Manmohan Singh is a classic example of Peter's Principle in action.
He was a typical bureaucrat who climbed up the ladder by serving his political masters, turning a blind eye to all the wrong doings that was happening aroud him, and follow the CYA (cover your ass) philosophy to the dot (In India, you cant reach the top of the bureaucracy if you dont do as above).
Then Sonia Gandhi decided to apply the Peter's Principle. She decided to raise him to his level of incompetence. She felt that his sterling qualities, as listed above, is exactly what she wanted, to rule the country by proxy. And she was proved to be right. Only thing is that the position of PM required him to be totally different from what he was till then. He has risen to his level of incompetence.
We teach in Management Classes that the skills required at a lower level is not what is required at the higher level. A person can be a top salesman, but a lousy Sales Manager, as his selling skills that made him such a success as a Sales Person, is totally useless when it comes to Planning, leading and controlling a team of Sales people.
This is precisely what happened to our PM.
The very skills that made him a success as an official - subservience to his political masters, covering his ass, just voicing his opinions but allowing others to take decisions, looking the other way when everyone indulged in corruption, and remaining behind the scenes - became a liability. He had to lead from the front, tackle issues head on, but he didnt, or couldnt.
And add to that his amazing ability to be less than truthful when it suits his purpose. Remember the lies on the Indo-US nuclear deal, his lies on the economy, his repeated lies on inflation, and on corruption. Look how conveniently he lied on 2 G scam, S-band Scam etc yesterday and on a few other issues. He was virtually saying, I am innocent, as I didnt hear anything, speak anything, see anything. And was like a complaining school kid - 'no one is telling me anything'!!!
It was a pathetic performance. The press conference was supposed to bolster his image. And he had around him TV editors, most of whom are his chamchas. Still he came out looking silly. And his media advisor was ridiculous when he shouted down Arnab saying 'this is not an interrogation of the PM, show him courtesy'. Excuse me, but the journo in question was just asking a routine follow up question on his stand on the differing view points taken by the CAG and his own telecom minister on the 2G Scam. So, the message is very clear. PM will tell you what he wants, and he is beyond questioning. That is not how it is done in any mature democracy.
Our PM said he is not a lame duck. He was not lying for once.
He is not a lame duck prime minister.
He is a dead duck prime minister.
