It was a vague remark, the kind that would usually be ignored and then forgotten. But when Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told visitors from McKinsey management consultancy last week that India's political climate made it 'difficult sometimes for us to do what is manifestly obvious', it was leapt upon by political analysts and the media as a kind of slogan for his tenure as prime minister.
As Mr Singh struggles through the worst crisis of his political career, the significance of his comment is unmistakable. Since August, the government's communist allies have threatened to derail a deal with the US which would allow India to import US nuclear fuel and reactors, despite having tested nuclear weapons but not having signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). On October 12, Mr Singh bowed to the pressure, indicating that he would rather ditch the agreement than risk a general election.
The nuclear pact was regarded as the most important act between the world's two biggest democracies since India's independence 60 years ago, laying the foundation for a new strategic alliance between them - and a major foreign-policy triumph for Mr Singh.
That triumph has now become an embarrassing failure. But Mr Singh's feelings of frustration will be familiar to him. Ever since he came to power in 2004, the prime minister has been hamstrung by his communist allies. Though they control only two of India's 28 states, they have the power to bring down the ruling coalition of which they are part, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). They have used that power to block important proposals to liberalise labour laws and foreign investment in retail trade.
As finance minister in the 1990s, Mr Singh was the architect of the economic liberalisation programme that has allowed India's economy to surge forward at 9 per cent annually. But as prime minister, he has achieved little of note.
The nuclear deal was going to change that; many believed that it would be Mr Singh's legacy. 'Undoubtedly, he would have been remembered for this for many years to come,' said Nidhi Narain, a security analyst for the Delhi Policy Group, a think-tank.