The resignation of Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran from the Union Cabinet on account of his actions as Telecom Minister between May 2004 and May 2007 has clearly been brought about by the pressure of circumstances rather than by any inclination on the part of the United Progressive Alliance government to do right. This belated exit has come a day after the Central Bureau of Investigation told the Supreme Court of India that there was “prima facie material to suggest that there was an element of coercion by the former Telecom Minister in Aircel selling its shares to a Malaysian telecom company.” The CBI has also submitted that Mr. Maran sat on Aircel's licence application for months until the company came under the control of a new and favoured owner. That this exit from the Cabinet could be delayed until the country's premier investigative agency formally informed the Supreme Court that Mr. Maran was under investigation proves yet again that the UPA government has fallen into the habit of covering up allegations of corruption — as WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange commented in an interview to The Hindu. Controversy after controversy, scandal after scandal, scam after scam has demonstrated that the government maintains an amoral silence or sticks to convenient inaction or argument in the face of material or circumstantial evidence of wrongdoing for as long as it is legally possible and politically expedient.
The onus is now on the investigative agency to act speedily in uncovering the whole sequence of events relating to Aircel's purchase by the Maxis Group, including the rationale and timing of policy changes such as raising the FDI limit in the telecom sector to 74 per cent; Mr. Maran's insistence on spectrum pricing remaining with his Ministry rather than being brought under a Group of Ministers; and his allocation of mobile phone licences for a throwaway price to Aircel after its promoter C. Sivasankaran was coerced into selling it to the Maxis group. The agency is also reported to be investigating whether this involved a quid pro quo, as the same Malaysian group invested substantially in the direct-to-home and FM radio businesses of the Sun TV group owned by Mr. Maran's elder brother, Kalanithi Maran. All these aspects, and not just the role of Mr. Maran as Telecom Minister, must be thoroughly investigated. It is now clear that 2G spectrum allocation is India's biggest ever corruption scandal not only in terms of the mind-boggling sums involved — but also in the devious ways in which policy and personal interests coalesced. Elementary issues signalling a conflict of interest were deliberately ignored. Can there be the slightest doubt that this government, which is headed by a Prime Minister whose personal financial probity is undisputed but which has earned a reputation for unrivalled corruption, has much to answer for?
Dayanidhi Maran had divertd 100s of official lines to benefit his brother's business. Has he been retrospectively charged for these and the compliant officials punished? Nothing is heard of! A clerk accepting bribe is suspended and chargesheeted. But nothing is done for a minister's loot? Mere resignation is accepted as punishment? Mere ignominy and loss of face or dishonour is no anathema and of no concern for the High and mighty who have stashed away their ill gotten wealth. Their progeny will benefit for many generations to come. Where is natural justice and equity?
Its a good article; and your concluding line is fine, except for the later part. It wouldnt probably be right, that since there weren't many scams that came to light in the past, there weren't much corruption. Corruption comes into light, only if one of the parties or third party makes an additional effort to bring it to masses. The current government has probably emboldened the people, or the victims, to bring to light such corruption. Few of the scams have been brought to light by CAG, a govt institution, which is convinced that their efforts wouldnt be put under carpet by the powerful. Hence, the revelations. Hence, we should congratulate the current govt (especially key people) for the efforts put in to bring out the culprits.
In the country like India where the majority belongs to the class of poor, illiterate and non-intellectuals, I think the democratic system of government could never function well and the probable reason behind that is, is the bifurcation of the citizens lives in this country, some are extremely poor and some are very rich that they have their own islands. Since the birth of this country majority have been ruling by few one's with power and wealth. We need a system which give an equal opportunity to rule irrespective of the wealth and class or else communism would be a better option.
Thanks for the editorial. The readers response proves that we are no longer willing to treat our government as our masters or authority. Even the poor pay sales taxes on all the consumer items. We need results for our tax dollars from people who hold public offices.
