Can the UPA II government do a single thing right?

Today I wanted to talk about the paradox facing the Indian Prime Minister. It was rather well summed up by MJ Akbar in his blog, The Siege Within, and he basically said that the PM is "in power because he's weak". In the first Coalition government (UPA I), the smaller allies were in power because of the Congress Party. However, in the second (UPA II), Congress is in power because of its smaller allies, and thus the government has been unable to conclusively sign off on a single significant issue during UPA II. Even the Margaret Thatcher-esque Sonia Gandhi's approval on matters, usually a sign for all and sundry to fall in line, hasn't helped the rather adrift Indian Prime Minister. That would explain a number of decisions that he has taken, most recently the reversal on foreign direct investment in the retail industry in India.

In fact, the last time our 'soft-spoken' PM ever took a stand on anything worth taking a stand on (aside, of course, from the usual repetitive anti-corruption line) was the nuclear deal. Wait. Had you forgotten about this? I wouldn't blame you, that was all the way back in 2008!

The criteria to be an Indian PM should not be pan-Indian acceptance from everybody. (read all political parties) It should be someone, at the risk of sounding hackneyed, who has a dream. Someone who can drag themselves above the current mire of Indian politics, and do the things that need to be done.

"When written in Chinese, the word "crisis"
is composed of two characters.
One represents danger and the other represents opportunity."

- John F. Kennedy