Ground Report

The focus of attention of reputed analysts today is on the malady of UPA’s shamefully corrupt policies taking India downhill to irreversible disaster. The malady adversely affecting every phase of life of the average Indian including interest in (IPL) cricket is a national tragedy. The scam virus afflicting the private (cricket) sector is equally disgusting. The paid scribes of yesteryears deeply obligated to UPA politicians strained to smother the surge of public demand for an early election to end this grave national tragedy. UPA carefully nurtured and survived on a culture of rampant corruption and miss-governance – a blot in Indian history. 

UPA’s deceits disguise its misdemeanors causing anger amongst growing Indians who are aghast at UPA’s indifference to acting to redress and redeem itself from this malignancy. Only early elections (not 2014) ending the UPA rule will free India of the corrosive effects of the corrupt legacy of the UPA rule. The costly scams now running into lakhs of crores still crop up regularly. The weak constitutional instrumentalities that provide the checks and balances to check public sector corruption are being strangled. Worst still the UPA mis-uses those state instrumentalities to torment non Congress states/politicians besides buying Lok Sabha votes to survive its term and providing cover to save those Congress politicians profiting from the scams. UPA has also perfected the art of outsmarting the CBI in dealing with the thriving scammer. The UPA mindset is finely tuned in to operate in the corrupt environment in India since Bofors. Hence the latest ingenious Railgate scam

The Coalgate scam is the mother of UPA scams. On this, the apex court (SC) issued forthright statements on UPA’s political interference in the work of the CBI (‘..having access/making changes to the status report going to the heart of the report.. protect the heart of the government – the PM himself) an agency meant to act firmly against the corrupt to end the menace of corruption raging in India unchecked. SC’s comments provoked extremely derisive comments from UPA’s close associates of the scammers. In ‘Congress gameplan behind Digvijaya’s dare to SC’ Rediff.com of May 13, 2013 senior Congress spokesman Digvijaya Singh points to the SC statements describing the CBI ‘…a chicken…belittling the CBI itself, Times of India. 13 May).  Digvijaya despite all UPA’s own acts of indiscretion struggles to keep the SC/judiciary in check. The court rapped the CBI for sharing the status report on the coal allocation scam probe with the Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, officials of PMO and Coal Ministry.  An analyst’s reaction "If the morale of the CBI has been (belittled) downgraded, it is only because of the rank abuse of the CBI’s authority by the UPA Government’. CBI was deliberately not allowed to undertake fair investigations urgently and expeditiously.

In Congress Digvijaya Singh’s wisdom (17 May 2013) the ‘Prime Minister is the sole centre of power in government..he calls all shots’. This comes more than a month after Digvijaya created ripples in the Congress party when he reportedly referred to the two power centres (PM and the Congress President) within the party hurting it.’ What was Digvijaya’s reasoning for changing his stance on political power centres in India?

The insights of analysts in Firstpost.com, Times now, India Today and other ranked media hosts  reveal the extent of the UPA’s interference to keep the CBI a ‘caged bird’ to protect the UPA party men from CBI actions against scams. SC’s sharp caged bird comments on CBI follows on UPA not allowing CBI to act decisively ; instead encouraging official to interact allowing them access/making changes to CBI’s status reports favourable to the scammers. In the ‘Coalgate’ case the changes made by Ashwani Kumar are about protecting the heart of government – the Prime Minister himself. In Coalgate once the PM forced the law minister to resign, the PM feared fingers will thereafter point directly at him. Likewise other useful constituitional checks and balances including the JPC, was under tremendous pressure over the 2G and the coal block case as well. The queer ‘zero loss’ advocates ( Kapil Sibal, Chidambaram) had a suspect heyday subjecting the basically sound JPC reports to ridicule. In the 2G case the UPA regime refused to allow Raja into the witness box fearing that this would lead to the PM becoming involved in the proceedings. Despite Sonia’s hints to the PM that Ashwani Kumar goes, and the PM hesitating implied that the PM would be in the line of fire after Ashwini and thereafter Sonia herself. Sonia’s arm twisting the PM on the Ashwani resignation is unlikely to insulate Sonia herself; she being immediately behind the PM in Coalgate case. In fact it is well established that the PM does nothing without keeping Sonia in the loop. 