The only way for MM Singh and congress party to prove that they will take this to the
logical end is to expediently move the case and make sure the accused are sent to jail.
It's all too familiar now.A lot of commenting has already been done on this issue,and after a few days, in a press conference Dr Manmohan Singh will again say "I am not aware of all this,all decisions were taken by Maran" and of course he will be lying.The slew of scams and scandals has already left the govt clueless and instilled severe disbelief in people.The govt is busy covering up its botches ,courtesy Sibal and Digvijay Singh who are instrumental in gathering public attention. And no prizes for guessing that this will be covered up soon.The likes of A.Raja and S.kalmadi has got more company,and ironically the other day govt requested google to obliterate info about scams like this ,where some enigmatic decisions were taken and it is obvious as to who the beneficiary is.All this can't end with a resignation.I hope CBI goes all the way to uncover every inch of what is unknown about this and other scams,because surely there is more to come from this govt.
Yes. The prime minister is answerable to the Indian citizens for keeping his fingers crossed and allowing the corrupt practices of his colleagues to continue and watching them plundering the nation. The PM can't be silent and he can't just throw the blame on the pr-active media. He cannot pose that his hands are clean. Mr.Manmohan Singh is also equally responsible for allowing his colleagues to run and ruin their ministries as their own kingdoms. He should also quit as PM owing the responsibility for failing to control his colleagues.
Ithink by resigning Maran has shown the self discipline incurred in him.Hardly matter part of the political game ,the step taken by him.Now qouestion arises how CBI react to it and how quickly they come out with the evideces so far gathered by it.As far as UPA is concerned it doesnt matter much.
First Deshmukh and then Chavan in Maharashtra over the Adarsh scam. Then Tharoor over the Kochi IPL team scandal. Then Raja and now Maran over 2G. Deora makes for a pre-emptive exit over the KG basin scam. For how much longer can this farcical government be held up? The question of the lack of an alternative is moot - that debate can be had once the government is moved out and all the corrupt brought to book.
Excellent editorial. Compliments to THE HINDU in its openess to criticize all the wrong doings of the UPA government. One doubts if such an editorial would have been possible during the regime of DMK in Tamil Nadu. Finally, let us not be fooled by media hype that prime minister is very honest and clean. Anyone abetting illegal actions
can not be described so especilly after so many scams have been exposed. Dr.Singh needs to explain his stance to the nation.
Does'nt these incidents clearly points out for the need for lokpal or equally competent authority to probe into corruption allegations well in advance. Hope the Government is able to recover the losses from these actions.
Thanks to Mr.Maran for resigning---- The people of India , are grateful
to the DMK for raising a stink --- Hope corruption in high places ( and
more importantly in low places) is addressed and Anna's efforts would
pay some dividends at the earliest.
Trial by media is not good for any country or person. Though it may seem to help one side now, tomorrow it will be used aginst you. Unless the accused is given enough opportunity to defend themselves, passing a judgement is a sin. Remember the accused is INNOCENT till proven guilty. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.
Mr. Manmohan Singh is considered as a man of integrity. However, as many of the readers pointed out that he cannot considered as a PURE man anymore. He has shown scant respect to the various allegations raised against everyone involved in the 2G-scam and continued to keep mum. When every imaginable ministry is under his supervision, he should have ordered for a thorough probe as soon as the first allegation on 2G scam was raised by people like Mr. Subrahmanyam Swami. Mr. Swamy was going on levelling charges against everyone concerned in the 2G scam but it was going into deaf ears. This shows clearly that either he is personally involved in this or he has a Master, who is involved in this and he does not have the courage, in taking any action against him.
Mr.Sibal&co must be hanged in Public for his comments against the mass movement initiated by persons with moral integrity.He is one of the persons who was chanting"Gulli gulli mein shore hai,Rajiv gandhi chore hai".SC&GOD SAVE INDIA.
It's high time they restored Kaala pani in Port Blair for all the scam tainted. They are fit to be put there, not in Tihar.
