I sympathise with Manmohan Singh's predicament. In his own party he is a prophet without honour, someone who has become a token symbol of propriety in a party reeking of corruption. That symbol the party finds convenient from time to time and accordingly it is dusted up and put on display. Alas, since the liberalisation regime is seen by large sections of the Congress as anti-poor, Dr M is frequently pushed hither and thither by cruel winds. Moreover, whenever he talks economic sense, which he generally does (he welcomed the 'thrust' of the budget just after it was announced), he is rapped on the knuckles for aiding and abetting the enemy. In such a situation, an all-out attack on Chidambaram is a safe position to assume.
Wise and fundamentally decent human beings like Dr Man-mohan Singh in times of moral and intellectual confusion should heed James Joyce's advice to writers in professional difficulties. "Silence, exile and cunning," is what the Irishman recommended. In Dr Singh's case, of course, exile is unnecessary.
