[Reader-list] Why we should not call Manmohan Singh as 'a man with integrity'

[Rakesh Iyer]

The subject says it all, I guess.

Link:http://www.indiatogether.org/2010/dec/opi-honest.htm

OPINION
* Honest is, as honest does *
 Integrity, in the job of the Prime Minister, demands putting national
interest above partisan politics and personal loyalties. By that standard
Manmohan Singh can't be called a "man of integirty", writes Madhu Purnima
Kishwar.

*14 December 2010* - Today, the Indian media - both print and television -
is focusing on the recent corruption scandals involving the UPA Government
with unusual zeal. However, I fail to understand why almost every
commentator, every TV anchor, every editorial writer feels compelled to pay
ritual obeisance to the "personal honesty and integrity" of Dr Manmohan
Singh while dealing with the scandals emanating from his Cabinet colleagues.
They do so even when there is clear evidence that the Prime Minister was
well aware of various shady deals, as in the case of telecom scam, and that
he did nothing to stop the brazen economic crimes indulged in by his
ministerial colleagues over the last six years.

Corruption is not only about personally accepting monetary bribes and
stacking them away in hidden bank accounts overseas, buying benami
properties or accepting diamond sets for your wife. Corruption can come in
insidious avatars, such as knowingly turning a blind eye to the misuse the
entire machinery of governance to serve private ends of a few individuals,
even to the point of endangering national security. For example, not a
single person has been punished thus far for supplying sub standard bullet
proof jackets to the police handling the 9/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai.
Not surprisingly, we are right now witnessing yet another scam involving sub
standard bullet proof vests.

In recent weeks, some of our most respected columnists have been warning us
that we should look at institutional reform rather than target individuals
because it can lead to loss of faith in democratic institutions. But how do
you retain faith in democratic institutions if powerful individuals use
their office to systematically subvert the autonomy and credibility of
institutions meant as watchdogs of democracy? The best of institutions take
no time in becoming slavish instruments of partisan agendas if you plant
subservient and heavily compromised individuals at their helm.

Dr Manmohan Singh cannot escape responsibility for appointing people with
dubious credentials to occupy key positions of power - starting with the
appointment of Pratibha Patil as the President of India. This despite the
fact that that Congress leaders of her own district protested vehemently
against her appointment because of her and her close kin's direct
involvement in criminal cases. Thereafter, all key institutions, including
the Election Commission, the Central Vigilance Commission have been filled
with people whose credentials have been questioned not just by the
opposition but also the media and respected public figures.

He has also provided key portfolios to people with a proven track record of
brazen corruption. For example, IAS officer, Mr Lalli the CEO of Prasar
Bharati that manages Doordarshan has been guilty of countless corrupt deals
and practices. Despite numerous agitations by the staff of Doordarshan to
get him punished, he continues lording over the institution because he is
supposed to have the PM's backing.

This regime has also gone out of its way to protect those judges of the High
Courts and Supreme Court who have such serious corruption charges against
them as to merit impeachment and criminal trials. Justice Dinakaran of the
Karnataka High Court was saved from the wrath of and boycott by the legal
fraternity of Karnataka by being transferred to Sikkim High Court despite
loud protests by people in Sikkim. Judges who are alleged to have shared in
the loot of Provident Fund of class 1V employees in UP have not been subject
to investigation, leave alone punishment. One of them retired after serving
a full term in the Supreme Court. The kingpin of the scam who later provided
evidence of the complicity of the judges died under mysterious circumstances
in jail.

Supreme Court Justice Sabharwal was likewise protected from prosecution even
though the allegations against him during UPA's first term were no less
serious than that of Kalmadi. He is alleged to have ordered demolition of
numerous commercial centres and complexes in Delhi in order to benefit his
son's investment in high end malls, causing havoc for lakhs of small and big
commercial property owners of Delhi.

The CWG scam is not just about misappropriation of funds through inflated
bills and money being paid to bogus companies. It all started with the
politician-contractor mafia being allowed to violate all environmental laws
to convert Yamuna floodplains into prime real estate by building luxury
apartments in the name of Games Village. This happened despite the High
Court ban on all construction activity on the floodplains.