Great article. It makes me think if the parliamentary form of government is one of the causes for massive corruption and no proper action taken. The PM obviously isn't acting since it's coalition politics and need to go soft for the government to stay. What if there are just two national parties? It's either party A or party B that's ruling....will that make things better?
Readeing the above comments from U.S.A it is heartwarming. Continue the good work, Oh my cou8ntrymen, Keep it up!
It is not understood why the U P A does not take steps prompt
investigations and quick finalisation when a fraud or irregularity
is brought to their notice by the C A G or any other s including the
media. The confidence in the U P A is getting lost.
kapil sibal just said that chiambaram is not involved in 2-G scam with confidence. its means he knows who are involved or is acting like judge giving clean chit to chidambaram. if he is not judge then should be questioned by cbi as he can spill the beans about 2G scam...............
its noteworthy that he earlier mentioned no loss of exchangure...........we are still hoping that guilty will be punished in their life-span.beoz no body knows what would happen after their death as bofors was dropped as most of the accused died.............
About fifteen years ago, many Nidhis and Finance Cos in TamilNadu, like GNS Nidhi, Eswari Finance Co, Alwarpet Benefit Fund(ABF), Royapettah Benefit Fund(RBF), etc were cheating the depositors, offering false promises and swindling their hard-earned money (particularly retired persons). RBI and other Govt authorities came down heavily on them by enacting stringent regulatory laws like the NBFC Act.,etc as a result of which, these fly-by-night operators vanished into thin air!
In a similar fashion, the other 'Nidhis' of TN like karunaNIDHI, dayaNIDHI, kalaNIDHI, et al who are jointly & severally looting public money, should also be LIQUIDATED without a trace!!
The present Prime Minister will say that he is not aware of the
editorial . So I humbly request you to post a copy of the editorial as
well as the well written comments by the general public. In Government
service if a junior does a mistake the senior cannot absolve the
responsibility. So he is also punished. Like that Prime Minister should
take the responsubility for the various corruptions by his appointed
minsiters and SHOULD RESIGN FORTHWITH. He cannot give some evasive
replies to these scams and corruptions of his ministers. WILL HE DO
THAT.
Not only Maran Should be punished, Congress had the equal share in the scam....Including Sonia. Everyone should be exposed. kudos to Supreme Court and Subramanyia Swamy for exposing this Ever high Scam till date.
One thing people dont seem to understand is in a coalition govt and especially when this second UPA govt was formed Manmohan Singh had to accomodate DMK in a big way.The UPA would not have got the number of seats they got without the DMK and this vital factor played a big role in getting important portfolios for the DMK.No one talks about the corruption in Karnataka or even Jeyalalitha whose embellishment case is not over .
It is very likely that some of the members of the Congress party including Sonia Gandhi have their hands in this dirt. All these actions will only be taken until, it turns on to one of them. Sonia Gandhi knows how to silence the Supreme Court (ask the PM to request the President to change the monitoring judges and that will be joyfully done). If this is the stand for the Supreme Court, imagine CBI - they are puppet toys in the hands of this lady. What happened to Quattrochi? It is a shame that Manmohan Singh is a dumb audience to all these people who are making democracy an absolute joke.
I do not accept the generally aired notion that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is above board. May be as a person, yes, but not as a prime minister. Scams on such a colossal scale could not have been perpetrated by members of his cabinet without his undisclosed knowledge and connivance. If he could not remove those tainted ministers because of, as he says, coalition compulsions, he should have at least quit as an honest upright citizen of this country. What invisible ambition does he nurture ?
The way these scams are unfolding and the details tumbling out, one can feel that these people in power are utterly devoid of scruples and ethics...perhaps if they got a chance they will even sell the country to foreigners. For a price of course. The UPA government headed by PM Singh is now evolving into a organic system for the corrupt to play their games and deceits.
If everything from day one of any government is taken out to light, there will be quite a lot. Media take interest in certain people at certain times. History remembers forever, media for sometime and people in due course forget!
