Manmohan Singh unleashed middle-class aspirations. Modi has let them down

Manmohan Singh represented the best of the Indian middle class—what the middle class should be. Narendra Modi, by contrast, represents its worst instincts.

File photo of Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi | Agencies

The late former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was India’s genuine middle-class hero. But it was only in his death, not during his life, that this truth became evident. The massive outpouring of grief and affection at his death revealed the extraordinarily high esteem in which he was held by large sections of the urban educated class, particularly the 1990s generation he had steered into a golden age of freedom.

Manmohan Singh represented a middle-class dream. He was the epitome of the Nehruvian nation-builder of the 1950s and 60s: highly educated, scholarly, dignified, self-effacing, and driven by a sense of service. Singh stood for an open economy, prosperity for all, and an ease with a globalising world.

Manmohan Singh represented the best of the Indian middle class—what the middle class should be. Narendra Modi, by contrast, with his vengeance-driven inclinations, government-heavy centralising tendencies, and divisive Hindutva politics, represents the worst instincts of India’s middle class.

In fact, Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi embody two faces of leadership that India’s middle class has gravitated toward: the first (Manmohan Singh) noble, scholarly, and standing for reform and openness; the other (Narendra Modi) coarse, uncouth, violating behavioural and democratic norms, and giving vent to religious hatred.

 

How the middle class turned

The across-the-board praise for Manmohan Singh at his death is in sharp contrast with the widespread anger that drove him out of office in 2014. That election, the middle class turned against Singh and switched loyalties to Modi. This shift illustrates the changing nature of the urban educated class’s relationship with politics in general.

Manmohan Singh first earned middle-class adulation as finance minister, when he spearheaded the Great Change of 1991—India’s Big Bang Economic Reforms. These reforms liberalised the economy and Singh demolished the decades-old socialist licence permit raj. The economy was set free from the shackles of government control and bounded forward. “Manmohaneconomics” became synonymous with reformist economics. Always a believer in liberal economics, Singh pressed forward with his reformist agenda as Prime Minister, pushing for the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal which gave India access to a range of new technologies. He also oversaw groundbreaking new administrative innovations, including Aadhaar, MGNREGA, and the Right to Food.

Sure, he was not a mass leader, never won an election, and was indeed an “accidental prime minister,” in the sense that he was nominated to the post by Sonia Gandhi, then the all-powerful Congress president. But by 2009, he had emerged as a Prime Minister of immense popularity. The UPA was victorious in the general elections of 2009 largely because of Singh’s quietly adept helmsmanship of the government. By then, he was the middle-class dream, fulfilling expectations of a largely apolitical prime minister who saw politics as excellence in governance and service to the people. The middle class warmed to Singh as someone it wanted to emulate: an individual who rose through sheer dint of education and academic brilliance and brought a scholarly expertise to government.

Yet a slew of corruption allegations hit Singh in his second term as PM of UPA 2. Although today, a decade later, many of those allegations have been revealed as more hype and less substance. For instance, the former CAG’s report of a 1.76 lakh crore “notional loss” in 2G spectrum pricing was a figure challenged by many, including former RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao. But with a high-voltage media campaign and the India Against Corruption (IAC) movement of 2011, the same middle class that had adored him rose in revolt against Manmohan Singh. The middle-class love affair with Singh came to an abrupt end. A disillusioned middle class searched desperately for newer heroes.

The IAC movement, in which the RSS allegedly deployed its resources and figures like the spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar played a part, laid the foundation for the birth of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party. The IAC movement also created a platform for the rise of Narendra Modi, enabling him to make a triumphant bid for power as the so-called “outsider” who would sweep away the scam-ridden UPA 2.

Reformist vs master of rhetoric

Today, a great deal of commentary centres on how decisively the (Hindu) middle class has swung toward Modi, apparently spellbound by his “strong” leadership and uber Hindutva identity.

But unlike Manmohan Singh’s reformist, pro-middle-class policies, Modi has done almost nothing for the middle class. Instead, he has taken the middle class for granted, sanguine in the belief that his Hindutva hero image will keep its loyalty. Modi doesn’t shower largesse on the middle class but focuses on poorer sections because he wants their votes. Modi talks about “aspiration,” but under his rule almost half of India’s educated youth are unemployed, and lakhs of Indians are giving up Indian citizenship. In 2022 alone, 2,25,000 renounced their Indian citizenship; India was expected to lose 4,300 high net worth individuals in 2024.

