The press conference addressed by the Prime Minister on completion of 100 days of his 'stay' in office raised so many questions in the minds of apolitical straight thinking citizens. There are few remarks he made in the Press Conference that gelled well with his personality and also suggested that he 'walks the talk'. His stress on the need for higher dose of FDI to boost our economy and also his unequivocal stance on the issue of tainted personalities entering the Parliament and Assemblies (leave alone becoming Ministers) are quite convincing. Also, the reasons that he listed for the rise in inflation such as drought, rise in oil price in the international market, truckers' strike, and the artificial suppression of inflation rise by the outgoing NDA government in the early part of this year are completely true, albeit he did not spell out the concrete measures that his government is taking to contain inflation. He sounded very modest but optimistic in terms of reforms, building relations with neighbours, 'no-first use' policy on nuclear arsenals, introducing code of conduct for Ministers, Government officials and Parliamentarians. His categorical statement on sharing of river waters by the states is very encouraging. The recent decision by the government to set-up a high level Committee to go into Sarkaria Commission's recommendation and to evolve the guidelines for Centre-State relations is very pertinent in the current circumstances.

The failure of Manipur government to contain violence in the state, violation by his own party's government in Punjab on water sharing agreement, and Karnataka government's appeal in the Supreme Court against the Cauvery Water Tribunal are pointing to the fact that the Central government is losing control over the state governments. Also, the Tamil Nadu government has alleged that the Central government is by-passing the State government and deals directly with the local bodies. In a three-tier democracy, the dealings have to be in a layered structure and one entity can not by-pass the other. It would tantamount to usurping the power from the state governments. All these clearly establish a case for a overhaul of Centre-State relations. Although some of these issues were relevant even during the tenure of NDA government, the opposition and also the alliance parties within the ruling UPA now take advantage of these issues to project Dr Manmohan Singh as a weak Prime Minister. If the Prime Minister wants to be seen as a stronger Prime Minister than what the opposition alleges or his own alliance partners think of him, IT IS HIGH TIME that he gets into business and show them what he could deliver. 

Going by his past performances and the way he conducted himself in the last three months as the Prime Minister, he seems to be actually stronger than what he appears to be. Although the opposition is rhetorically saying that there are multiple power centres in the UPA governance, Sonia Gandhi did not act in any manner that belittles Dr Singh's stature or conveyed a sense that she is a parallel power centre. However, the way the Left Front is issuing counter-statements for every word of the Prime Minister and also the way they project the UPA government as their puppet do not augur well for the Prime Minister and his Cabinet. These projections dilute the Prime Minister's authority. The RJD led by Lalo Yadav is keen to extract as much political mileage as possible and in the process pushes the Prime Minister to be defensive before the Opposition NDA and before the people of this country. If one analyses the way this government is functioning, it is easy to understand that the ministers belonging to various regional parties function according to their own hidden agenda. The Finance Ministry is at loggerheads with the Communication ministry on the issue of FDI in the telecommunication sector. The Finance Ministry is completely in dissonance with the guidelines prepared by the telecommunication Ministry on FDI guidelines. 

If the PM has really taken up this responsibility to serve the country and feels "proud and honoured", he should get into action NOW. If he has not taken up this job simply to warm the Prime Minister's seat for Sonia's children, he has nothing to lose. If he has taken up this PM's responsibility just to show loyalty to his Party President and protect the kingdom for the sake of her children, he would land the country in trouble. For a patriotic person of his stature with a high self-confident integrity, the power associated with the PM's seat is nothing compared to the interest of the nation. Hence, apolitical neutral citizens of this Nation believe that Dr Singh wants to run the government in such a way that would help India to gain strength in all aspects. Some of the measures that he has initiated such as evolving a code of conduct for public functionaries and evolving guidelines for Centre-State relations etc are tied to the long term interest of this nation. His approach is really visionary in nature and he aims to pre-empt the issues/mistakes instead of trying to correct them once they creep in. He should not fail because of his loyalty to the Party/Party President or because of the pulls &  pressures from various sides. He should liberate himself from all these mundane politics and work towards building a strong India. People of his caliber and honesty alone could achieve this. HOWEVER, HE MUST BE AWARE THAT GOOD INTENTIONS DO NOT MAKE A GREAT LEADER, IT IS ONLY THE ACTIONS THAT VOUCH FOR A VISIONARY LEADER. 

The Prime Minister must make it clear to the Left Front and to his alliance partners that he means business and he can not be arm-twisted. On controversial issues such as FDI, disinvestments, it is better that the Prime Minister takes the Left Front into confidence before he issues a statement. Otherwise counter-statements from the Left Front either confuse the people or raise a question mark on Prime Minister's authority. If the Left Front is not allowing him to effectively function, he should threaten to quit 
instead of succumbing to them. If it is everybody's interest to keep the communal forces out of power, ensuring the stability of this government is also everybody's responsibility. If only the Prime Minister or the Congress leadership is keen to ensure stability for UPA government at any cost, in such a situation it is evident that Dr Singh has been instructed only to warm the seat and he does not have the power to function as the Prime Minister. 

There is a hope that Dr Singh would deliver (and he is not a Shikandi as the BJP alleged him) because he does not stop at issuing political statements. He should even ask his stage-managers to stop issuing counter statements to each and every allegation from the Opposition. He must concentrate his energy in tackling the issues by floating ideas and concrete measures. His suggestion on devising procedure to prevent tainted persons from getting elected to democratic bodies is an excellent one. This conveyed the signal to the country that he is not supporting the tainted ministers in his cabinet. At the same time, he enlarged the issue and defined what we must do to fundamentally attack the problem. This approach of him would force the opposition to rally around him and would also help in winning people's support. This is the only way he can gain authority. A final word to the BJP leader who called the PM a 'Shikandi' - as a responsible person in the opposition camp, he must exercise restraint from issuing such statements. The definition and belief that Shikandis can not deliver show his ignorance. Please take a look at what Shabnam Mausi, the first 'eunuch' MLA of Madhya Pradesh delivered to her constituency. The politicians whose sex is well-defined by their physiology would not by default qualify to become leaders in people's mind. They must learn from Shabnam Mausi as to what defines delivery to the society and what defines the power and strength as a leader. Above all, a real leader must think twice before hurting a section of the society. Before anyone uses the word 'Shikandi' to insult anybody in any context, let us understand how it hurts that section of our society. In the modern India, they also want to take part in all aspects of public life. They are also human-beings. Dr Manmohan Singh is not insulted when the BJP leader called him a Shikandi, it is that person's image and decency, who assumed that he successfully ridiculed the PM, took a beating in the eyes of the people. Let us follow some decorum and I can see why the PM advocates for a code of conduct for public personalities! opposition combine.