Singh didn’t ask for this hopeless task. The mild-mannered former Finance minister, an adviser to practically every Indian government for the past three decades, was delegated to the post by the woman who led the Congress Party in its surprise comeback. The latest head of the Gandhi political dynasty, Sonia Gandhi, ran a brilliant campaign, and she commands fierce loyalty among her followers as the widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. She has one huge political handicap, though: India is only her adopted country. By birth she’s Italian. Hindu nationalists denounced her as “an ignorant foreign-born person” who would “gravely endanger India’s security,” as one prominent member of Vajpayee’s party expressed it. The “Stop Sonia” movement threatened to turn violent, and Gandhi asked Singh to step in for her–at least in title. “I am not going anywhere,” she told supporters last week. “I am still very much in politics.”
Just about everyone respects her choice, especially money managers. Last week began with the worst day in the history of the Mumbai stock index, but prices bounced back as soon as investors knew Singh would take the job. “The quality of his heart and head will be very good for the country,” said Adi Godrej, one of the nation’s biggest industrialists. And yet the communists seemed just as delighted as the capitalists. “He is not only one of the most decent persons,” says Somnath Chatterjee, a senior leader of one far-left party in Congress’s coalition, “he is one of our most knowledgeable economists.” In fact, some analysts view Singh’s quietly likable style as a potential threat to Gandhi’s dominance in the party. He could quickly develop a power base of his own.
Singh’s stated goals are far more modest than that. Accomplishing them will still be plenty tough–especially the challenge of alleviating rural poverty without raising the deficit. Short-term improvements in schools, clinics and farm programs would barely begin to address the country’s needs. Still, India is a place where miracles do happen. A country with a sixth of the world’s population has just finished holding free, fair elections, ending in a peaceful transfer of power to a leader known for ability, intelligence and integrity. If that’s not an incredible achievement, what is?
