May 11, 1998

Vajpayee needs to deliver on his promises

Prabhu Chawla

You are a dreamer and a visionary. I grant you that for a moment. But are you a doer? After 50 days in office the real Atal Bihari Vajpayee is yet to stand up.

Your voters, promoters and baiters are still confused. Since taking office, you have hardly spoken to the media and have not interacted with any large gathering of opinion-makers. You have mostly confined yourself to either the fortress that is your residence or the well-appointed cabins of the air force jet in which you fly on your frequent trips across the country. The impression that comes across is of a laid-back politician who hates taking decisions or of one who is unable to communicate his thoughts. Which is such a pity since your image is that of a great communicator. Your speech at the annual CII rendezvous last week was pithy and business-like, but you seemed to reach out only when you recited a poem.

If you have indeed made up your mind, then it is time you disclosed your true colours and designs. You can't adopt an appease-all Nehruvian model of governance or follow the vindictive and centralised administrative style of Indira Gandhi. Nor are you inclined to manage the nation's affairs by resorting to Rajiv's crony culture.

Being the first-ever genuine non-Congress prime minister, you are bound to provide a "a government with a difference". But it is clear from your observations and initial experience in the corridors of power that you are uncomfortable with the system you have inherited. Yet you are struggling hard to ensure continuity without change.

You are reluctant to take risks. But should you opt to do so, you have every thing to gain and nothing to lose. You have retained the same people who flourished under the Congress regime. Your own past is untainted, yet you are unable to get rid of the tainted civil servants, ministers and party colleagues. You have announced that you will not seek a second term, yet you have been coerced into making compromises in the name of consensus -- a euphemism for sticking to power at any cost.

The mandate to lead and run the government is yours, not your party's or of the coalition that you lead. You must, therefore, deliver what you have promised -- a lean and mean government. Of late, you have shown signs of decisiveness. I hope you will follow this more vigorously. For, you will be judged not by the number of words you have spoken but by the intensity and effectiveness of your actions. You must implement what you have been saying in private -- that the government has to be drastically downsized, that top civil servants on the basis of competence and not seniority be inducted into key departments, and power be decentralised. You have made it clear that the PMO will be the facilitator for instant decision-making. You have told your colleagues in the PMO that their job is to monitor, guide and correct and not dictate.

Mr Prime minister, you can achieve your target only if you are personally in touch with your A team through the PMO. You are about to move to Race Course Road. But indications are that you, like the others before you, plan to operate more out of the Prime Minister's Residence (PMR) than from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) at South Block. If you intend to do so, you will, like your predecessor, run the risk of becoming yet another captive prime minister.

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