Panchayati Raj is not PM’s business

Cithara Paul:The Sunday Standard

Congress scion Rahul Gandhi may be touring the country to get “theoretical and practical understanding” of his late father’s dream project, Panchayati Raj. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh does not seem to share the same enthusiasm. The PM apparently declined the invitation to release the report ‘Towards Holistic Panchayati Raj’ written by a team headed by former Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar.


“Aiyar had tried his best to get PM release the report. He was expecting a favourable reply, especially, in the backdrop of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s new-found interest in Panchayati Raj,” said a member of Aiyar’s team alluding to Rahul’s recent meetings with local panchayat functionaries.

Rahul had recently gone to Kerala to attend an academic session at the Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA), which imparts theoretical and practical training to civic body members and officials on decentralised development. Aiyar’s report was finally released by Panchayati Raj Minister Kishore Chandra Deo on April 24, the National Panchayati Raj Day. However, Aiyar’s travails did not end there.

Though he finally managed to get an appointment with the PM, it was cancelled at the last minute. Aiyar and his team members were kept waiting the whole day. The team consisted of CPI(M) leader T M Thomas Isaac, Congress leader Peelipose Thomas and former bureaucrats and Panchayati Raj experts. The official explanation was that “PM got busy with the Parliament session”.

“It is not clear whether it is PM’s lack of interest in Panchayati Raj or his lack of interest in Mani Shankar Aiyar which is behind all these developments,” said another member. Aiyar, when contacted, told The Sunday Standard that the PM had been very supportive of the committee right from its beginning. “It’s wrong to say that PM was not interested in our report. There were so many other reports being released that day. The PM could not release the report as the organisers did not want a mix-up. But I was the only one who was invited to the dais and was given a chance to speak,” he said.

Aiyar, however, agreed that he and his team is yet to meet Manmohan. “It is true that our appointment with the PM was cancelled. But I cannot blame him, given the hungama that is happening in Parliament. The PMO is still keen on arranging a meeting and it could take place any time soon,” he said.

According to Aiyar, the fact that most members in his team are out of Delhi is also delaying the meeting. It is an open secret that there is no love lost between Aiyar and Manmohan, as the former has openly criticised the PM several times, especially during last year’s anti-graft agitation. Aiyar had famously said: “If I had been the prime minister of India, I would not have sent four ministers to receive Baba Ramdev. Maybe that is one reason that I will never be the prime minister.”

Calling the action of sending police to the agitation site, a “violation of human rights”, Aiyar had also said: “Had I been the PM, I would not have used force to break up the anti-graft struggle…” According to sources, Aiyar wanted to use the Panchayati Raj report release function to cosy up to PM. But the latter was unwilling to budge.

The four-volume report talks at length about policy issues, sectoral schemes and also finds deficiencies in the current manner in which Panchayati Raj is being implemented. But Aiyar has some solace. He had an hour-long meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee held last week after the release of the report. “He was very keen to know about our report in details and gave some valuable comments,” he said.