Who Is Sanjaya Baru, The Man Akshaye Khanna Is Playing In The Accidental Prime Minister? Find Out!

No points for guessing that The Accidental Prime Minister, with its myriad of controversies, is clearly one of the most talked about films right now. Starring Anupam Kher, Akshaye Khanna, Aahana Kumra and Arjun Mathur in pivotal roles, the film is based on the book by the same name written by Sanjay Baru.

His character in the film is being played by Akshaye Khanna, but apart from the fact that he is a political commentator and the author of the book, not many people know a lot about the man.

Sanjay Baru is the son of B.P.R, Vithal who was the Finance and Planning Secretary during Manmohan Singh’s tenure as the Finance Minister of India under P.V. Narasimha Rao’s government.

Baru himself started his career as in media and rose up to be the associate editor of Economic Times and the chief editor of Business Standard. From there he finally chose the career path of his dad.

Baru came into the limelight when he became the chief spokesperson and media advisor for ex-Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. He held the position during his first term as the Prime Minister from May 2004 to August 2008. He has also served as the secretary general of FICCI from September 2017 to April 2018.

Sanjay Baru garnered further headlines when he published his book titled ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’ in 2014 where he stated that Dr. Singh was hardly in control of his cabinet and was totally subservient to Congress Party and party chief Sonia Gandhi. 

Due to the explosive nature of his statements and the fact that he has worked so closely with the ex-Prime Minister, the book attracted a lot of controversies. Also, the book was released at the time when the heat of the 2014 elections was at its peak and opposition posed many questions to the leader based on the claims made by the book. However, Dr. Singh himself called the book a piece of ‘fiction’ and not the real story. The official statement released by the PMO stated, “It is an attempt to misuse a privileged position and access to high office to gain credibility and to apparently exploit it for commercial gain. The commentary smacks of fiction and colored views of a former adviser.”

Baru has always maintained that the book never showed the ex-PM in a negative light. He wrote, “most of the book is positive [about the PM]" and that he wrote it mainly because Singh "has become an object of ridicule, not admiration. I am showing him as a human being, I want there to be empathy for him.” He also went on to claim that he has written only fifty percent of what he knows.