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The Accidental Prime Minister By Sanjaya Baru

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“The Accidental Prime Minister” by Sanjaya Baru, published in 2014, is an account of former Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s two terms in office. Sanjaya Baru was appointed as 'Media Adviser' to Dr. Manmohan Singh during his first term in UPA – 1 from 2004 to 2009. This book is in the form of a political memoir. The book’s narrative follows a chronological format, painting a picture of Dr. Singh’s terms in UPA 1 and UPA 2.

In the introduction to his book, Baru proclaims that none of his predecessors at the Prime Minister’s office ever wrote a full book on his experiences during his tenure. Editors as famous as B G Verghese, Kuldip Nayar, H K Dua and Prem Shankar Jha chose not to do so. As also bureaucrats like G Parthasarathi, …show more content…

Manmohan Singh. Keen interest in this book also arose since it was released during the time of elections. While the ruling Congress Party scrambled to deny the veracity of the book’s contents, the Opposition indulged in gleeful government – bashing. Dr. Manmohan Singh's daughter Upinder Singh herself denounced the book, calling it "nothing but a stab in the back... a huge betrayal of trust".

I started reading “The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh” with some pre – conceived notions in my head about the non – performing image of Dr. Manmohan Singh as a man who rightly deserved the ridicule he aroused in the general population’s minds.
Instead I found that Sanjaya Baru, far from showing the man to be a silent robotic personality, had held up an image of a Brutus – like tragic hero, with a tremendous amount of turmoil in his heart.

Baru actually portrays him as an extremely deserving Prime Minister of India who is trapped in his own sense of what’s right and what’s wrong and thus becomes an object of contempt and gains the notoriety of destroying the magnificent stature of the office that he …show more content…

Manmohan Singh and it is UPA chief Sonia Gandhi and her gaggle of yes-men who are shown up in a poor light. The book does not disparage him in any manner. This book tries to explain plainly the power equation between Sonia Gandhi and Dr. Manmohan Singh but does not sensationalize the issue. It only re-affirms what the Indian public knew to be true.

Dr. Manmohan Singh is shown, regrettably, as a helpless, clueless shadow - puppet of Sonia Gandhi who almost arouses our sympathies because of his ineffectiveness in functioning as the Prime Minister of India. This sad truth was simply being put on record by the primary witness, ie, Sanjaya Baru, to this political drama.

Baru tell us that Dr Singh was terrified of losing his place in the scheme of things if he did not kowtow to the High Command, Sonia Gandhi. For Dr. Singh, the Gandhi family came first, followed by the political party, prime minister’s office and, lastly, the

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