Dr Manmohan Singh is in clear and present danger of being mistaken for his home minister. Saturday, Dr Singh, along with Sonia Gandhi, visited Guwahati 48 hours after the series of bomb blasts, looking like he would rather be anywhere but. And what did the prime minister say to the nation, after the sixth terrorist attack since July? — “there can be no compromise with terrorism”. Sounds familiar? Sounds like Shivraj Patil after every attack.

Meanwhile, NDA prime ministerial candidate, L.K.Advani, was in Assam 24 hours earlier blaming the Centre for the blasts — something he does each time there is an attack. But whenever there is a crisis, be it Assam or the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya S. Thakur, he is on the air before Dr Singh. Advani is seen to be communicating with the people whereas the prime minister seems to be in deep communion with himself.

When the financial crisis hit us harder than Shah Rukh Khan punched Saif Ali Khan in the stomach so hard it ‘hurts’, we saw the PM make a reassuring statement in Parliament; we heard him worry on board the flight to Japan and from China. But not once did he call a media meet or address the nation in a televised broadcast to explain the how, why, what and what now of the crash. George Bush did it, Sarkozy did it, Gordon Brown did it, why even the prime minister of Iceland must have done it but our prime minister, a most respected economist, allows others to do his talking for him. Yes, actions speak better than words but words explain actions and the public needs that to make sense of events. Yes, the PM has issued statements but TV edits those into a sound byte, making Dr Singh sound offhand, distant. These are, if not the worst of times, bad times and he needs to be seen and heard much more.

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