Is she a backseat driver..??

People say Sonia Gandhi led NAC is the backseat driver for a lot of government policies.

Learn a new phrase everyday and continuously improve your spoken English. The phrase we discuss in this post is, “A backseat driver”.

Now, try to imagine how can someone be a backseat driver. It would be someone sitting on the backseat of a car and telling the driver how to drive. He is not actually doing the act of driving but is giving detailed instructions and controlling how the driver is driving. Thus, someone who himself may not be in the position of authority but dictates terms to the person in the authority would be called a backseat driver.

A classic phrase for a puppeteer or a king maker who directs how the guy on the throne runs the kingdom.

Let’s take some examples:

1. I don’t need a backseat driver for my life. Stop giving me your advice on every small thing.
2. Some people believe the real authority does not lie with the PM. There is a lot of buzz about backseat driving by alternative power centers. This has led to deficiency in governance and can cost the government dearly.
3. He is a very talented director who was contracted by a well established producer to direct their next ambitious movie. However, the established producer, instead of giving creative freedom to the director, decided to become a backseat driver. As a result, there was a lot of bad blood between the two, the project got delayed and the final product came out much deficient than envisaged earlier.
4. You cannot run an efficient organization with backseat driving by the MD’s son-in-law. I told him this much and resigned. I have been much stress free ever since.
5. I cannot take backseat driving on my projects. Tell me what you expect of me and penalize me if I dont deliver results. But please dont pester with me with your valuable insights at every juncture of the project.