Manmohan steered N-deal with US showing political skills: Montek

Leading economist and former Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Thursday said late PM Manmohan Singh could move the politics when he knew it was absolutely necessary.

Ahluwalia’s reference was to the firmness with which the former PM pursued and saw the Indo-US nuclear deal through despite opposition from within the Congress, Left and even the BJP.

Delivering a lecture as part of the Prime Minister Lecture Series organised by PM Museum and Library here today, Ahluwalia recalled the only two instances where Manmohan Singh offered to resign and got his way. The first was when he was RBI Governor in 1983 and the second when he was PM in 2008.

“Large sections of the Congress were against the Indo-US nuclear deal, the Left was against it and so was the BJP. But it was Manmohan Singh who took the lead and the US that opened the door,” Ahluwalia said, adding that the ongoing defence cooperation between India and the US would not have been possible without that historic deal. He was speaking in the presence of PM Museum executive council chairman Nripendra Mishra, late PM's wife Gursharan Kaur and daughter Upinder Singh among others.

Mentioning former PM Singh’s resoluteness amid a backlash by the Left, Ahluwalia, the closest aide of Singh during the UPA days, said, “The bottom line was the Left said it would walk out of the government if the deal was signed. It was not clear why. It was just a knee-jerk opposition to the US. Sonia Gandhi was very concerned... But Manmohan Singh managed to convince her that she should allow him to do this. Large sections in the Congress were also against the deal... He won the vote of confidence even though the Left voted against it. Manmohan Singh was able to mobilise the Samajwadi Party for which he got help from APJ Abdul Kalam who spoke to Mulayam Singh Yadav. So a lot of political manipulation was done by someone generally never viewed as a politician. The deal established that Manmohan Singh knew how to move politics when it was absolutely necessary.” Ahluwalia added that the deal and its impact had not been appreciated enough.

The former Planning Commission leader further lauded the ruling NDA government for signing Free Trade Agreements to get around the pressures of US tariffs and advised the path of bold reforms.

He batted for lateral entry to the government, citing the example of Manmohan Singh bringing in Nandan Nilekani to lay the Aadhar edifice.

Calling for institutional reforms to recruit skilled forces in the government, Ahluwalia said, "Unless we do this (the reforms) we will not reach the goal of Viksit Bharat."

He spoke of how Nilekani was brought in with a cabinet rank, granted full autonomy, and department of personnel advertisement waivers were granted to him to bring in skilled people necessary to deliver on Aadhar.

"I think in future when dealing with very complex things like AI and cyber security, you (the government) should bring in younger people from outside. Do a case study on Nandan Nilekani and his induction," he said.

Earlier, Ahluwalia spoke of how Manmohan Singh had first advocated economic liberalisation in a paper he wrote for PN Haksar, principal secretary to PM Indira Gandhi, right after the 1971 war.

"The reforms were unduly delayed but it was not as though Manmohan Singh was not talking about them. He finally executed these in 1991," said Ahluwalia recalling the other instance when Singh, then RBI governor, offered to resign to make his point.

This was in 1983 when the Finance Ministry moved a cabinet note to assume powers of the RBI to open new banks and branches in India.

"At the heart of the matter was a dubious Dubai based bank that wanted to open a bank in India. Manmohan Singh was RBI governor and was against the bank coming in. He took up the matter of the Finance Ministry's note with PM Indira Gandhi and offered to resign if RBI's autonomy was denigrated. Indira Gandhi heeded his advice and the move was scuttled," said Ahluwalia.