How Singh became king

Manmohan Singh’s success lay in his ability to engage with diverse opinions and steer a coalition government—a task requiring considerable political acumen

- PRATUL SHARMA

So be it," said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a 2007 interview when the left parties threatened to withdraw support to his government over the India-US nuclear deal. With that brief statement, Singh sent a powerful message. The left eventually withdrew support, but the government survived, thanks to the Samajwadi Party, which provided outside support. The United Progressive Alliance government retained power in the 2009 general elections, giving rise to a new slogan: "Singh is king".

Singh's image as a middle-class hero-a humble sardar who overcame adversity through scholarship and India's rising global stature endeared him to voters. The Congress won 206 seats, surpassing the 200-seat mark for the first time since 1991, when it had won 244 seats following Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. The Congress has not crossed the 200-seat mark since its 2009 triumph.

A decade earlier, Singh had contested his first and only election from the South Delhi constituency in 1999, losing to the BJP's Vijay Kumar Malhotra by a margin of 30,000 votes, partly because of internal "sabotage" by his party. Days before voting, Congress leaders blamed the RSS for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi. This was seen as a means to absolve the party of the blame. The voters, many of them Sikhs who were willing to support Singh, apparently had a change of heart at the last moment, even as RSS activists actively campaigned against him.

In the two prior Lok Sabha elections from the same seat, Congress candidates Kapil Sibal and Ajay Maken had also faced defeats, losing to BJP's Sushma Swaraj by over one lakh votes. This indicates how close Singh was to victory. Interestingly, riding on the momentum of Singh's victory in 2009, the Congress won the South Delhi seat for the first time in 25 years. It was also the last time the party managed to win the constituency.