Functioning of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government on Tuesday came under intense attack with the Opposition charging governance at its worst and public cynicism at a high, leading to trust deficit between the rulers and the ruled.
“There are serious doubts about propriety and integrity of the government…it is almost governance at its worst…ineffectiveness at decision making… failure to provide honest governance…today there is trust deficit between those who govern and rest of the country,” the Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley said, taking part in discussion on motion of thanks to the President's address in the Rajya Sabha.
Leading the charge on the manner in which the Manmohan Singh government was functioning on all fronts, the BJP leader said it appeared that trust deficit was a reflection of relationship between the leader of the party that heads the coalition and its government.
Failure to control prices
During his 67-minute speech, Mr. Jaitley touched upon range of issues such as corruption, with specific reference to 2G spectrum, Commonwealth Games, management of economy, inability to control prices of essential commodities, tendency on part of Ministers to attack institutions such as the Comptroller and Auditor General, and lack of direction in handling situation either in Jammu and Kashmir or Telangana.
He sought to know why the government preferred to be silent on 2G for last few years and criticised Prime Minister Manmohan seeking to distance himself from appointment of a Minister, policy making and its implementation.
For some reasons, the Telecom sector had been outsourced to one political party, he said adding that within the political party, “it was outsourced to a faction of the State's ruling family,” a comment was contested both by Jayanti Natarajan (Congress) and Tiruchi Siva (DMK).
While stating he has high regard for Dr. Singh's honesty and being a distinguished economist, the country was bewildered of what was the use of such qualities if he led the dishonest and was unable to protect the common people from inflation.
Suggesting the government to introspect as to why two success stories — Telecom and Highways — have gone wrong, the BJP leader said, corporate India was contemplating investments overseas as the climate does not appear to be conducive.
Stating that corruption acted as an disincentive, he said that “there also has to be a legitimate balance between economy and ecology. Referring to the alleged corruption in the conduct of Commonwealth Games, he said, now the government did not have a plan how to use the infrastructure created for it.
On S-band spectrum allocation, a decision that had been annulled, he said, instead of closing the issue it should be known who was responsible since the Department came directly under the Prime Minister.
Emphasising the need for a structured polity, the BJP leader said India was gradually becoming a dynastic democracy. “The world's largest democracy cannot sustain merely on the strength of dynasties controlling politics.”
