By Dr. O. P. Sudrania | When should a moral responsibility be fixed?
“The audit report does not directly indict the Prime Minister or his office. But during the time these mining blocks in question were allotted, the coal portfolio was held by him — between July 2004 and May 2009.” A Media spin…dated 21 August 2012
I recall, in August 1999 following the Gaisal Train accident, Mr. Nitish Kumar resigned from his job as Railway Minister owning his moral responsibility. He rejoined as Railway Minister from 2001 to 2004. He had observed, “…I told the prime minister I am resigning and the allegations against me should be probed. I am facilitating the inquiry by my resignation.” This was a case of owning a moral responsibility to safeguard his ethical standing; no doubt he stands vindicated till date for his stance in the eyes of his people leading to his current good standing in the contemporary murky political scenario.
With the backdrop of this simple paradigm, let us proceed to examine another dissimilar case, of involving our esteemed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He also held the Coal ministry portfolio from 2004 to 2009, when these mind boggling bunglings in the coal distribution and allocation of licenses took the root.
Should Manmohan Singh owe a moral responsibility to his people on whose tax money he enjoys all the reputation as well as the material benefits as a Prime Minister? The money spent on his upkeep is beyond imagination. The accommodation where these clandestine leaders are housed today in New Delhi is a priceless site, which they pay a negligible rent for. It is a shame to see that a democracy is being molested and raped due to utter lack of safeguards against such ill and inapt misdeeds of the person holding a responsible top job.
India must be an exceptionally amazing nation, where everything is a saleable commodity including its highest hierarchical authority. As I write this indignant remark, I feel bad as I indirectly or directly, indict myself as well in this quagmire. However I cannot be dishonest to myself while coming down heavily on others. It certainly is a shameful state of affairs, when a Prime Minister of a country is directly involved into scams after scams, vicariously or directly, yet he remains steadfast in clinging to the ‘shamed job’ he undertook to protect and uphold the dignity of the people to the best or least of his ability.
What happens if he fails to do so?
In August 2012, India saw for the second time, after Loknayak Sri Jayprakash in 1970s, a true uprising unexpectedly as its front face – Anna Hazare alongwith his powerful coteries raised a slogan and rightly so, “It is the second fight for independence…” 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6…
They asked satirically:
“We have just one question. Prime Minister, please tell us, where should we go to register an FIR on the basis of these reports. All the agencies are under the PM’s control and that is why we keep demanding a strong Lokpal,” Kejriwal said.
Bhushan said they decided to fight corruption on a political front after it became clear that those in the political arena were not interested in addressing the issue at all.”
UPA II is studded with a huge necklace of diamonds, sapphires and precious rubies earned trough their ill-gotten money from the taxpayers; shamelessly addressed as fiscal scandalous scams – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7… As Arun Jaitley rightly observes, ““In the 2G scam, the PM was politically and vicariously liable,” Jaitley told reporters. “In this case, for a substantial period from 2004 to 2009, he was himself the minister. Thus, he is politically, morally and directly liable. If he is directly liable, he has to introspect that he should own up responsibility and impose on himself the moral sanction of quitting his office.””
Sushma Swaraj adds further, “Coming heavy on the UPA-led government, Swaraj said: “A new chapter has been added to the UPA graft story. This is the biggest (scam).””
All this was going on last August 2012, soon after the revelations made by Kejriwal during their agitation in Delhi 2012. It was soon followed by the opposition leaders including the BJP and others.
On Thursday, 22 March 2012, Dr. S. Swamy, President of Janta Party had remarked:
“Taking on the UPA Government over a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on coal block allocation that reported a loss of Rs 10.67 lakh crores (this initial figure was later on revised and estimated to be 1.86 Lacs Crores – Author), … a few more scandals are yet to come out, and added that the total loss to the nation would be more than the GDP of the country.
Swamy, who is the chief petitioner in the 2G spectrum scam, took potshots at the UPA Government for looting the country.
“There are few more scandals which are yet to come out and the total loss to nation would be more than the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the country and it will be roughly about 10 times the foreign exchange reserves that we have,” he said.”
Meanwhile, Janata Dal-United (JD-U) chief Sharad Yadav held the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, former Coal Minister Shibu Soren and the present Coal Minister, Sriprakash Jaiswal, responsible for the scam.
“This is very dangerous. Three people, the Prime Minister, then Shibu Soren and then Sriprakash Jaiswal ran the Coal Ministry during this period. The information I have received over the last few days is that the actual amount is even more than what the CAG has estimated. I will not spare anyone and nail the culprits,” he said.
This is unfortunate that the Prime Minister being directly involved in a scam and still evades his moral, political and social responsibility apart from its legal implications, which could be certainly disastrous, both for him as well as to the credibility of nation as a whole in international perspective. Mr. Manmohan Singh cannot sit idly on these far fetching fiscal scams in silence. He must either resign or come out of them clean. He cannot afford to beat his own bush of Mr. Clean image under such sizzling reports directly leading at his own doorsteps.
Manmohan Singh has never been out of the glare for his suspected role in misappropriation of monetary allocations under his supervision as a vicarious responsibility and liability.
Mr Yashwant Sinha of BJP again raised an issue to call Prime Minister to interrogate him before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) meeting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 to clear his name. The 2G case is being heard and monitored in the Supreme Court.
The coal scam involving Manmohan Singh directly resurfaced today following a report in the Indian Express of the alleged government interference in CBI investigations and the BJP demanding an SIT probe into it.
The Indian Express report had it that the Law Minister Ashwani Kumar summoned CBI Chief and the report was changed and toned down after the meeting. The party has firmly rejected the charge and also ruled out the resignation of the Law Minister.
“There is no question of resignation of Law Minister Ashwani Kumar. Supreme Court has already asked CBI to file an affidavit in this regard. CBI will file its affidavit and truth will come out,” party spokesperson Rashid Alvi said.
Since this report, the Indian press and media have gone wild and berserk. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16….Contd
Shall the largest written Constitution of a largest democratic Country of the world will also wake up to create a smallest safeguard against its crafty manipulative leaders; who lynch its trustworthy voters – who are still very ignorant of the very philosophy of its written pages, while being hounded by the utter lack of basic infrastructure amenities even in the ghettos of the urban dwellings?
Who can or will….???
Nobody else but yourself…
Wake up the Youth of India.
Your nation is calling you…
For the Freedom you never got in 1947…
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