Chor Machaaye Shor

Today a combative Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hit out at the opposition, primarily BJP for calling him “Chor”. Accusing them of hurting investors' sentiment by repeatedly disrupting Parliament, he blamed several international factors majorly for the downfall of Indian economy.  The PM also hit back at the opposition over the missing coal allocation files, saying that he is not the custodian of these files.

Yes, you are absolutely correct Mr.Prime Minister, nowhere the PM is called “Chor” in Parliament. But it is also correct that nowhere in a democracy, the PM takes order from somebody else who has failed to ever distinguish herself or himself in any form of human activity but still enjoys unlimited power without any accountability. It is also correct that nowhere so many ministers of a Govt. are involved in corruptions & scams but still shamelessly hang on  to  power,  nowhere Govt. misuses investigating agencies for staying in power & uses them against opposition as retaliatory tactics to force them to toe Govt. line, nowhere inspite of a faltering economy Govt. spends tax payers money on vote luring schemes.

Mr. PM, "Chor" is a bad word but worse has been the conduct of your cabinet members and your silence, inaction, involvement & stay in power inspite of such humongous misgovernance. The moral high ground that you are taking today by trying to project the sanctity of parliamentary democracy, won't work as the government has lost its credibility completely. Forget convincing foreign investors, the Govt. doesn't have in it to make a way out of the domestic opposition. And now you want the opposition to be mute spectator or beneficiary to the numerous scams under you? Do you want opposition to show you new ways of plundering the nation, an act that your Congress party has patented for itself? The aggressive language used by the Opposition may not be desirable but you must remember that shifting responsibility & blame doesn't always work in the realm of public sphere. If you are really feeling humiliated today by terms like "Chor", then it is your own inability to deliver desired governance to this country which is responsible for such a situation. If you are feeling disturbed by the Parliament's deteriorating status today,  then you are solely responsible for not restoring its dignity by  tolerating the corrupt politicians in your Govt., party and coalition partners. And yet you demand respect for the Parliament and for yourself from the opposition? Your argument that you are not the custodian of coal files is strange, laughable & also shameful. As leader of the Govt. & Nation, you are culpable of evading accountability by offering such logic and yet seeking respectability.

If my memory serves me correctly, the reasons for disruption of parliament was that the opposition wanted a CBI enquiry for the CWG scam, on another occasion the opposition wanted JPC for the 2G scam, on yet another occasion the opposition wanted a fair enquiry into Coalgate and Railway Ministry scams.  Are any of these reasons unjustified? Parliament did not function is a fact but does that stop a Govt. from functioning if it has the will? When you were resolute about bringing food security bill, you almost brought it by the ordinance route. This proves that there is no stopping, if the Govt.  wants something to happen. But if you just want to wash your hands off,  then you can blame anyone and everyone for that except yourself.

Leadership demands policy and there is a paralysis on that front as corruption & vote bank have played a very critical role. This has resulted in losing the trust of global and national investors. Please don’t think that the people of India are all blind or fools. Why only opposition, former chairman of Tata Group Ratan Tata  has also said a few days back that the leadership deficit in India is aggravating our economic crisis. He also said that the country needed leaders who lead from the front and the Prime Minister's team and the political class needed to pull in one direction, and not pursue individual agendas above national interests. He said “we have lost the confidence of the world and our Govt. has been slow to recognize that”. Do you think he is also playing politics and just trying to blame you & your Govt. for no reasons? Please recognize that this is not only a testimony to the performance of your Govt. by India’s most respected industrialist, but also the feelings of common man. Your own RBI Governor Mr.Subba Rao has revealed and confirmed two days back what has long been known - complete failure of the economic and fiscal policy of the present govt. attributing to lower growth, increasing inflation, falling rupee and increased interest rates . This govt. has done everything possible to harm the country in the last 9 years and take the country back 20 years. India is a rudderless boat just floating around waiting to sink because of an indecisive and weak leader.

Mr. Prime Minister, in the last 9 years of your rule - every single instance of misgovernance or scam of your Govt. has been unearthed by either the CAG or the Media inspite of you having all the resources under your command. Even after giving you all the proof, you always tried to bury them by giving political colour or hiding behind parliamentary democracy.  Congress party has systematically abolished professionalism, competence and integrity by using every possible means to destroy every statutory body like CAG, CVC, CBI, RBI, Election Commission and even Supreme Court for staying on to power. It has misused parliamentary democracy by bringing laws and constitutional amendments to create a camouflaged totalitarian state run on sycophancy and corruption. To this armoury, Congress and it’s partners have added intimidation and strong arm tactics to bend any spine and curb any conscience that might persist in the bureaucracy of the nation, where “law” is a notional dream on rare occasions when it is not a nightmare selectively applied to achieve the sole discernible objective of “Governance”, whose single minded application is for using the national resources for  personal pomp, pleasure and pelf of the ruling elites.  Former CAG Mr Vinod Rai and the RBI Governor Dr. Subba Rao have created new history and shown to the world as to how the Public Institutions should be run and deliver the goods expected of them as per the laws of the land. They deserve gratitude of this nation for their boldness and conviction in the way they carried out their responsibilities keeping in mind the benefits that go to the majority of the people irrespective of the situation without yielding to cheap popularity and pressures from the Government if these institutions have to play their role effectively.  But you have treated them as your enemy and left no stone unturned to defame them.

Sorry, Mr Prime Minister, it doesn't happen that way. As a man who felt his honour has been left in the ruins, you should have either rein on your party and govt. for economic discipline, transparent & honest governance or left the office gracefully long back. But alas! you didn't do that and hence the consequences.  Your intention of today’s outburst is obvious to all- pass the buck to the Opposition for your Govt.’s unmitigated disaster in managing the economy. Instead of accusing the opposition, find faults in your own govt. and organization.