When India’s 13th President and Bharat Ratna Pranab Mukherjee passed away, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was fulsome in his praise for his former colleague, calling him one of the greatest leaders of independent India. Mukherjee’s long stint in government is undoubtedly a standout achievement, but here’s an intriguing question: is Manmohan Singh even more deserving of the Bharat Ratna than his former finance minister?
Consider the following: Mukherjee held the finance portfolio twice, but his budgets didn’t really break fresh ground. In fact, the retrospective tax legislation that he brought in 2011 was responsible for a grave loss of confidence in India’s financial policy. Mukherjee was an instinctive socialist of the 1970s Indira-era, a politician of the licence-permit raj who Read More
