All aboard

After he stuck his neck out at Sharm el-Sheikh,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh faced down a brutal battery of questions and accusations in Parliament. And if he acquitted himself well,the credit is entirely his. No amount of Congress desk-thumping can disguise the fact that,on this matter,Dr Singh was on his own. The India-Pakistan joint statement was a high-risk,creative attempt to get on with things,a rare moment in our running dialogue of the deaf. It was greeted with consternation in India and the opposition expectedly raised hell. But particularly notable was the PMs partys refusal to endorse his action,until it was forced to by the party president in her statement backing Dr Singh. Congressmen were wary and non-committal,the TV talking heads silent,directing questions to the government of India. If this was a way of saving the party if the sky fell on Dr Singhs head,it was a particularly bad move.

In 2004,Manmohan Singh was seen to be the accidental prime minister,catapulted above the party because of party president Sonia Gandhis faith in him. If this was unpalatable to sections of the Congress,they should have spoken up then. Even now,they could speak up. But failing to do that,party discipline suggests they should have no choice but to hold their peace. The Congresss attempts to separate government and party on contentious matters are particularly self-defeating. After all,India is not run by some ideological vanguard where a clutch of people in the party steer policy. The government is composed of,and led by,the Congress,and it must take full responsibility for its actions. Differences of opinion there might be. But an illusion of separation will not convince anybody if a government falters but that illusion has immense potential to trip the government.

In fact,this tendency to keep their leaders off-balance is one of the most damaging strains in

the Congresss DNA. Instead of bolstering Manmohan Singh when he faced a firestorm of opposition in the run-up to Wednesdays debate in the Lok Sabha,the Congresss not-in-my-name attitude only depleted the prime ministers political capital. By fostering the paranoia that politics will not forgive bold change,the Congress demoralised a young and enthusiastic Rajiv Gandhi in the 80s. This reflexive undercutting of their leader is a trait that the Congress needs to work on,before it exacts the same damage on Manmohan Singhs credibility.