This editorial shows high journalistic standards of Hindu. It is highly regretful that a man of integrity our PM Dr. Manmohan Singh adopts such an amoral stand when his cabinet ministers indulge into corruption with his knowledge!
PM is knowledgeable and honest person. But he is responsible for all the activity in the entire ministry. History will blame him for his ineffective to avoid the scam in early. But I didn't see him as 'DHRITRASHTRA', in my view; he is VIDURA (The great PM of hastinapur in Mahabharata epic). Today we are getting the fruits of growth because of a tree planted by today PM. Congress (INC) is ambitious to rule India in future under their leadership. So they can't take decision to give up coalition. PM knows everything so only he is saying that we can't avoid certain things in coalition. When all political parties should think of the people rather than ruling India, that time only we can expect good ministry. At last selecting government is in our hands.
I fully agree with shri. Badri on his comments.
Why were both PM and chairperson mum when the pricing issue was kept out of GoM/ Cabinet by Maran? what was the compulsion that made them sit tight when pricing was removed from ToR? Their only aim was to rule the country come what may.They are least bothered about the loot taking place in NHAI by Balu and in Spectrum by Maran. Both of them are masters in thier own field - covering the tracks. I am longing for the day to see both the Marans(big and small) and Balu in jail and thier property confiscated by the centre.
The PM was closing his eyes when large scams like CWG, 2G were happening right under his nose.How we can say that he is not involved in all these SCAMS? CBI needs to file a charge sheet in SC against his willful inactions against the wrong-doers.The PM is supposed to administer the country propery.If he/she is not capable, they make way for better candidates.
Now that DMK party is fully exposed why Congress wants to have allince with them? If Manmohan Singh has to appoint a minister from DMK he has to find a person who is not from Karuna's family and from DMK party.
In school we are taught for democracy to be effective, people must 'speak' (and to vomit that fact in an exam we are given a few marks!). India is supposedly the brains of the world IT yet it's impossible to get even a 'standard response' from any government office. In this world, where are the email addresses of these 'people's representatives'? I don't expect the PM or the Cabinet level ministers to personally reply to everything, but what about MLAs, MPs and so on? Not one of them are reachable - except at the time of elections when they're ready to lick your boots of course. Just as a comparison,I have personally received a response from Pres. Obama's office to a query. Just as a CEO is responsible to the shareholders, and hence can be held accountable, the PM and his/her coterie should accept their responsibility for letting things happen as they are. It's pointless to treat this PM (and future ones) as a baby because there's no proof of swindling money.
Could I please request you to mail a hard copy of this article along with the comments to Kapil Sibal, Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi. Finally an article which says PM has a lot to answer. I am tired of hearing that his integrity is beyond question. PM has learnt what it takes to be in power, the economist PM has graduated to a politician. Its high time that he accepts it.
"Controversy after controversy, scandal after scandal, scam after scam has demonstrated that the government maintains an amoral silence or sticks to convenient inaction or argument in the face of material or circumstantial evidence of wrongdoing for as long as it is legally possible and politically expedient." You have said this very nicely.UPA wakes up only acute pressure is mounted on it and that too half-heartedly. It is not too late that the P.M should assert his legitimate authority attached to the post he holds and weed out the inefficient, tainted and deadwoods from his ministry when he reshuffles the ministry. The ministers and officials should be made accountable for any lapse that would harm the nation and the public exchequer and if found guilty they should be punished as per law and the amount swindled recovered fully from them We are glad that the recent initiatives taken by the Apex court,C&AG, CBI and last but not least the MEDIA, is bearing fruit .
it was with much trust UPA government was elected for a secular India.We had much faith in them.But congress if they still nurture all these moneyminded scoundrals again they are not eligible to be our government.UPA should throw out all such corrupts and that is how Manmohan should show his sincerity.Hope our nation will improve.Let every citizen pledge to avoid corruption in life.....
