Author: N.V.Subramanian.
Publication: Newsinsight.net
Date: April 22, 2011
URL: http://www.newsinsight.net/archivedebates/nat2.asp?recno=2133
Manmohan Singh must choose between saving
India or protecting the corrupt Congress and UPA, says N.V.Subramanian.
If Manmohan Singh keeps his word of making
India corruption-free, he will save the country and be glorified in history
textbooks. But he will also certainly destroy the Congress party, the fountainhead
of venality and corruption today.
So will the PM do as he promised to in a speech
to officials recently? Equally important, will the Congress leadership permit
him to, and not pull the plug on him beforehand?
That Manmohan Singh inspires no confidence
as prime minister is an understatement. With his education, his administrative
experience, his personal honesty, and his humility, he could have changed
the face of India in his nearly seven years of prime-ministership. But India
is worse off than when A.B.Vajpayee bequeathed it to him, if you remove the
growth factor, which has solely been driven by the genius of Indian entrepreneurs
and by domestic consumption. Manmohan Singh's worst contribution has been
to permit the complete disempowerment and belittlement of the prime minister's
office.
Manmohan Singh perhaps is India's weakest
prime minister. He has no say in domestic policy/ political issues. He cannot
choose his cabinet ministers or fire them. He has been blind to the wholesale
loot of the country by the Congress/ UPA leadership. In other words, whatever
Manmohan Singh may say about cleaning up India, you need not believe him.
Manmohan Singh was also the staunchest opponent
of Anna Hazare's demand for a Jan Lok Pal bill jointly drafted by society
representatives and the government. It is not that Manmohan Singh fears the
sword of a Lok Ayukta hanging over his head. It is typical of executive arrogance
and conservatism to resist questioning of its activities.
The PM did not give in to Anna Hazare despite
Pranab Mukherjee arguing that it would impact the Congress in the state elections.
Only when the Intelligence Bureau brought in figures of the virus-like spread
of the Anna movement through metropolises and big and small towns did the
PM relent. And then, Manmohan Singh kept deafeningly silent after the Congress
party started the slander campaign against the civil-society drafters of the
Lok Pal bill. He did not speak out till a cornered Sonia Gandhi replied to
Anna Hazare's letter distancing the Congress from the mudslinging.
When the calumny did not immediately stop,
Manmohan Singh gave grave warnings of the country's rapidly growing intolerance
of corruption. And now he hopes to have the Lok Pal bill introduced in the
next Parliament session. Is he serious?
He better be. In the early nineties, Manmohan
Singh won credit for opening the economy. By rights, P.V.Narasimha Rao deserved
both the bouquets for it and the brickbats when he choked Manmohan Singh after
the defeat in Andhra Pradesh.
Similarly, the PM would like to be remembered
for the Indo-US nuclear deal. But quite apart from the diminishing returns
of the deal, it was a US initiative tailored for American strategic gains
in a foreseeable future of decline. Plus, in all conscience, Manmohan Singh
cannot forgive himself for the corrupt July 2008 confidence vote that won
parliamentary passage for the nuclear deal.
On the other hand, a no-holds-barred anti-corruption
campaign by Manmohan Singh will be wholly credited to him. Certainly, Anna
Hazare would not take amiss if the accolades go to the PM. And Manmohan Singh
doubtless would enter history books as the man who won India its veritable
second independence.
But does he have the courage and the will
for it? The fact is that Manmohan Singh has to go for broke. He will have
no more prime-ministerial term to redeem himself and to leave a proud historical
legacy.
His first term was a waste and he is nearing
the end of the second year of his second term with nothing to show except
a runaway venal and corrupt government. He heads that government should he
ever forget. The iron rule of politics is that the first half of a term is
spent administrating and governing. The second half flashes away as the first
is defended and oversold at the next election.
Manmohan Singh has nothing to sell at the
2014 polls, even though he will not be the PM candidate. So this is Manmohan
Singh's last chance to win back the respect of ordinary Indians like you and
me. But he knows the opposition he will face from within his own party and
the rest of the political class to making India corruption-free.
Digvijay Singh & Co. have just given glimpses
of what they are capable of, backed by a servile press. If the PM goes after
the corrupt as he has promised, the forces of status quo and evil will turn
against him. Expect the worst from them. And the PM must know that if his
vow to fight corruption is taken to the final end, the Congress party will
be destroyed.
On corruption, it has now reduced to saving
India or the Congress party. Prime minister Manmohan Singh has to make the
choice now.
N.V.Subramanian is Editor, www.NewsInsight.net,
and writes internationally on strategic affairs. He has authored two novels,
University of Love (Writers Workshop, Calcutta) and Courtesan of Storms (Har-Anand,
Delhi). Email: envysub@gmail.com.
