''The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh'' is a 2014 memoir by Indian policy analyst

Sanjaya Baru Sanjaya Baru is a political commentator and policy analyst. He served as Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) until his resignation in April 2018. Prior to this, he was Director for Geo-Economic ...

, who was Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indir ...

's media advisor from May 2004 to August 2008. Published by

Penguin India Penguins (order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapt ...

, the book alleges that Singh was not entirely in control of his

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

—or even the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). Instead, significant power was wielded by the Congress party's president

Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi ('' née'' Maino; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest serving president of the Indian National Congress, a social democratic political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independ ...

, to whom Singh was completely "subservient".John Chalmers.
Ex-adviser says Manmohan Singh was hobbled by Sonia Gandhi
.

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. 11 April 2014. "There cannot be two centres of power", Baru remembers Singh explaining to him, "That creates confusion. I have to accept that the party president is the centre of power. The government is answerable to the party." The PMO released a statement the day ''The Accidental Prime Minister'' was released, dismissing the veracity of the memoir, "It is an attempt to misuse a privileged position and access to high office to gain credibility and to apparently exploit it for commercial gain. The commentary smacks of fiction and coloured views of a former adviser."Anu Anand.
Indian PM Manmohan Singh 'not in charge', new book claims
. ''

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''. 11 April 2014. Baru's reply to the PMO's charges was "I am amused." Baru told ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'', "most of the book is positive bout the PM and that he wrote it mainly because Singh "has become an object of ridicule, not admiration. I am showing him as a human being, I want there to be empathy for him." According to ''

'', "Such an intimate portrait of dysfunction will certainly have political ramifications", especially since India is in the midst of a general election. Spokespersons of the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

, the chief opposition party, posed a series of questions to Singh and Sonia Gandhi on the basis of ''The Accidental Prime Minister''s revelations, "did the PM refuse to take daily briefings from intelligence agencies and did this not have a bearing on our security situation? ... Did the PM forfeit his prerogative to decide on who would be in his cabinet? Was the '2G fame'

A Raja Andimuthu Raja (born Sathyaseelan; 26 October 1963) is an Indian politician from Tamil Nadu, who serves as Member of Parliament for the Nilgiris constituency and deputy general secretary for the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. He was a member of t ...

appointed at the behest of Sonia Gandhi? Did the PM knowingly overlook corruption by his colleagues as alleged in the book. Did 2G, CWG and Coalgate happen because of this?" In light of the elections, the BJP also promised "We will not give an accidental Prime Minister to this country."

Film adaptation

A film adaptation of the book with Anupam Kher portraying the role of

was released on 11 January 2019. The film garnered a lot of attention and stirred controversy. In the wake of the 2019

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

elections, the movie was cited as a propaganda by the then ruling party,

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

. Although, the filmmakers have completely denied these allegations.

References

External links

''The Accidental Prime Minister''
at Penguin India
''The Accidental Prime Minister''
at

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Excerpts
at ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new onl ...

''
Excerpt
at ''DNA'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Accidental Prime Minister, The 2014 non-fiction books Books about politics of India Indian non-fiction books Manmohan Singh administration Political memoirs Penguin Books India books 21st-century Indian books Indian novels adapted into films

Film adaptation

References

Further reading

External links