| Published on 12-06-2007 In National |
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| Yet another global wonder |
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Written by
Cho Ramaswamy |
No doubt, the very fact that Dr Manmohan Singh's regime has indeed completed three years in office is in itself a major achievement. Rather than hailing his contriving to stay afloat under such trying circumstances, I am not one to heartlessly query him about the milestones during this period.
I cannot betray an absence of self-discipline in the matter and do so.
After all he has managed to keep the flock of 11-party-alliance together.
Again, one ought not to be so cruel as to raise queries about the behavioural patterns [of the constituents of the UPA].
Aren't the antics of [one of the mainstays of the UPA] DMK alone enough to describe the predicament of the PM?
"If we don't get the portfolios demanded by us, we simply aren't interested in being part of the coalition," the party [read Karunanidhi] had insisted [right at the beginning].
Neither did the other constituents of the UPA with a similar dispensation accord Dr Singh the respect of being the highest executive of the land.
"Why fear when Sonia is here?" has been the approach of everybody – more so of the Congressmen themselves.
As far as [Union HRD Minister] Arjun Singh is concerned, the PM is an innocuous impediment. Singh is of the opinion that the academic needs to be talked to on a few, rare occasions. Other Congress members of the Cabinet haven't betrayed this basic courtesy because they consider the PM is an object to be pitied at.
Ministers from other parties like Laloo Prasad Yadav have gone to the extent of belittling Dr Singh by saying, "Come what may, I [too] am going to be PM one day."
If one applies this yardstick to the rest of the pack, I must admit, I haven't found a single soul at the Centre that has accorded Dr Singh more than a cursory glance.
Everybody knows that Dr Singh holds office at the pleasure of Sonia Gandhi. As if this isn't enough, the leftists having been making his life miserable by issuance of regular fiats.
In spite of having enlisted the services of economists like Chidambaram and Ahluwalia [head of the Planning Commission], the PM is unable to effect far-reaching fiscal changes.
Every action of the government morphs into an occasion for the communists to berate it by calling it "the stooge of the USA.
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Even as these never-ending headaches persist, the government's liberalisation policy suits only the loony left extremists simply because those who prop up the regime from the outside and more importantly Sonia Gandhi feels that this is real secularism.
Under these trying circumstances, what else can the PM do?
The less said about corruption the better because it is the classic case of every man/woman for himself/herself. Each minister treats his/her portfolio as a personal fiefdom.
Already some of the leading lights in the Union Cabinet – including the likes of Laloo Prasad Yadav – have figured in criminal cases. Worse, a former minister has been found guilty in a murder case and is in prison at present.
Ere such a wonderful turn of events, he was a fugitive from the law and yet a minister all the same! Therefore, the Manmohan Singh government has the dubious distinction of having had a scofflaw in its ranks for a considerable amount of time.
There are, of course, other stumbling blocks in the path of the Sikh.
The PM can neither decide on the inclusion/ exclusion of any minister or change their portfolios as such matters are dependent on the will and pleasure of the leadership of the parties they belong to. Needless to add, Sonia Gandhi calls the shots of who will be what in ministerial terms from the Congress.
In short, our celebrated economist PM cannot take any independent decision as regards economic reforms because the reds see red in such attempts; extremists of every hue have to be tackled only after obtaining the leave of Sonia and finally, persons with criminal antecedents cannot be kept out of the cabinet since it would transgress the coalition axiom.
On all these counts, instead of placing the PM in a straitjacketed situation by asking him about his achievements in these three years, out of compassion for his series of predicaments, I cannot but praise Dr Singh for having managed to complete this unique hat trick of annual passages of time. For, this is nothing short of yet another global wonder.
(Translated from Thuglak by TSV Hari)
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