Manmohan Singh: Lost In Time?

After being the favourite target of his government’s misdoings and scams that rocked the Parliament during his term, former prime minister Manmohan Singh has been a man who is out of sight, but not out of minds of people yet. Not at least that of the investigating agencies.

There have been those rarest of rare occasions when Manmohan Singh spoken about in the media especially after his retirement from active politics and his life, presumed to be going peacefully, at a low profile residence given to him in Delhi.

The latest news on the former prime minister, who led a hectic life as the leading man of UPA through the entire decade before the Congress and its allies were trounced by Narendra Modi-led BJP in the 2014 general elections, was that he was ‘visited’ by officials from CBI in connection with the coal block allocation scam that cost him both his as well as his government’s reputation. Owing to the sheer size of corruption that is alleged to have taken place, Coalgate will linger on people’s minds for a long time to come.

Last time former prime minister Manmohan Singh grabbed headlines was when he was accorded the highest national order by the government of Japan, which acknowledged his contribution towards strengthening ties between both the countries.

Another ‘little known’ fact that didn’t really make a huge noise was his decision to adopt Pachim Bekeli Gaon Panchayat under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. Pachim Bekeli Gaon Panchayat is located in Kamrup district of Assam, from where Manmohan Singh represents the Rajya Sabha.

How is the workaholic politician and economist spending his retirement days? Going by his composure which remained undeterred by the most testing times his government went through while wading through difficult times, Manmohan Singh still presents a picture that involves work primarily. Only, now he gets to stretch his time as much as possible, since it is completely under ‘his’ control.

Earlier, as a PM, he met visitors barely for 10 minutes at his official residence. But, at a home that was given to him as a matter of entitlement for all former PMs, Manmohan Singh spends time attending meetings, and meeting people from various walks of life at his residence #3, Motilal Nehru road in New Delhi. This house was earlier occupied by former Kerala governor and Congress loyalist Sheila Dikshit. Having moved into this humble abode, when compared to the sprawling residence he occupied as the Prime Minister, Singh spends most of his time reading.

In fact, books were among the first few things that were packed and moved after he announced his retirement and decided on staying in this house. There’s nothing very ornate or flashy about the house that has now become home for the retired politician, who still commands a large amount of respect from people within and outside the party.

He still enjoys a large amount of formidable security at this house, which is spread across two-and-half acres of land and gives him protected area to go for his favourite activity, apart from reading – long walks.

Industrialists, economists and visitors – all get some share of his time much more than what they got earlier. Now, the meetings with people stretch up to half an hour, than those touch-and-go meetings that happened in a matter of few minutes when he was a busy man.

Having been less of a politician and more of an economist, Manmohan Singh is still a force to reckon with for all the liberal measures he took during his tenure. He was re-elected as Rajya Sabha member last year, for additional six year tenure.

Image: indiatimes