This is the time for second freedom struggle to remove corruption in all aspect of the county.In the past we fight against colonial nation.Now we fight against Indian looters.
Should not the principle of vicarious liability be applicable in the case of PM ? Even in cricket, when the bowlers do not bowl the required number of overs, the Captain is punished - with a ban for the next match, not the bowler, even if the Captain is good and performing. Same should be the case with the head of the Cabinet of Ministers.
It is conspiracy by the Upper caste and OBC to put false charges and use the English media and favorable judges to give adverse verdicts. The upper caste and OBC cannot relish the self respect and success of lower caste people and are using new methods to put them under subjugation and dominance. Hope the lower caste unites and sees through the game. Why else a Sharad Pawar or Chidambaram or Jayalalitha does not get arrested.
The media's role is commendable. Bringing the corrupt and the criminals to light is their duty and they are doing just that. Excesses, sensationalism needs to be curtailed. The misdeeds of politicians or those in power will never come out to common mans view if we do not have a strong media. As such we need a 24hr national news channel like IBN, NDTV or Timesnow in Tamil to keep the politicians on their right path.
It is high time that Maran and family should be bought to the court of law for justice. Thanks to Supreme court for taking first steps towards punishing them.
Everything is crossing its limit now. Now time has come for UPA government to fight against corruption, to bring more transparency in the system so that politicians like him think twice before eating the India's money.
Certainly 2G scam and other mega scams have poured anger in common man heart and these intolerable acts have bolstered their non-belief in this Govt.Everyday new wrongdoings ,new scams come into light fortunately by an aware media. Simply this Government has lost its credibility and is unable to justify for all the wrong deeds and looting of public money.No matter how much honest is our PM, these mega scams have put a question mark on his integrity and ability to lead as a strong leader.
Scams and scandals seems to be not a new kind of phenomenon for people in India. We must respect democracy but feels like its high time to retrospect in to the features of democarcy . Entire system needs to rewamped.There must be some system put in place to evaluate the performace of the players in the system. Constitution must adhere to strict recommendations based on in depth analysis from the hard core knowledgeble circles. Eventually this must bring fear in to the system of losing the job given by the people and for the people . Once this comes , all kind of power holders will be like an ordinary employee of a company . The current scenario definitely needs some authority in parallel with the system provided the parallel system is more techinically and morally inclined.
It is unfortunate that Manmohan Singh is refusing to change in spite of regular revelations of high level corruption. He has nothing to lose by acting tough on corrupt ministers. However if he has skeletons in his cup board then his pattern will continue to be same.
The golden words "Controversy after controversy, scandal after scandal, scam after scam has demonstrated that the government maintains an amoral silence or sticks to convenient inaction or argument in the face of material or circumstantial evidence of wrongdoing for as long as it is legally possible and politically expedient" explains everything !!. Kudos to The Hindu for this landmark editorial !
The editorial in its zealous criticism of the government, missed out an important aspect. Which is that it's the CBI which brought into light the alleged wrongdoings of the minister. Everyone otherwise complains that the CBI is controlled by the Central Govt. This time, credit must be given both to the CBI and the Central Govt., because the latter, it seems, has not shown any interference on the findings. The only mistake the Govt. committed was to side with the DMK while forming the coalition.
Thanks for a powerful editorial.The ability of Maran to arm twist a telecom company could not have occured without the support of DMK leadership. This is a clear demonstration of the perils of the coalition politics. The PM under duress of loosing out the power could have turned a blind eye when things were unfolding.
It's high time for the PM to stand above the petty party politics & act firmly to avoid any more scandals & save the image of our Country in the eyes of the World. I am sure that if the charges against Maran is proved by CBI in the court, he will soon join his 'core team' in Tihar jail.
I am aghast at the kind of shady characters who have been holding ministerial positions in the UPA. Also surprising is the fact that still the PM and his close circle maintains silence and holier than though kind of attitude against people who have spoken against corruption.
