By TRH Op-Ed Desk
As global uncertainty mounts, a geopolitics analyst draws sharp comparisons between India’s current economic leadership and the architect of 1991’s landmark reforms
New Delhi, May 25, 2026 — With the rupee breaching the ₹96-per-dollar mark, fuel prices climbing for the fourth time in days, and global bond yields flashing red, India appears to be standing at the edge of a significant economic crisis — and a growing number of citizens are looking back rather than forward, finding comfort in the memory of a leader long gone.
Manish Anand, geopolitics analyst and host of The Raisina Hills YouTube channel, issued a sharp and detailed warning about India’s deteriorating economic outlook, drawing pointed comparisons between the current government’s crisis management and the steady hand of former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
The Ghost of 2009
Anand opened his analysis with a telling anecdote from the 2009 general elections, set against the backdrop of the Lehman Brothers collapse and the global financial meltdown of 2008. During campaign coverage in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, he encountered a tyre shop owner whose reasoning cut straight to the point.
“He told me his vote would go to Congress, to Manmohan Singh — because there is a global economic crisis, India is passing through difficult times, and Manmohan Singh is an educated man who understands the economy,” Anand recalled. “He felt Singh had the wisdom to steer India safely through the storm.”
Congress went on to win an unexpectedly large number of seats from Uttar Pradesh in 2009, returning Singh to power for a second term.
History, It Seems, Was Kinder
At his final press conference as Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh famously said, “History will be more kind to me than the contemporary media.” Anand notes that this prediction is bearing out in real time.
“The way people are remembering Manmohan Singh on social media and other platforms today, it seems history has indeed been kinder,” said Anand, adding: “People are recalling the capacity and wisdom he brought to navigating India through economic crises — and making direct comparisons with the leadership we have now.”
Those comparisons are uncomfortable. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Anand observed, does not hold press conferences. “It is one-way traffic. He says what he wants to say, and the country hears that. The press cannot ask questions — there is no platform, no press conference. Nobody can ask: what have you done for energy security over the past several years?”
Energy Blind Spots and Strategic Failures
Central to Anand’s critique is India’s apparent lack of preparation on energy security, even as geopolitical warning signs were clearly visible.
“China — also an energy-dependent economy like India — aggressively stockpiled oil, gas, and coal over the past few years, precisely because the Israel-Iran conflict had already flared briefly last year,” Anand noted. “China faces no energy crisis today. India does.”
He pointed to a particularly jarring episode: an Iranian attack on an Indian oil tanker at the very moment Iran’s Foreign Minister was in Delhi for the BRICS summit, embracing External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. Strategic oil storage plans, Anand argued, remained approved on paper only — never executed.
“Only now, deep inside the crisis, has the government gone to the UAE and signed an agreement for a five-million-dollar storage investment prioritising India,” he said. “Why wasn’t this done before? What were we doing all this time?”
The Economic Cascade
The warning signs Anand outlines form a troubling chain. US bond yields at 4.6% — flagged by Kotak Mahindra Bank founder Uday Kotak as a serious danger signal — risk triggering a foreign institutional investor sell-off, pulling dollars back to America, weakening the rupee further, inflating India’s import bill, and ultimately driving up prices across the board.
“Diesel prices rise, food prices rise automatically. The surplus in people’s pockets shrinks. Consumption falls. GDP growth suffers,” Anand explained. Adding to the anxiety, net FDI flows have reportedly turned negative — meaning more Indian capital is flowing out than foreign capital flowing in.
“Are our own industrialists losing faith in India’s future?” he asked pointedly.
A Nation at the Crossroads
Anand’s closing argument returns to the legacy of 1991, when Manmohan Singh — then Finance Minister — threw open India’s closed economic doors through a landmark budget that powered nearly two decades of private sector expansion and job creation.
“That experience now seems to be retreating into the pages of history,” Anand said soberly. “Today, we are reminded that having people with genuine economic wisdom inside government is not optional — it is essential. The Planning Commission is gone. NITI Aayog’s commitment appears greater to optics than economics. And questions over the Finance Minister’s economic management were already being raised before this crisis arrived.”
India, he concluded, is standing at the mouth of a serious economic storm. How it navigates out will define the years ahead.
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