Political Diary

New Delhi, 11 May 2013

Rail-Coal Tar PM

TOO LITTLE TO LATE

By Poonam I Kaushish

Too little to late. This sums up the ‘forced’ sacking of Union Railway and Law Ministers by a reluctant Prime Minister of “his men”. That too only after sleazy details of graft tumbled out and a sharp rap from the Supreme Court that a livid Congress President stepped in and asserted enough is enough. Leaving Manmohan Singh with no option but to comply. In the process while Sonia Gandhi came out smelling of roses, the Prime Minister invited ridicule of being dubbed the Emperor who wore no clothes ---- unfit for his office or unpardonably incompetent! 

Undeniably, both in Coalgate and Railgate not only has the Government's image been severely battered in a storm of its own making, worse, Manmohan Singh’s pristine clean image of honesty and credibility has been damaged beyond repair. Notwithstanding, his  personal integrity he is perceived as heading a most corrupt Government riddled with scams, indulgent of Ministerial colleagues and choosing to look away knowing that they have their hand in the till.

Unlike, the case of DMK’s Raja and Dayanidhi Maran wherein Manmohan Singh extracted himself from being sullied by helplessly asserting, “the price of coalition politics”, in Rail Minister Pawan Bansal and Law’s Ashwani Kumar’s cases, for reasons best known to him, he refused to see the former’s culpability and latter’s impropriety, continuing to delude himself that his hand-picked Ministers had done no wrong. Thereby, exposing himself to scorn and unease of his colleagues and Party with many questioning his capability.

Importantly, the Bansal-Kumar story also underscores the widening gap between the Party and Government.  To set the record straight, it is true that both Sonia and Manmohan Singh were conned into believing that the duo had done no wrong and decided to brazen it out in Parliament.

While Kumar took recourse to stating that as Law Minister it was within the ambit of his powers to vet the CBI status report in the probe into coal block allocation scandal and he had mode no ‘substantive changes”, Bansal hid behind the smoke screen that he was unaware of nephew Vijay Singla’s Rs 90 lakh booty in the Rs 10 crore cash-for-job scam from a Railway Board member for a promise of promotion.

Till, media reports nailed Bansal’s lie documenting his family’s various acts of commission and omission. Besides, the 500-odd hours which directly linked Singla with his personal Ministerial staff in the Mahesh Kumar scandal, eight other jobs were sold at a premium. More. Embarrassing details tumbled out of how the family wealth rose from Rs zero to over Rs 152 crore within five years, in direct proportion to Bansal’s rise in Government.

First he appointed his chartered accountant as Canara Bank Director who gave Rs 57 crores loans to his wife, sons and nephews companies including Singla when he was Minister of State of Finance. In yet another revelation, over 21 acres of land in Zirakpur was allotted on a preferential basis to Bansal’s family members. While the land was to be leased for 33 years at the rate of just Rs 30,000 per year per acre, document shows the lease period to be 99 years!

Paradoxically, Ashwini Kumar crime was not financial, after all, was it not his job to vet Coalgate investigations that impinged on his boss, the Prime Minister in a series of dodgy coal mine allocations during 2006-09 when Manmohan Singh held the coal portfolio. But the UPA has only itself to blame for earning the wrath of the Supreme Court by waiting over a week to rid itself of its Law Minister. True, the Law Minister can go blue in the face, but the fact is he committed moral turpitude.

The only rainbow in this sordid saga is that the Apex Court has clearly spelt out that it would no longer tolerate a CBI being “a caged parrot speaking in its Masters voice. Its’ a sordid saga of many masters and one parrot. The whole direction of the probe (Coalgate) ... the heart of the report was changed on suggestions of Government officials. The two gentlemen from the coal ministry and PMO had no business to visit CBI office to peruse the report. This has proved once and for all that the CBI is nothing more than one more instrument that the government uses and misuses at will.”

Coming down harshly, it added, “Is the job of the CBI to interact or interrogate? Why did CBI agree to the amendments No one should interfere with CBI probe. In fact nobody should even show interest in CBI's investigations... The CBI must know how to stand up against all pulls and pressures by Government and its officials. We gave CBI a structure of stone (in the Vineet Narain case) but 15 years later it seems CBI is all sand…” It has given till 10 July for the Government to insulate CBI from external interference.

The writing is on the wall. Undoubtedly, genuine CBI autonomy could make all Parties vulnerable. But the time has come to make the investigation body a top-class outfit. Our leaders have to desist from subjecting the CBI to bureaucratic prescriptions of effecting economy in administration. India needs a sleek CBI that acts without favours and prejudice.

Besides, the biggest collateral harm is to Parliament. If only the Government had acted earlier both Houses would have functioned instead of the second-half of the Budget session being a complete wash-out. Indeed, the Treasury Benches and Opposition are equally to blame. Our Right Honourables’ forget they represent the aam janata.  While it the Government duty to make laws for the peoples well-being, the onus is on the Opposition to demand accountability of the Treasury Benches. 

Sadly, both have become a law onto themselves and behave as if only the parochial interests of the Party they represent matters. Forgetting, that by perpetually disrupting India’s high temple of democracy they are collectively abdicating their duty to their electorate, a crime to say the least.

Clearly, the time has come for Sonia and Manmohan Singh to rebuild the Government on probity and stop the drift. Remember, in a democracy, public office is more about perception of integrity, honesty and trust. One has to appear clean besides being clean. Bansal’s is a classic case. He was always perceived as ‘clean’ so much so that Sonia and the Party believed that he had nothing to do with Railgate till the tell-all phone records.

Clearly, Bansal did a greet disservice to Sonia and his Party by lying about his involvement in Railgate. Alas, gone are the days of former Rail Minister Shastri who resigned after a train accident taking moral responsibility, ditto the case with late. Madhavrao Scindia who resigned over an air crash in 1992 and Finance Minister Chidambaram, who quit over the securities scam in 1992.

Indeed, it is unfortunate that under Manmohan Singh, the UPA-II and Congress forgot its own principles and let opportunism set in. The Prime Minister doesn’t tire of averring that Caesars wife must be above suspicion. The buck stops at your doorstep, Mr Prime Minister. Now, please walk extra mile! ----- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)