New Delhi, April 12: Oratory is to the politician what the sword is to the Samurai or water to fish. Yet, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had no qualms admitting two days ago that he isn’t a good speaker and he cannot match L.K. Advani’s skills on the public stage.

Millions of Indians who have had to sit through rambling speeches by politicians may sympathise with the soft-spoken Prime Minister. But few politicians in the world would dare admit that they lack the most basic of their stock-in-trade, not in the age of the newest Great Communicator Barack Obama.

Then, was it a defensive admission by Manmohan who really has shown no talent for mass politics, or a left-handed dare from a leader making a conscious crossover from anodyne technocrat to bellicose politician?

Manmohan had sealed his metamorphosis as a politician last July, offsetting the Left’s pullout by striking a deal with the Samajwadi Party to take his pet project — the Indo-US nuclear deal — through.

On Friday, with members of the women’s media corps in the audience, Manmohan sprung what looks like a clever hit-and-run tactic: have your say, don’t get into arguments. But at another level, he was also underlining a new, and unheralded, ethic — it isn’t necessary to be a great stage performer to be an effective Prime Minister.

In an era when politics and politicians are playing to the theatrical demands of live television, Manmohan was claiming to strike a higher chord — beyond all the tamasha of the pulpit, there is sombre, head-down work to be done, and he’s better at doing it.

In a way, what he said was a repetition of Indira Gandhi’s Emergency-era ethic — baatein kam, kaam zyada (talk less, work more). Only, in his case, it comes without the gag of Emergency.

Some commentators do believe that what Manmohan did was to side-step issues on which he needs to offer answers.

“It’s a clever thing to say when you are trying to avoid getting into a debate with somebody.... What one needs to ask him is why the PM, normally not an assertive person, chooses to assert himself on only one thing — the Indo-US nuclear deal. Also one needs to understand that the extent to which he can assert himself also depends on how much or what powers he wields within the Congress party,” said Pratap Bhanu Mehta, columnist and president of the Centre for Policy Research, a Delhi-based think tank.

Historian Ramachandra Guha similarly dared the Prime Minister. “It’s only fair for him to say what he did. But the bigger question he should be answering is why isn’t he contesting the Lok Sabha polls? Contesting in the polls would have given him a more legitimate route to the PM’s chair. Let him speak on that instead of saying, ‘I am not a good speaker’,” Guha said.

Manmohan has cited health as the reason he’s not contesting and pointed to the Constitution which allows a Rajya Sabha member to become Prime Minister.

Sudha Pai, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Centre for Political Studies, thinks contrarily. She believes that with his candid confession about his drawback, the Prime Minister might have managed to win the hearts of some people in urban India.

“Manmohan Singh’s statement sounded like a man making an honest assessment of himself. The PM is actually capable of doing that. On the other hand, it also could be a political ploy to project himself on a high moral ground. Anyway, with the way Advani is going with his abrasive pitch for the top post and his unnecessary needling of the PM, the senior BJP leader surely hasn’t gained much ground with the masses. So, the PM needn’t do much to get back at him,” said Pai.

Pai also pointed out that “loud words” do not translate into votes, if earlier elections were to be seen as examples.

“The electorate is more mature than we think. In the last elections, the BJP was very aggressive and vocal, and the Congress as usual was subdued and defensive. But look who won. Some people might think what he said was a sign of weakness, but that actually depends on what people expect from him. Generally, I feel that he is perceived as an intellectual by the masses, so such a statement coming from him shouldn’t surprise them. With so much foul language dominating election speeches, the PM wants to show his clean and efficient image. I don’t know, though, if this will translate into votes,” she said.

Veteran journalist and political commentator Kuldip Nayar agrees with Pai.

“Contrary to him being perceived as weak, it will go down very well with the masses. I remember Lal Bahadur Shastri always saying that he was weak and his opponents stronger. His actions, not what he said, were applauded by the masses. I also believe that Manmohan Singh is an effective speaker, he makes his point and holds his own when he wants to. He isn’t as prolific as Advani, but he marks his time and reacts when he chooses to. His dignity will go down well with the masses,” said Nayar.