It has been proved that there is no suprise when A.Raja was made telcom minister in UPA-2. Though, the maladies committed by Maran during his term were not un-earthed then, the efficient and eminent work of the CAG has made sure that policy subversion and malpractices towards the Indian exchequer are not taken lightly. All the hungama and fuss created by the opposition last year, washing out an important winter session should be remebered here, though the executive and the parliament did not do justice to the cries of the people, the judiciary once again being the only watchful gaurd of the indian democracy has delivered. The government which is dragging its feet on the Lokpal bill should atleast now bring in an effective draft and pass it in the parliament at the earliest.
Why don't you just ask for the PM's resignation, rather than use the convoluted logic of editorials to satisfy the baser side of the readers. But then again, the more you keep hitting, the more you dent a persons character. The same did happen for Mr. P J Thomas and now everyone considers him 'corrupt' or 'tainted' and there are no facts on the table as proof. And now we are talking of the PM himself being 'tainted' and 'corrupt', till we ask for his head. What the country wants is stability and a continuation down the path of progress and not more red tape. If the PM is confident, which I still hope he is, in running the country, there will be progress. If he is not, he will doubt every decision he takes. Let's put in some balance into the debate and also say a few good things when someone does something good.
What WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange commented on present goverment that Controversy after controversy, scandal after scandal, scam after scam has demonstrated that the government maintains an amoral silence is right. Goverment which is concerned only about holding the PM chair for five year at any cost , what else you can expect. People of india should be ashamed for electing such a goverment which is not even concernd of the people who voted them. If they have concerd about the people they wouldn't have kept silence . I think the future presented of Congress Rahul gandhi must stop is padayatra against mayawati goverment and he must start padayatra agiants the present goverment for betraying the people of this country.
The punitive punishment should involve not only the person responsible but also the loss of public money incurred should be recovered with appropriate penalty. UPA Govt should take moral responsibility for such delayed action not only in this case but also in dealing with other scams and black money because it amounts to shielding a corrupt personnel may be they call it coalition dharma When they don't have any Dharma and what happened to the Dharma while taking a shameless indecent act on sleeping devotees at the Ramleela grounds in the middle of the night chasing women and children out in the criminal environment of New Delhi.It is high time that UPA govt seeks a fresh mandate from the citizens of India.
Thanks to Hindu for taking the courage to publish the news and such a good editorial. Well Appreciated. Hope PM Mr. Singh, the so called High Command Sonia and Rahul baba would read this article today. DMK should be declared as corrupt party and should be taken away from contesting next election. DMK should be banned. Likewise each political party and individuals should be banned if such corruption claim arises irrespective of whichever party it is. Such strict rules should emerge to safeguard our Independence. Otherwise, we will still remain as slaves forever.
Now the scamsters are already planned and have switched over from one group to another i.e. NDA to UPA just to amass as much as they can by asking the plum and money spinning ministry for them holding scant respect for the elected. Besides they just doled out many petty thing with which they can expand their business and thrived on the Media publicity. Now cries over the happening in the glaring media. The old proverb anything in excess is poison. Unless Supreme court is monitoring the probe would have been sabotaged by the vested interests.
I agree with Mr. Badri. Why the kid glove treatment to the PM. What happened to the 'collective responsibility' concept of Indian governance? When a minister is found corrupt, it is blot on the entire government. And if it is clear that the PM was looking the other way while his ministers were indulged in rampant corruption, no amount of undisputed personal probity will be enough. The PM is as responsible as his ministers. By allowing the DMK a free hand in matters of national importance, the prime minister has let the entire country down. It is high time he takes some responsibility and resign from his post. He is increasingly becoming an embarrassment to the nation.
It is high time we stopped talking about the Prime Ministers personal financial probity. Of what use is it to the nation ? Probity should be combined with effectiveness and leadership.The nation has been traumatised and is despondant with the developments which could have been averted by an alert and proactive PM and PMO.The PM should resign since he is clearly out of his depth.
