Is There a Leadership Vacuum in India?

There are self-created vacuums at the central government – a curse in the UPA government which ultimately results in complete absence of responsibility or conscience. And India’s Chief Economic Advisor says major reforms are unlikely till the 2014 parliamentary elections. What are the vacuums in the UPA government?

First of all, there is a dead air between the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi. “There is little communication on policy or politics - which is a dangerous thing when political power is with the party chief and governance responsibility with the Prime Minister,” says a Firstpost article. “What seems clear is that Sonia Gandhi is unwilling to discuss political issues with coalition allies (DMK, NCP or Trinamool), and without this Manmohan Singh cannot achieve coherence on policy,” R Jagannathan writes in Firstpost.

The second vacuum can be said to be the PM’s inability to deal with the powerful ministers, even from his own party.  His policy of writing notes to his colleagues on different issues than talking to them directly damages the investment climate in the country and it only drags the already tedious process.

As the letter suggests, the bureaucracy has been cut loose to fend for itself and ever since the series of corruption charges like 2G and CWG broke out, every babu at the central government is trying not to make decisions for the fear of being pulled up in corruption cases.