7 Race Course, 10 Janpath

The United Progressive Alliance government seems determined to make the most of its weakness. For the amnesiac, or those who may have just come in from Mars, Union Law Minister H.R. Bharadwaj has served up a pointed reminder of the way things are in his government. Congress President Sonia Gandhi has been conferred with Cabinet rank status, he told this paper, so that she can call for any government file. As chairperson of the National Advisory Council with cabinet rank, Sonia Gandhi will be able to access any file without being in the council of ministers. Much like, some would say, she is able to wield the powers of a prime minister without being one.

Ever since the Manmohan Singh government took charge, the curious circumstances of its birth have made it vulnerable to charges of more than one power centre. After she decided not to be prime minister, Sonia Gandhi selected Manmohan Singh for the post. The prime minister was no longer the elected leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party, he was the nominee of the chairperson of the CPP, and the Congress party8217;s constitution was amended so that it could say so. The malleability of the Congress constitution is arguably the party8217;s internal matter. But since then, established protocol, conventions, norms have been uncomfortably tweaked to accommodate Sonia Gandhi8217;s special status in the new dispensation. From partners in government taking their sulks to 10, Janpath first, to senior bureaucrats hurrying their petitions only to Sonia Gandhi, instances already abound of a dangerous ambiguity being allowed to grow. The Westminster model of government provides for a council of ministers headed by the prime minister. It is collectively responsible to the legislature and through it to the people. At best, Gandhi8217;s special status doesn8217;t fit into this scheme. At worst, it interferes with, even weakens, the chain of accountability.

That someone who has not taken the oath of secrecy should be given access to files protected by the Official Secrets Act is absurd and completely improper. The special political dynamic that brought this government into being must not be allowed to infect and distort its functioning. Lines must be drawn and adhered to. This is necessary for the integrity of this government and the legitimacy it commands among the people. Regardless of the peculiar circumstances that surrounded it, the elevation of Manmohan Singh to the office of prime minister was widely welcomed. He must now be allowed the dignity of office as well as the political room for manoeuvre he requires to deliver.