Manmohan Singh, who is hailed as the statesman of the world, appears to be a failure back home. A man known for his integrity and probity in public life, is facing one of the toughest crises as prime minister of India. Honestly, I don't doubt his calibre and integrity as PM, but personally I think that he should quit over the 2G spectrum scam. I believe that he is not personally benefited from this scam which is notoriously labelled as the 'mother of all scams and we have to give him a clean chit. But for years, he has remained silent over one of the biggest scams ever to take place in the country right under his nose. A Raja, as telecom minister, is reported to have cause around Rs. 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer by allotting the rare spectrum waves to a few players with doubtful credentials. In doing so, he is learned to have snubbed directions from the PMO, Finance Ministry and the Law Ministry.
Is Raja so powerful to take on the prime minister himself? Or, is DMK such an indispensable ally? Yes, numerically it is. Even a layman of the country knows that our prime minister succumbed to the pressure of his ally just for the survival of his government. Then, what we call this integrity of the prime minister becomes a farce. However, I know he alone cannot be blamed because as we know he is a 'yes' man to someone who is wielding a powerful control over him. Yes, something like an extra-constitutional authority. It is obvious who I am aiming at. Unfortunately, our prime minister is being made a scapegoat.
However, being the head of the government, he cannot blame anyone else? That is the problem with this extra-constitutional power points. They enjoy all powers, but seldom made accountable. Manmohan Singh is our prime minister and he should answer why he sat silent all these years fully knowing that someone in his Cabinet is corrupted. We need not care about those shadow power centres who are behind the PM and obviously pulling the strings of power.
Even the Supreme Court wondered why PM took almost fifteen months to respond to a petition filed by Subramanian Swamy seeking permission to prosecute the accused A Raja. His reply was not convincing. He is reported to have cited the CBI enquiry and CAG report to hinder a probe against the tainted minister. I remember him giving clean chit to this tainted minister a few months back. That was his offence. He backed a minister fully knowing that he is not acting as per rules. So, he cannot claim the benefit of doubt. Since it all happened right under his watchful eyes (we call it the PMO), he is responsible for his 'questionable' silence. It will be foolish to assume that he did not anything of this magnitude happening in his ministry. Then, where is this so called 'accountability of the minister to the prime minister'?
Should I say he needs to quit? Shouldn't he relinquish his post as PM taking the what we call the moral responsibility for helping a tainted minister of his Cabinet with his silence? It is for you to think.
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