UPA’s abuse of the CBI led to many scammers escaping CBI action. These were caused by UPA induced delays in action or in-action. A classic example is the Bofors case.

A more heinous practice was UPA’s mis-use of the state instrumentalities (CBI) to manipulate opposition politicians into toeing the Sonia/Congress line. The Samajavadi chief Mulayam Singh Yadav laments his dread of the CBI and the possibility of the Congress-led government using the CBI to send him to jail (Firstpost.com 5 March 2013). Hence his support for UPA’s ‘trust vote ‘in 2008 and also support for   UPA to stay in power at least until 2014. Fear of CBI enabled UPA without a majority to extract Yadav’s support for UPA to last until 2014. UPA instigation led to the CBI probe against Jagan Mohan Reddy’s (assets) after he ‘exited from the Congress party’. The 2G scam case was used as a bargain weapon by the Congress against its coalition partner, the DMK in 2008/9. UPA extracted DMK’s inaction (and not quit the UPA coalition and bring down the government) against the UPA when UPA led South Block trio instigated the Rajapakses’ Mullivaykkal massacres of over 40 000 Tamil civilians in 2009. The loss was politically for the DMK; it lost its support base in TN and both DMK/Congress combine lost TN for good. The UPA still continues to support the on-going Rajapakses demographic genocide leaving the world community confused over the true reasons for Delhi (UPA) continuing to support a regime that practices the worst forms of human rights abuses.

Over Coalgate Sonia and Congress lined up for the removal of the two ministers, the PM’s loyalists. In the final analysis this is the result of having a PM who has no power over appointments and dismissals of ministers. In this case Sonia acted out as a decisive leader not tainted by the PM’s obstructionist controversies with the CBI to remove Ashwani.  Congress’s power dynamics in practice worked on the ‘two heads’ power bases logic with the Congress’ whisper campaigns diluting and confusing accountability issues in the scams. Congress has a culture under which its Congress President Sonia is able to extract the removal of ministers despite the semi-protests of the official PM. This is an unconstitutional act; usurping the powers of the PM. Ashwani Kumar altering the CBI coal block report was itself a form of usurping the powers of the CBI. UPA mindset?

Analysts including Digvijaya point to the two power centres arrangement that allows the Congress President to exercise the PM’s power but not take responsibility. In the present UPA set up the PM carries responsibilities but not the power. In effect Sonia is the Congress party president and de facto PM as well. This arrangement may work when the two office holders shared a deep relationship of trust. But Sonia is known to make ‘a public show of her respect for the PM’ and the weak PM most of the time conceded or never independently decided on issues that mattered. The Coalgate scam is far too serious for the PM requiring him to assert himself but Sonia who disagreed usurped the PM’s powers to have her way (the minister’s removal) in the UPA set up.

In practice Congress interfered in the work of the CBI when the PM used the Law Minister and his officers (all loyalists) to pressure the CBI to neutralize its investigation. Coalgate as the mother of scams, the CBI also could not allow public display of political interference without compromising its standing as an agency expected to act independently. CBI possibly acceded to the UPA/Congress interference in the 2G and Robert Vadra’s supernormal profits on land deals. The Vadra case is just as damaging for Congress’ image as Ashwani actions in the Coalgate case. Congress ministers in the Vadra’s case came out batting on behalf of Vadra, Sonia’s son-in-law. Did any CBI investigation eventuate or become controversial enough requiring Sonia to drive to the PM’s residence to demand someone’s resignation over the Vadra scam.

 How should the CBI act in Vadra like cases? “Autonomy’? in what form.  For answers the public needs to await the SC judgment in June and the verdict of the Indian electorate anytime between now and 2014. If UPA continues to act ignoring constitutional propriety this is bound to bring the public into the streets in numbers to make UPA realize that there limits beyond which it should not go with its antics.