The Manmohan decade

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh deserves to be seen as a Prime Minister who conducted himself with dignity and commendable tolerance even when there was great provocation in Parliament ( >Editorial, May 14 ). Members of the Lok Sabha are bound to recall his dignified replies to questions posed before him.

Y.S. Kadakshamani,

Madurai

Dr. Manmohan Singh’s tenure has been a mixed bag — of positive actions and of policy paralysis. A dispassionate SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) would give him a score of 100 per cent for intellectual excellence, but no pass marks for not having been assertive, but quiet and nonchalant about rampant corruption. Ministers showed scant respect for his position. He suffered in silence. The books on him by his former advisers only prove this point. Had he resigned midway and demanded accountability, things would have been very different for the UPA.

V. Rajagopal,

Tirupati

As a former sympathiser of the Congress and a grandson of freedom fighter and Congressman Nivarthi Venkata Subbaiah, who later went on to serve as chairman of the Legislative Council in Andhra Pradesh till 1978, I feel very bad that the Prime Minister and the Grand Old Party are on their way out. The UPA’s first term was undoubtedly good, but it was during the second term that its political epitaph was written. Corruption, nepotism and inept handling of certain political issues, which included the tragic division of Andhra Pradesh, are the reasons. I only hope that Dr. Singh and the Congress would play the role of a constructive Opposition.

Aditya S. Nivarthi,

Hyderabad

The Prime Minister will be remembered as a reticent king who had waited endlessly to hand over the reins of power to an equally reluctant prince. Dr. Singh was too detached, never taking credit for the victories of the government; nor was he aggressive enough to answer the criticism he faced. In the end, and mercifully, he has his personal integrity intact.

D.V.G. Sankararao,

Nellimarla, Andhra Pradesh