Judge me by my actions. That was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's response in his press conference last week to the argument that he was the weakest prime minister India had ever seen.

Since then, he has had his way on Iran and has pressed ahead with airport privatisation, despite the noises of objection made by the Left. Ironically, it was Russia and China which had come to the PM's rescue on the Iran issue. By deciding to vote against Iran in the IAEA, they took the sting out of the Left's opposition. Manmohan Singh knew what he was about when he had his way in keeping the external affairs portfolio, and in not moving out P. Chidambaram as finance minister in the last Cabinet reshuffle.

The impact this will have on the UPA's future is yet to be seen. The fact that the Left, with its 61 MPs, is restive, cannot be denied. The Left stands to lose its own credibility if its views continue to be ignored. It has managed to get the government to put the BHEL disinvestment on hold. It has also ensured that pension reform and the ...

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