There were positives in economic management etc but corruption far outweighs the good done. Food inflation is killing and at the same time food grains are rotting. Naxals are ccontrolling 30% of the country and there is no end in sight . Nobody seems to be in charge of the store. Ceasers wife should no doubt be above suspicion but should also know to cook and keep house. The congress seems to be obssesed with Rahuls padayatra and dont seem to see the elephant in the room. Rahul should conserve his energy. With all these scams Mayawathi comes out smelling of roses !
Very well said. I am amazed at the level of shamelessness this so called prime minister of personal integrity is demonstrating. And again shamelessly, congress party projects such incidents of resigning or dropping ministers after reaching a stage of helplessness as an action taken by the government. It is a concerning factor that this govt and this party is not envisioning the amount of damage that this approach has been bringing to the nation. Not just in terms of morality, but even from the business angle ..... see Mr. Pareekh's comments yesterday about how major industry houses in India are now feeling it safe to invest 50% abroad. I really wish to see an end to this.
A scathing editorial, no doubt! But why this shield of 'Personal financial probity is undisputed' of the PM every time? Isn't it enough that the UPA and the Congress use it at every available opportunity to deflect any criticism of inaction or collusion? This appears to be that every other PM in this country had a questionable financial integrity and that the incumbent alone is pure. And since when has that become the only criterion for heading a National Government? And is looking the other way when crimes are conducted right under your nose and disowning responsibility part of the Financial Integrity? We no longer want 'The Hindu' to treat the PM with soft gloves because he has not made money (yet).
It is very explicit now that the DMK party and its Family has done great damage to the country's reputation and their political era will be at big turmoil in future. They will not be able convince the voters by explaining as the uneducated person is able to realize all of their worng doings in this scandal.
it is ridiculous to say that no one has doubt on PM,s integrity and probity.one who is not involved in corruption but allows the corruption or not able to stop is same guilty as one who is involved.Our so called honest PM is playing a role of 'DHRITRASHTRA' in the current political ploy.
Your editorial on Maran's exit concurs with the assessment of ordinary citizens. Those who hold high offices and have sweeping powers, have a moral responsibility. The stand taken up by the UPA is that unless criminality is legally capable of being proved in a Court of Law, no action need be taken. Discretionary powers vested in Ministers and other functionaries, could not be called into question in a Court of Law. Where there is reasonable doubt about power being misused for personal gains, the PM has a duty to explain. Not until, the case is proved in a Court of Law. 2-G is a monstrous scam. The citizen needs to know the full dimensions of it. Fortunately we have an alert Media, and have an impartial Supreme Court.
We cotton Grower Farmer also welcome his resignation. Govt. should also check his textiles link because of him Indian cotton grower farmer not getting good price when international market paying high price for cotton.
The biggest scandal in India is the media. Does it even remotely think of presenting the views of the accused. This is not to suggest that Mr Maran and others are innocent. But most certainly they would have something to say in response to the accusations against them. It is a sorry state of affairs as I am quite sure it is only a matter of time that no one will take media seriously. The reason is simple that media now is blind and wants to tarnish anyone the way it wants and in the process I am sure would make a grave error of judgement which would be their undoing.
You have clearly stated that this UPA Government under Sonia and Singh will continue to stick on to corrupt measures as along as it is legally and politically possible. If Maran goes, T.R. Balu will replace him. We have to bear this till next elections which is far away. It is upto to the opposition parties to evolve something basically acceptable.
Prime Minister's post is a responsible post. MMSingh does not seem to realise this fact. If he had realised, he would have resigned long long ago.
As you have rightly pointed out, the UPA Govt. has been unwilling to take action against those responsible for corruption unless forced to do so. It appears that there are even bigger fishes involved in these scams and the Congress does not want them to be booked for corruption as some these persons might belong to the highest levels of the party.
