The Sonia Years - Implosion: India's Tryst with Reality - page 167

protecting women against sexual harassment at work. In January 2011, when there was a
controversy over tribal people in the Andaman and Nicobar islands being exposed to tour-
ism, she told the then home minister, Chidambaram, that 'the Ministry of Home Affairs
may coordinate with them (Tribal Affairs Ministry) so that all issues related to the Jarawa
tribe are comprehensively addressed'.
She stopped petrol price rises in 2006 and also dramatically slowed down the use of ag-
ricultural land for industry by saying such land should not be used for special economic
zones that were then being pushed unwisely fast by Kamal Nath, the commerce and in-
dustry minister, who had strong equations with the business sector. She also tried to slow
down talks on free trade agreements with Asean countries because she feared they could
hurt India's farmers. Some of these and other initiatives originated with her council, but not
all. After she had personally vetoed the oil price rise, a well-connected Indian businessman
dubbed it, in a conversation with me, as a display of 'amazing democratic autocracy'.
In 2009, the Congress won an unexpectedly strong victory, with Manmohan Singh play-
ing an important vote-pulling role alongside a public relations offensive to raise the profile
of Rahul Gandhi and the more charismatic and astute Priyanka. 15 There were hopes that the
government would do better than it had in the previous five years because it was suppor-
ted by various regional parties and not the communist-led Left. 16 The Congress, it seemed,
would be able to lead a much more stable government with fewer corrupt cabinet ministers
from regional parties, especially in lucrative infrastructure and transport ministries. There
were hopes of economic reforms being implemented without being held back by the Left,
which would pull in foreign and domestic investment which had been lacking.
The Stars Fade
The predictions and hopes turned out to be totally misplaced. The coalition was constantly
disrupted by its partners and lacked any cohesion. The cabinet was not of a better quality,
and economic policy making and implementation came to a virtual standstill. Sonia Gandhi
and Singh knowingly allowed a welter of corruption scandals to develop, and failed to
handle them effectively when they became crises because the Congress was more interested
in keeping the coalition intact and appeasing corrupt regional partners. The Gandhi-Singh
chemistry was also far less effective than it had been.
The dynasty suffered in 2011 from Sonia Gandhi developing unexplained health prob-
lems, while Rahul continued to fail to acknowledge that he was her successor. In short, the
government lacked visible leadership. Singh and Sonia Gandhi rarely spoke in public on
major issues and Rahul, the heir apparent to both of them, was even more silent. Because