of the spineless opposition that your most inept Home Minister, Mr. Shivraj Patil continues to be at the helm with the task of sorting out all these disputes being left to that troubleshooter for all times- Mr. Pranab Mukherjee and your fabulous team of bureaucrats. Heads would have been rolling in any other country.

And now to your forte: economics and reforms. Ever since that trust vote, your team has been fighting fire trying to curtail inflation which has reached record heights. Thoughts of reforms look very far-fetched at this point of time. The FM has suddenly become invisible and the reality of the matter is that there are so many other issues facing us at this point of time that inflation doesn't necessarily seem to be a concern. That is the way, we Indians are, aren't we? We just have this freakish ability to absorb anything that is thrown at us.

And finally your record on education! The discriminatory minority policies on education have invited the ire of faculty of the leading institutes in the country at last. First, it was student reservation, then it was relaxing the cut-offs even further to fill seats that were still vacant, then came faculty reservation and finally, the extremely laughable proposition of an All-Women's IIT, a proposal so ridiculous that it was shot down by the Chairman of the Planning Commission, even though it came from the honourable President.

Mr. Prime Minister, can you still maintain a clean conscience and honourable silence even through all of this? When in North America, a certain Democrat is capturing the imagination of the masses talking of change and invoking the spirit of that legend, Martin Luther King Jr. through that famous "I have a dream" speech, are we wrong in expecting a brighter future? Are we wrong in wanting the Dream Team to rekindle our dreams and ambitions and spark our quest for supremacy? Mr Prime Minister, please uncover your cloak for it is too repulsive for us. We would rather not have you as a politician. Or Mr. Prime Minister, are the next Lok Sabha elections your way of being recorded in the history books? Mr. Prime Minister, history doesn't create leaders; leaders create history!