Because Modi seems to believe his anti-Muslim Hindutva identity is enough to keep the middle class on his side, he has never bothered with pro-middle-class policies.

Singh, by contrast, genuinely addressed middle-class aspirations by delivering on reforms, prosperity, and global openness. Modi projected his “chaiwallah” identity to highlight his “self-made” credentials. But although Manmohan Singh never marketed or promoted his life story, his journey is even more remarkable than Modi’s.

Born to a Sikh peasant family in Gah village, now in Pakistan, his family suffered the scars of Partition. The young Manmohan worked his way up through sheer hard work and scholarship, earning an Oxford degree and a PhD.

Singh was no RSS-created demagogue or a mainstream media-created personality cult. He was an academic who laboured alone and made an admirable transition to politics. He never engaged in parivarvaad (dynastic politics), never pushed his family into inheriting his mantle, and was not himself a beneficiary of political nepotism.

Modi, however, relies on communal dog-whistles, Hindutva nationalism, and a Hindu-khatre-mein-hain (Hindus are in danger) plank to maintain his support. Manmohan Singh had no truck with religious divisiveness or Modi-style politics of hate. He never wore his Sikh identity on his sleeve. As a member of a minority community, Singh was clear that liberal democracies must protect minority rights, as is the case across the world.

Each of Modi’s so-called “strong” decisions has been disastrous—whether demonetisation, a national lockdown called with four hours’ notice, or the Agniveer scheme for military recruitment. Under Singh, competitive exam papers did not leak with such alarming regularity, and over 270 million people were lifted out of poverty. It is a tribute to Manmohan Singh that Modi has copied all his administrative innovations, from Aadhar to MGNREGA.

Congress failed Manmohan Singh

Ironically, the Congress seemed oddly reticent and embarrassed about owning and projecting Manmohan Singh as the middle-class mascot that he was.

In fact, the party lost the middle class because it failed to fully embrace Singh and “Manmohaneconomics”. The Congress seemed almost apologetic about liberal free-market economics and never fought for the values Singh represented. Today, the party is singing paeans to him, but the fact is, if the Congress had embraced Singh’s values, the urban educated middle class would not have abandoned the party—the original champion of economic reform—over the last decade.

The Congress did not fight for Singh’s legacy or policies. By the end of its tenure, the UPA was so enfeebled and scarred by “scams” that it failed to project Manmohan Singh as their reform-oriented economist Prime Minister who was taking India toward mass prosperity. They did not present him as a clear alternative to Modi. Reluctant to applaud Manmohan Singh’s achievements, the Congress created a leadership vacuum. This vacuum allowed Modi to occupy the leadership space and pose as a co-called muscular “hero”.

 

So, who is the real middle-class hero?

The fact is, under Modi’s watch, the rupee has plunged to a record low of 85.82 to the dollar, and Indians now form the third-largest cohort of illegal migrants to the United States. Under Modi, income inequality has worsened to the point that the top 1 per cent owns more than 40 per cent of India’s national wealth. Manmohan Singh succeeded where Modi has resoundingly failed in building a more prosperous middle class.

The zeitgeist of our times is the drive for mass prosperity and for quality education and healthcare as vital contributors to economic growth. By pushing for wealth creation while rolling out welfarist measures like MGNREGA, Singh foresaw that economic growth could only be sustainable if the poor are empowered to earn.

Modi’s model of crony capitalism on one hand and sops and rations for the poor on the other, combined with ever-falling allocations for health and education, exposes him as a populist demagogue. As a leader who will do anything to remain in power, filling his party’s coffers from tycoons and keeping the poor hypnotised through freebies.

Manmohan Singh was the very opposite. Policies like the Right to Food, MGNREGA, and Aadhaar created a vast nationwide ladder for millions to grasp and climb toward higher incomes.

In the compulsive drive to win votes, Modi has neglected the middle class, however adoring it may be of him. By contrast, Manmohan Singh, with his service-oriented view of politics and reformist economics, answered middle-class aspirations. The truth is, it is Manmohan Singh, not Modi, who is India’s real middle-class hero.

Sagarika Ghose is a Rajya Sabha MP, All India Trinamool Congress. She tweets @sagarikaghose. Views are personal.

(Edited by Asavari Singh)