It needed the influence of people far more powerful than Kalmadi to persuade
the Supreme Court into over ruling the considered view of the High Court and
ensuring that Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh looked the other way when
all environmental laws were being brazenly flouted right under his nose to
build high rise apartments and other commercial structures on the
floodplains. The game plan behind building luxury apartments on the
forbidden land became obvious from the fact that the builders had to be whip
lashed into completing at least half the apartments before the Commonwealth
Games. They were obviously given to understand that the CWG was merely a fig
leaf for converting floodplains into prime real estate in the heart of
Delhi.

The choice of the company that built the Games Village, the names of its
real owners, its unknown and known partners, and the list of its known and
unknown beneficiaries will reveal a scam more insidious than the Adarsh
Housing Scam of Mumbai which involved Congress Party CM and other
politicians, top ranking officials of the armed forces and bureaucrats
cornering luxury apartments in a prime location in a housing society set up
in the name of Kargil widows. In this case too, the only visible action
taken by the Prime Minister is to replace the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
No sign of any heads rolling as yet.

Or take the example of the most politically sensitive state of Kashmir.
Manmohan Singh allowed an anti-Omar agitation to turn into an anti India
agitation much against his own counsel, all because he dare not sack Omar
Abdullah from the CM's post even when the entire Valley rose in revolt
against his high handed, corrupt and callous regime. Senior Congress leaders
admit in private that Omar cannot be touched since he is a buddy of Rahul
Gandhi. Dr Singh knows well that Omar's continuation has given a new lease
of life to the Pakistan-inspired separatist and terrorist movement in
Kashmir.

People attribute his pliability to the fact that the prime minister was
appointed and not elected. He has never won a Lok Sabha election. But that
cannot be used as an excuse to justify overlooking such gross mismanagement
and loot as well as the political drift one witnesses even in areas
involving national security.

In fact, his defeat in the one and only election he ever fought is related
to his lack of personal integrity. He was defeated in the predominantly
middle-class South Delhi constituency because people in general and Sikhs in
particular were enraged when Manmohan Singh denied the role of the Congress
in the 1984 anti Sikh carnage and instead attributed the 1984 massacre to
the RSS. The RSS may well be guilty of many other communal riots but the
credit for the 1984 massacre goes entirely to Congress politicians,
including Rajiv Gandhi who even justified the killings saying: "when a big
tree falls, the earth is bound to shake." The Congress Party also ensured
that those who masterminded and executed the 1984 pogrom did not get
punished.

Similarly, in the case of Gujarat riots, the Prime Minister happily joined
the chorus initiated by his boss pillorying Narendra Modi as *"Maut ka
Saudagar"* even though it is well known that Congress party cadres merrily
joined the riotous mobs unleashed by BJP--RSS combine in Ahmadabad and
elsewhere. This failure to own responsibility for the conduct of his party
men and passing the entire responsibility on to Modi is in large part
responsible for the lack of credibility of Congress Party in Gujarat and the
severe erosion of its political base in Gujarat.

Likewise, getting a Rajya Sabha seat from Assam claiming he is a resident of
the state when he has never had any such connection with Assam is a definite
indicator of questionable political integrity.

A PM who compromises national interest, as in Kashmir, just to indulge the
personal fancy of the PM-in-waiting, a PM who looks the other way while his
Cabinet colleagues brazenly loot public funds and get away with extorting
thousands of crores by way of kickbacks, a PM who is widely perceived and
lampooned as a "rubber stamp" does not merit being called "an honest man" or
a "man of integrity"; in his job, integrity demands putting national
interest above partisan politics and personal loyalties. Integrity also
involves taking full responsibility for all his acts of commission and
omission which have earned UPA II the dubious distinction of being publicly
named as the most corrupt and rudderless government in post independence
India.
*⊕*

 *Madhu Purnima Kishwar*
<madhukishwar at csds.in,%20editors at indiatogether.org?subject=Feedback:%20Honest%20is,%20as%20does>
14 Dec 2010

 * Madhu Purnima Kishwar is Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing
Societies and the founder of Manushi - a human rights / women's rights
organisation. This article was first published in Manushi, and is
republished with permission. *