I am not a big follower of
politics. I, however, happened to watch
the entire press conference yesterday (03/01/2014) and it left me with a disgusting
impression. When Dr. Singh was long ago introduced to the parliament, for a moment I thought that we are going to be
blessed with a statesman amid tainted politicians, but yesterday I noticed to see the body
language of an apologetic guilty-Singh.
It was childishly ridiculous that
Dr. Singh gave a clean chit to himself during his tenure for nearly a
decade. During his interaction with the
media, he mentioned that history would be kinder to him than the media and the
opposition parties. He floated the flippant
theory that most scandals of UPA-2 occurred during UPA-1. It is unfortunate that he sought to take
refuge that people endorsed Congress to power in 2009, desperately attempting
to ratify the wrong-doings of UPA-1. It
was also sickening to listen to him when he bid to distinguish between his
personal conduct and the performance of the government.
His utterances lacked even
political logic. Dr. Singh accused Mr.
Modi of “presiding over the massacre of
2002 riots” in Ahmedabad. That the Supreme
Court has already cleared Mr. Modi of all the charges is public knowledge, Dr.
Singh’s allegation against Mr. Modi amounts to reviewing the Court ruling. Can somebody clarify that under the recently
enacted Lok Pal Bill, can a contempt petition be filed against a sitting Prime
Minister? As a PM , Dr. Singh could
have, nay, should have initiated appropriate action against Mr. Modi. Yet again he exposed his inability in saving
the situation. In the same breath, did
not Congress party instigate the anti-Sikh riots in the aftermath of Mrs.
Indira Gandhi’s assassination? Applying
Dr. Singh’s formula, are we to believe that Mr. Rajiv Gandhi was a “disaster” for
presiding over the 1984-riots?
For once, I was able to observe a
decisive politician in Dr. Singh. The
more he smacks of Mr. Modi, make no mistake, the more stronger the latter will
be. Hate speech against Mr. Modi only
diminishes Dr. Singh’s stature. Or is it
that Dr. Singh is subtly playing the self-side goal as a settling score to the
ignominy he suffered all these years in
the hands of the Gandhi family? After all, when it comes to politics, there is
no permanent friends or foes! On a
serious note, it felt like a contrite looser talking to media, not like a PM of
India.
The best joke comes when he says
that Mr. Rahul Gandhi has outstanding credentials to become the PM, showing how
low sycophancy can take you down.
Hopes were aplenty with the
people, because as a former bureaucrat before joining the government, Dr.Singh
knew all kinds of inefficiencies existing in the bureaucratic system. Alas, he failed to apply his knowledge for
the improvement of the economy. Or is it
because he had to work under remote control?
In the whole of media comments and analysis, I found one thing common –
corruption and inflation, huge issues we are facing today.
Pause for a moment. Recall the series of scams – Common Wealth
Games (CWG), Adarsh Housing scams, 2G scam, Coalgate
– to name a few. If you can restore the
swindled amount, the Finance Minister will be presenting “Surplus” budgets,
year after year; and I don’t have to pay Rs.100/-for a kg. of onions.
Or does he want to come to the
open and say that the black money or hoards of it, all these, are due to “coalition
partnership”? Well, if you want to
enjoy power, you should as well take ownership, Dr. Singh. Or does he want to say that these are
entirely the misdeeds of the Congress alone and the “beneficiaries” have taken monstrously unfair leverage of the
meekest PM we have ever had? Or does he
want to say the Congress had used the most qualified PM, as a shield and made
him the obvious scapegoat who will be blamed for the Congress’ failures and the
party will emerge out of this whole shoddy affairs as an unintended victim of
a bad prime-ministership and in the same
stroke Mr. Rahul Gandhi will emerge as the savior? Or at least, does he think that he could have
done a better job as a Finance Minister than a thankless Prime Minister?
The reality is that after 10
years to Dr. Singh and 60 years to Congress, we are flooded with scams and
rapes and inflation. The people are
visibly angry and disappointed. Public
opinion is severely against the Prime Minister and the Congress
government. India is potentially a rich
country, but its fortunes are stolen by a few and stacked offshore. Dr. Singh has grossly failed to communicate
effectively what his government was, is and intended to do to curb corruption
at high levels. The anger and anguish of
the people shoots because Dr. Singh is most educated and a seasoned economist. He is relating the inflation to international
economic changes. Is the price rise
happening in all countries?
But as a top leader Dr. Singh should know not
the price increase, but the rampant corruption that led his party down in the
recent assembly elections. He can
explain the price rise and always say it was beyond his control, but it would
have been qualified statesmanship if he had taken cognizance that corruption was the chief
factor for the crisis. Never in free
India’s history has food inflation touched the dreaded double-digit. All the hopes aspired by the people of this
country are belied, thanks to the spinelessness displayed by the
technocrat-turned-politician. Sadly, he
was unable to rule or control. The
people of India should be very careful in exercising their franchise. Even if they poll for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)
in the coming Lok Sabha elections, it tantamounts to allowing the same corrupt
Congress through the back door.
Yet with all the failures, Dr.
Singh still claimed that he was not a “weak leader”. He has dented his goodwill. His arguments were totally indefensible. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has paved
the way for Mr. Rahul Gandhi and Mr. Narendra Modi, leaving the government with
a legacy of guilt and shame.After all, there is a huge gap between a good man and a good
Prime Minister.
Let historians script their documentation.
Can we simultaneously expect the PM-in-
office-not-in power, Dr. Singh relax and pen a memoir annexed to his
conscience?
Jai Hind!
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