The Honest PM

When Dr Manmohan Singh took oath as the PM for the second time many people in the country heaved a sigh of relief. A Congress government meant that it will be stable and will last its full term and a highly educated PM with an impressive resume meant that the country will be governed well. Of course the cabinet was full of Congress old timers with an infamous past but with Singh at the helm most people expected all to be well because he was a good man and above all a honest person - a rarity in politics.

Things seem to have gone really downhill in this term of his. The rising prices, the maoist menace, scams galore, train accidents etc. Not a single person has blamed Dr Singh for it, it was all due to the incompetent ministers in his cabinet, what could the poor man do. Yes, he did make statements from time to time condemning all that was wrong with the country, making the customary promise of punishing the guilty and hoping that all would be well again. As a country we seem to have absolved him of all blame for the shit we are in currently. The only reason is the same old screwed up thinking we have that an honest man can do no wrong.

Is honesty the only requirement of a good leader? Yes, he is highly educated and knows the intricacies of administration but does this guy have the guts in him to lead the nation. In my opinion - an emphatic no. The entire country knew he was a nominee PM to be controlled by Sonia Gandhi when he took oath for the first time and rightly so. Most of the shots in major policy decisions were called by Ms Gandhi. However the PM surprised the nation by showing a lot of courage and threatening to step down when the Nuclear Bill was in danger of being scuttled. This made a lot of skeptics eat their words and infused a new found sense of belief in the PM. A lot of expected in his second term and the guy has failed on all parts. He has betrayed the millions of people who out faith in him and believed in him (okay that might sound harsh and melodramatic but I think you get the point).

Firstly the government is still clearly ruled by Ms Gandhi and her cronies. We have old congress sycophants taunting and mocking cabinet ministers and misusing the machinery. Digvijay Singh took on the Home Minister and said a lot of uncharitable things, maybe the PM thought that Chidambaram will take care of it. Obviously the Congress High Command never made a statement. We have two bit shady operators like Suresh Kalmadi openly telling the press that they will step down only if Ms Gandhi asks them to. The last I heard was that the PM is the most powerful man in the country and most government bodies and associations ultimately report in to him. Still time and again unscrupulous individuals have openly mocked the PM and claimed that Ms Gandhi is their boss and they take orders only from her. Sonia on her part has not made any attempt to correct it.

That the cabinet is tainted by corrupt minister is an understatement. However I dont recollect the PM openly making any statement or rebuking any minister for his conduct. A Raja continues to mint crores for himself and his boss in TN and the PM along with the Congress High Command choose to turn a blind eye to it. If its a matter of threatening or silencing political rivals like Narendra Modi, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati, the CBI can easily be convinced to speed up its investigation and prepare a charge sheet in record time, but if its for investigating various scams conducted by cabinet ministers either the CBI is not given any explicit orders or the investigation is allowed to take its own sweet time and the die a natural death. We have civil aviation ministers who openly favour private airlines, we have petroleum ministers who openly favour a private company against PSUs and an agriculture minister who is mostly absent or busy manipulating cricket in the country but yet the PM does not have the time to step in and sort the mess which these idiots have created.

Trains continue colliding and derailing in the country and the stupid railway minister continues making flimsy excuses and blaming her enemies for every mishap, still the PM refuses to step in and ensure the safety of the millions of passengers who travel by trains in this country. Maoists continue killing policemen but the home minister is left to fight against them, the PM continue making statements that they are a threat and will be countered but cannot announce any firm steps or an effective strategy. He cannot even stop his illustrious colleague from singing their praises and calling the government murderers. Ladies and gentlemen we are talking about a man here who cannot stand up for himself and his principles forget the country. Routinely he is humiliated and sidelined by colleagues in his own party who run to Rahul baba for every small thing or continue reminding him that Madam is their boss. His cabinet colleagues indulge in blatant corruption and careless acts that endanger the lives of millions and yet he cannot do a thing about it due to political compulsions or concern for self survival. Yet he is the second longest serving PM of the country.

His stature and statesmanlike conduct was one of the reasons why he was considered ideal for the top job. Yet no one in his own cabinet listens to him. Ministers continue fighting against each other but our man cannot moderate a fight let along find a solution. I think the Jairam Ramesh vs everyone else and the telecom vs defense ministry wars will continue. When things get ugly and out of hand Pranab Babu steps in and saves the day once again reminding Madam of his loyalty and trying to show her that he should have been PM in fact. Even when Kashmir was burning Dr Singhs feeble appeal for peace and an all party meet was rejected by trouble mongers like Mehbooba Mufti. In fact all his recent attempts to reach out to his colleagues or countrymen have been met with skepticism and guarded contempt.

So basically we are happy having a PM who:
 - Cannot stop his corrupt cabinet ministers from looting the taxpayers money
 - Is regularly sidelined and humiliated by his party colleagues who remind him that Ms Sonia Gandhi is their boss and not him.
 - Cannot control the infighting amongst his cabinet members
 - Cannot pull up errant and useless ministers like Pawar and Mamta who spend more time pursuing their own interests than look at the ministries they control.
 - Cannot control the unabated violence unleashed by the Maoists across the nation, does not have any strategy to tackle them.
 - Is not even heard by leaders of two bit parties like PDP when he calls for peace and an all party meet.
 - Will not or cannot authorise to expedite CBI investigations against his cabinet colleagues.

Sorry about that bullet point things, I seem to be obsessed with it lately to make my point come across clearly.

The facts are clear, so we need to decide now, are we willing to ignore the above follies just because the man is educated and honest?