01-15-2006, 02:55 AM
The last statement is exactly my thought (not the honourable part). That Manmohan Singh is utterly shameless. I think in his zeal to prove himself as some sort of political player he is overlooking dangerous signs in which he is overridden by his ministers time and again who obviously are pleasing the right authority in Sonia Gandhi. Manmohan Singh callously disregards valid opposition demands thinking it is all politically motivated while being naively oblivious to his own irrelevance.
It's a shame PM is clueless
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->It's a shame PM is clueless
Swapan Dasgupta
Some two decades ago, while setting a question paper for undergraduates, a crusty Oxford don drew me aside and offered a piece of advice. The purpose of an examination, he remarked, is to find out what students know, not what they don't know.  Â
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is well past the stage of writing examinations. Yet, if his performance as the head of the executive is to be assessed, it is likely to pose a few problems for the examiners. For the past three months or so, the country has been treated to a dhobi list of subjects about which the Prime Minister knows nothing. First, there was the Volcker Report and the oil-for-food scandal about which he knew nothing and yet issued a certificate of innocence to the now-disgraced K Natwar Singh.
Then there was the salacious phone-tapping of Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and, presumably, other Opposition leaders, about which he was said to be completely in the dark. And now, we have the curious case of the Prime Minister who was carefully insulated from dramatic developments involving the Bofors case - arguably the most important political corruption case since Independence.
The mystery of what Manmohan Singh does know has deepened in the past week. The facts, as divulged by proverbial "sources" are startling. The Crown Prosecution Service of Britain writes a routine letter asking the Indian Law Ministry whether it wants the freeze on the London bank accounts of Italian businessman Ottavia Quattrocchi, a prime accused in the Bofors bribery case, to be maintained. The matter should routinely have been left to the CBI which deals with these matters. Instead, Law Minister H R Bharadwaj gets into the act, overrules the CBI and sends a law officer to London to tell the CPS that Quattrocchi can have his money back.
The matter is simultaneously taken to the Department of Personnel, which is under the Prime Minister. However, instead of referring the matter to the Prime Minister, Minister of State Suresh Pachauri and Bharadwaj together decide that there is no "evidence" against Quattrocchi and he must be allowed to have access to his millions. Worse, the Prime Minister apparently learns of this important political decision while surfing TV channels.
To be fair, the reconstruction of events is based entirely on "sources". So far, neither the Prime Minister nor his official spokesman has responded to Arun Jaitley's advice that "if he was unaware, then it is for him to introspect what kind of Government he is heading."
The Prime Minister's silence is revealing. That two important Ministers of the Government believe that it is unimportant to keep the Prime Minister in the loop suggests either of two things. First, that they don't believe his opinion counts one way or the other. Second, that when it comes to a sensitive subject like an Italian fugitive from Indian justice, it is the desire of the "friends" of Quattrocchi that must entertained, even if it involves short-circuiting every rule in the book.
The identity of the all-powerful friends of Quattrocchi is not exactly a secret, although it is being disingenuously suggested that even they were unaware of what Bharadwaj and Pachauri were up to.
The delight of an extra-Constitutional authority is that it cannot be pinned down. There are no tell-tale notings in the files that can be unearthed through the Freedom of Information Act. Nor does anyone have the gumption to say that they did what did in the belief that it would please the invisible hand that controls the government.
The Government of Britain works on the quaint principle that the Queen can do no wrong. In India, there is no formal monarchy but here, too, the Queen can do no wrong. To uphold the principle, even the Prime Minister has to end up openly proclaiming that he is a cipher whose writ doesn't run in his own office. Even honourable men should not be devoid of shame. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It's a shame PM is clueless
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->It's a shame PM is clueless
Swapan Dasgupta
Some two decades ago, while setting a question paper for undergraduates, a crusty Oxford don drew me aside and offered a piece of advice. The purpose of an examination, he remarked, is to find out what students know, not what they don't know.  Â
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is well past the stage of writing examinations. Yet, if his performance as the head of the executive is to be assessed, it is likely to pose a few problems for the examiners. For the past three months or so, the country has been treated to a dhobi list of subjects about which the Prime Minister knows nothing. First, there was the Volcker Report and the oil-for-food scandal about which he knew nothing and yet issued a certificate of innocence to the now-disgraced K Natwar Singh.
Then there was the salacious phone-tapping of Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and, presumably, other Opposition leaders, about which he was said to be completely in the dark. And now, we have the curious case of the Prime Minister who was carefully insulated from dramatic developments involving the Bofors case - arguably the most important political corruption case since Independence.
The mystery of what Manmohan Singh does know has deepened in the past week. The facts, as divulged by proverbial "sources" are startling. The Crown Prosecution Service of Britain writes a routine letter asking the Indian Law Ministry whether it wants the freeze on the London bank accounts of Italian businessman Ottavia Quattrocchi, a prime accused in the Bofors bribery case, to be maintained. The matter should routinely have been left to the CBI which deals with these matters. Instead, Law Minister H R Bharadwaj gets into the act, overrules the CBI and sends a law officer to London to tell the CPS that Quattrocchi can have his money back.
The matter is simultaneously taken to the Department of Personnel, which is under the Prime Minister. However, instead of referring the matter to the Prime Minister, Minister of State Suresh Pachauri and Bharadwaj together decide that there is no "evidence" against Quattrocchi and he must be allowed to have access to his millions. Worse, the Prime Minister apparently learns of this important political decision while surfing TV channels.
To be fair, the reconstruction of events is based entirely on "sources". So far, neither the Prime Minister nor his official spokesman has responded to Arun Jaitley's advice that "if he was unaware, then it is for him to introspect what kind of Government he is heading."
The Prime Minister's silence is revealing. That two important Ministers of the Government believe that it is unimportant to keep the Prime Minister in the loop suggests either of two things. First, that they don't believe his opinion counts one way or the other. Second, that when it comes to a sensitive subject like an Italian fugitive from Indian justice, it is the desire of the "friends" of Quattrocchi that must entertained, even if it involves short-circuiting every rule in the book.
The identity of the all-powerful friends of Quattrocchi is not exactly a secret, although it is being disingenuously suggested that even they were unaware of what Bharadwaj and Pachauri were up to.
The delight of an extra-Constitutional authority is that it cannot be pinned down. There are no tell-tale notings in the files that can be unearthed through the Freedom of Information Act. Nor does anyone have the gumption to say that they did what did in the belief that it would please the invisible hand that controls the government.
The Government of Britain works on the quaint principle that the Queen can do no wrong. In India, there is no formal monarchy but here, too, the Queen can do no wrong. To uphold the principle, even the Prime Minister has to end up openly proclaiming that he is a cipher whose writ doesn't run in his own office. Even honourable men should not be devoid of shame. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->