Manmohan Singh writes a scathing critique of his own incompetence

This is also the dominating impression that emerges by reading Manmohan Singh’s much-discussed column in Friday’s edition of The Hindu. Ever since his retirement from public life, Singh has undergone a curious transformation from a weak premiere to an outspoken, bold interventionist. After sleepwalking through his 10-year term as prime minister when he remitted power to his party boss in a stunning act of bad faith, the erudite economist these days is used by the Congress more as a moral tool to beat the present government with.

But the problem with this strategy is that though Singh has never been personally charged with making money for himself, his turning of a blind eye to the corruption scandal blazing all around him while occupying the highest seat of power weakens considerably his moral authority as an occupant of exalted preaching pulpit. Also, as this columnist has argued before, Singh has frequently let his political compulsions interfere with the objectivity of his assessment as an economist.

It is with some degree of curiosity that one went through Singh’s article to find if there were any new points in addition to the speech he had recently delivered in Rajya Sabha where he termed demonetisation as “organised loot and legalised plunder.”

Unfortunately, while the rhetoric quotient of Singh’s column remains high, he fails to furnish any convincing arguments against the currency ban. If, as he claims, the idea is a “mammoth tragedy” and a right, royal mess, the Cambridge-trained economist never dips into his famed erudition to present doable solutions.