Politics & Power Quote by Manmohan Singh

A coalition is supposed to widen representation; here it functions as a shield. Manmohan Singh frames privatization not as an ideological choice but as a procedural casualty: the government is a “coalition,” therefore its “options” are “limited,” therefore certain reforms can’t move. It’s technocratic fatalism with a political purpose. By making constraint the protagonist, Singh deflects blame from himself and from the policy’s merits, relocating the argument from “Should we privatize?” to “Can we, given the arithmetic?”

The phrasing is careful, almost bloodless. “Happens to be” drains privatization of drama, as if it’s an administrative file that regrettably can’t be processed today. That understatement is the tell. Privatization in India isn’t a minor tweak; it’s a lightning rod for anxieties about inequality, patronage networks, labor power, and the state’s role in safeguarding basic goods. Singh, famous for liberalization, signals awareness of that volatility while also protecting his reformist brand: he remains the rational modernizer, hemmed in by democratic reality.

Context matters: in India’s coalition era, economic policy was negotiated across parties with competing mandates, often including left or regional partners who could veto “reform” framed as selling the family silver. Singh’s line is less confession than strategy. It reassures markets that he hasn’t renounced privatization; it reassures allies that he won’t bulldoze them. The subtext is a warning and an alibi: if you want change, change the coalition math.