Maya’s Big Cheese

It is easy to see why Maya has reposed faith in this self-styled revisionist and reformer. Though it took her fourth term as CM to appoint Singh as the Big Boss, Maya had made up her mind in her previous reign as CM in 2002-3. Their style of functioning is similar—authoritarian, disciplinary, forbidding. Stories about his administrative style abound—he never takes no for an answer, gush his loyal officers, he is a hands-on and on-site officer, and is fanatically strict about keeping deadlines. Negligent officers are suspended and transferred on the spot, “officials DMs and SSPs have driven trucks and jumped onto bullock carts to keep deadlines”.

If Maya’s iron-fisted rule is welcomed by the people of the state, Singh’s jackboot leadership is a benediction and a curse for his administration. In a state where bureaucracy annually holds a secret election for the most corrupt official, Singh has not been muddied by any scam despite being in office for more than 25 years, as his biography circulated among officials flatteringly states.

The bio-pic that emerges is impressive—building airports and airstrips in small towns like Gochar (for quick connectivity to the Badrinath-Kedarnath-Gangotri pilgrim centres) and Pithoragarh, helipads for adventure sports like skiing in Auli, building eight-lane expressways and bridges (his flagship being the contentious Taj Expressway, and in Noida and Greater Noida), promoting alternative energy (promoting windmills in hill areas). Popularly called a no-nonsense officer, Singh’s fastidiousness for integrity was even acknowledged by Maya’s fiercest rival, deposed CM Mulayam Singh Yadav.

It was the SP chieftan who first made Singh his principal secretary in 1990 and such was the mutual respect that Yadav rarely turned down a request from one of his favourite officers. As an official recalls, it was a compliant Yadav who was hijacked from his aircraft (as Union Defence Minister) and was taken to confabulate with then Culture Minister Jaipal Reddy, to give permission to Greek virtuoso Yaani, to perform at the Taj Mahal, a pet project of Singh. But it was not soon before Singh was sidelined and was shunted to Civil Aviation in Yadav’s last tenure, on the “express orders of Amar Singh” say his sympathisers.

That Singh was already confabulating with Mayawati even before her stunning victory a fortnight ago, is apparent with the ease the new administration whirred into place. The CM’s secretariat or the Fifth Floor as it is popularly called, was instantly set up, and the state machinery juggled and put in order. His favourites also made it to the top—from Shailesh Mishra to Anup Mishra, a UP IAS cadre officer, now on deputation in Washington, USA.

As the bureaucrat himself says, “The task did not end with the victory, it has only begun. With the mandate that the people have given this government, the CM has to produce results and fast. That is the missive the CM has given to the administration.”

So, how did this non-civil servant survive in a state where the IAS-IPSwallahs control the bureaucracy with an iron grip? “It’s because there is no vigilance enquiry (a badge of brotherhood among most officials) or complaint against him,” says an officer in typical babu language. “Perhaps he loves power more than money.”

Ask Singh what endears him to his bosses, and he shoots back, “Because I have been in office for a long time.”