By Rupang Bhatt, Ahmedabad, 3 January 2014

So Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today addressed the third press conference in his two terms. Like always Manmohan Singh was speaking like a robot in his unattractive voice. He failed to impress and failed to effectively defend either himself or his government. Broadly there were only three takeaways from his press meet.

(1) Dr. Manmohan Singh ruled himself out of the race for prime ministership after the next elections. In his opening statement itself, the Manmohan Singh said after the general elections in a few months time “I will hand the baton over to a new prime minister. I hope it will be a UPA chosen prime minister and our party will work to that end.”

Very obvious. If people had power to change their PM between two elections, this PM could be shown door much earlier. Every successful ‘Bharat bandh’ given by BJP and other parties clearly demonstrated Manmohan Singh’s unpopularity and anti-Congress mood across the nation. Coal scam was one technical reason for which Manmohan Singh could step down ultimately, but like always, he didn’t. So now after major defeat in north Indian states elections if Mr. unpopular wishes to announce that he is out of the race, there’s nothing to surprise.

(2) Singh said Rahul Gandhi had “outstanding credentials” for the top job. He said the Congress party would decide on its prime ministerial candidate and announce it at an “appropriate” time.

As we know, Dr. Manmohan Singh is not elected by people. He is a Rajya Sabha member. He was picked up for the post of PM by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. It seems he was placed as PM for all these years just because Rahul Gandhi was not ready. As if this is Raja-Rani and Rajkunwar Yug, when it comes to leadership, Congress party is unable to think anyone suitable outside one family. There’s no surprise that Dr. Singh finds another Nehru/Gandhi family member suitable for the top job.

(3)When asked about the negative image of his government and the tag of weak prime minister for him after nine and half years in office, the Prime Minister instead of speaking about himself, started talking about BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. He said “I do not believe I am a weak prime minister. It is for historians to judge. The BJP and its associates may say whatever they like. If by strong prime minister you mean you preside over mass massacre of innocent citizens on the streets of Ahmedabad, if that is the measure of strength, I do not believe that that this country needs that kind of strength.

The PM told reporters that a Modi prime ministership would be “disastrous” for the country.

As we said, Manmohan Singh was actually asked about the negative image of his government and the tag of weak PM. However, instead of giving some examples to prove that he was indeed a strong PM, Dr. Manmohan Singh attacked BJP’s PM candidate. Dr. Singh doesn’t need to wait for historians to judge his rule. Various agitations and election results have demonstrated people’s judgement. Dr. Singh’s term is ending soon and various facts on his governance and leadership are in public domain. History is just a matter of compilation. Historians write history on the basis of facts, and facts are loudly suggesting that Dr. Singh has been a weak PM.

The Prime Minister then in his reply brings in Shri Narendra Modi. Objecting to PM’s statement BJP has said that Mr. Modi has been cleared by the Supreme Court appointed and monitored Special Investigation Team and also by a trial court. But even more interesting are few lines on BJP’s campaign website: Prime Minister made a desperate attempt to deflect attention from his own growing political irrelevance and from the many failures of the Congress Party led UPA Government by repeatedly attacking Narendra Modi, the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate. But Narendra Modi with his sage silence(on twitter) has sent a strong political message that underlined both Manmohan Singh’s irrelevance but also spoke loudly on how the Battle for 2014 was now about those who are for and against Narendra Modi. The Prime Minister’s desperation and the comments of JD-U and AAP show that there is only one agenda of the non-NDA parties – Stop Narendra Modi at all costs.

So what’s the end result of this press meet?

In all, Dr. Manmohan Singh has achieved nothing from today’s press conference. If he hadn’t mentioned Modi, the press conference was not worth reporting on front page.

Rahul Gandhi has achieved endorsement from a proven failed prime minister who was picked up as PM by his(Rahul’s) mother.

Narendra Modi has achieved something through this press conference. A failed and unpopular prime minister like this is taken seriously neither by international community nor a common man on road. Dr. Singh helped Modi by attacking him, thanks to which, Modi is back in discussion after a break.