New Delhi, May 20
Finding Ms Gursharan Kaur, the wife of the Prime Minister designate, Dr Manmohan Singh, in a crowd would be a difficult task. She is one amongst Punjabi women gathered for their daily chit-chat, attired in a simple salwar kameez.
No airs, no hang-ups whatsoever. She is out at the gate to welcome guests and provide them water to quench the thirst in the scorching heat.
It is hard to come to terms that she is the wife of the Prime Minister designate, who had been the former Finance Minister and a renowned economist.
Success has touched the feet of Dr Manmohan Singh, but the family has kept its feet firmly on the ground.
While economists wondered what would be the policy decisions of the new government, especially on the economic front, Ms Gursharan Kaur’s primary concern was, what one would expect from a middle-class woman, that will the prices of LPG rise.
“I hope the cooking gas price does not go up from Rs 242 that we are paying at present for each cylinder,” she said.
The Vajpayee government under pressure from the allies had kept the issue pending. If the subsidy is removed, then the LPG prices would shoot up to Rs 300, which would drastically affect the household budget of millions.
Like any family, they have their own tiffs but they make up by apologising to each other. “The person who is at fault says sorry,” Ms Gursharan Kaur, revealing the secret of her cordial family life, said.
Dr Manmohan Singh keeps his professional life and family life quite apart is amply clear from the fact that the news that was he being named as the Congress candidate for prime ministership was broken by the media and not by the man himself to his wife.
“We had never thought that he will become the Prime Minister of the country. We came to know of the news from the press only,” she confided.
The family celebrated the occasion by sharing ladoos with people, but for Dr Manmohan Singh it would be like taking up the any other important assignment.
“I have full confidence that he will do his best to solve all problems. Whatever he does, he will do a good job. I have full confidence,” she said.
Dr Manmohan Singh, who is expected to be sworn in on Saturday, is unlikely to stitch any special clothes like the traditional ‘sherwani’ for the big occasion.
“No special clothes have been stitched. He will wear his regular clothes as I think that he will feel very uncomfortable wearing anything like a sherwani,” she said, adding that he would wear his trademark grey pagri as it was his favourite colour.
Asked about the security blanket thrown around their residence since last night, Ms Gursharan Kaur, quite uncomfortable with the posse of security personnel around their home, said “this is necessary from the security point of view.”
The family is confident that Dr Manmohan Singh, despite the constraints of the high office, would devote time for them.
“He is a very balanced person, he would be able to combine the role of a Prime Minister and that of a father,” said Ms Upinder Kaur, his daughter.
Dr Manmohan Singh is exactly what he wants to country’s economy to be — adapt, but don’t lose your identity.
