The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh has its author, Sanjaya Baru, providing a Rashomon-like account of his four-year stint in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) under the United Progressive Alliance rule (UPA). Released on 20 April 2014, in the middle of an acrimonious, bruising campaign for the Indian General Election, the book created much furore. By disclosing the inherently unequal relationship that Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, president of the Indian National Congress (INC), shared, it imparted credibility to the opposition's charge that Manmohan Singh had devalued the office of Prime Minister during his ten-year rule. The reason for this devaluation, the book claims, was Sonia Gandhi's penchant for interfering in the functioning of the government, including perusing official files and deciding on the allocation of cabinet portfolios, and Singh's tame acquiescence to her extra-constitutional authority. Baru's claims echoed the opposition's strident criticism of the diarchy system prevailing under the Singh-Sonia leadership, provoking Congress members to dismiss The Accidental Prime Minister as a tendentious, even fictional, account.
But then, Baru isn't the omniscient narrator of the kind most novelists are, and, occasionally, dramatic non-fiction writers endeavour to become. Baru hasn't pieced together a narrative through interviews with characters in the book, nor has he poured through the files the PMO generated between 2004 and 2008 when he was Manmohan Singh's media adviser. By definition, therefore, his perception of the events during those years has to be partial and subjective.
Baru claims that his role in Singh's PMO exceeded far beyond what had been spelt out for him. While offering the job to Baru, Singh had wanted him to be his 'eyes and ears'. But Baru writes that over the next four years, he not only saw and heard what was happening around him in the PMO, but was also responsible for goading into action the 'accidental prime minister' who was ostensibly reluctant to displease Sonia Gandhi who had chosen him to head the UPA coalition government. Eventually, and quite astonishingly, Baru became Singh's sounding board, his confidant, his court jester, his troubleshooter, his prompter in policy initiatives, his strategist in the battles against the loyalists of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, and his 'referee' in the petty squabbles involving men who wielded enormous power. Baru rationalises the exponential expansion of his role thus: "More than my rank, it was my proximity to Dr Singh that finally defined my access and influence in the PMO."
Many critics said that Baru's claims of exceptional influence and access to the PM had to be false and that his role couldn't have been as large as he claims in the book. But Singh did seem to have had a deep affection for Baru. You sense this in the section detailing Baru's visit to Singh when he was recovering from heart surgery in 2009. Months before that, Baru had already left the PMO for a teaching assignment in Singapore. In a style reminiscent of a Bollywood film, Baru describes the poignant reunion. His visit was announced to the resting Singh by his wife, Mrs Kaur: "'Sanjay [sic] Baru is here', Mrs Kaur whispered into his ear. His eyes opened and he smiled, and then shut them again. She asked him gently if he would like to have a cup of tea. He opened his eyes again and looked at me. She said, 'Yes, I will get him some tea. You also have some tea.'" Kaur helped her husband sit up in bed. Singh inquired from Baru about his family but their conversation was disrupted minutes later as Dr Srinath Reddy, who headed the team of doctors there, gestured that it was time for the patient to rest.