Were Maran and Raja on their own in their alleged corrupt activities with the Manmohan Singh government per se not involved either by commission or omission in such activities of the ministers? Whenever the media talks about corruption in the government,it always takes care to point out that the Prime Minister's personal financial probity is undisputed. What benefit the country has had from that quality of the PM, when under his watch covering the last seven years, ministers in his government have allegedly sold national assets at throw-away prices under suspicious circumstances? While the media credits solely the Prime Minister for India's economic boom to which his ministers and officials have contributed, it does not apportion any blame to the Prime Minister when allegedly his ministers and officials have indulged in corrupt practices of gigantic proportions. The editorial has broken new ground when it says that the PM has much to answer for.
Mr.Maran is reputed for arm twisting. What about the rumour that he arm twisted Tatas before they embarked on Tata Sky? The south Indian brain is expert on planning blackmails and arm twisting.They do not openly ask for bribes but instead get facilities by arm twisting. Mr.Dayanidhi Maran was no exception.The Marans operate very cleverly to make huge profits.I took a Sun Direct HD connection before the Cricket World Cup hoping to see the matches in HD. Sun Direct kept silent on the matter till the matches began. Then they asked me to pay Rs.13200/in order to see matches in HD. I dropped my Sun Direct connection and took another HD connection and paid just Rs.150 to see the matches in HD. In the bargain Sun Direct made some profits by this ruse.This is how the Marans operate.It is high time that they are put in their place.
These fellows are worse than Dawood and Osama Bin laden. What about the money looted ? Mere resignation won't do. Think ,a petty thief is brutally caned and tortured till he accepts the crime, confesses his past thefts and accounts for the money theft .Then why not the same in the case of this white colored mega thief? He should be given to police custody and money looted with banning Sun TV should be done . 'Appearance is deceptive '.His brother Kalanidhi should also be booked for various unfolding crimes in cine-industry.
This has been the worst government that the country has seen since independence - not only in terms of governance deficit but also in terms of repeated display of attempts to cover-up the record number of scams that has hit the country. India has suffered much because of the government not only in terms of its credibility but also in terms of the image that it has brought to a country that is on the verge of reaping a huge demographic dividend. The country and the government have been plagued by scams and controversies of gargantuan proportions that the government of the day has little time to look after foreign policy and economics of the nation. There has been lot of action by India's adversaries in the Indian ocean region as well as the Himalayan border regions. The foreign policy goof-up in Sri Lanka and the repeated humiliation by Pakistan - all these the government is not able to handle because it is seriously working towards covering up scams.
Excellent editorial! Hope this article will be read by Prime Minister and UPA chair person Sonia Gandhi and ministers like Kapil Sibal who consider themselves as champions of anti corruption. My kudos to The Hindu for publishing such a nice editorial.
Unless there is immense thrust from the apex court on the government or CBI this kind of massing wealth or minting of wealth cases by the politicians could not have been unearthed. Thanks to the Supreme Court. However, all cases of this nature may not be handled by the apex court since a number of cases may come to light. The mechanism of the court and time may not be sufficient for dealing such cases.
No there is no doubt. Maran and bros are India's robber barons. They have cunningly used political power to build a multi billion dollar firms by using muscle power and nepotism in the last twenty years. Chennai's cable tv distribution was consolidated by using the same strong arm tactics that union mafia used in the 60s and 70s to exhort / steal from ports and garbage collection in the USA. This is nothing but nepotism and personal aggrandizement. Shame on us Tamil nadu voters for electing thieves and goondas like this who use our trust and taxes to steal from us. I wish we could start a movement and stop watching sun tv and stop spending our rupees on any Maran family products, Spice Jet, newspapers, cable fees, aircel.....wow their tentacles are everywhere!
It is time to use our other right as consumers and vote with our rupees.Time to protest or our children will continue to get their pockets picked and will head to foreign lands in search for equal opportunity.
Well said. But it is difficult to expect any reaction from the present Government. It is intriguing how Man Mohan Singh, first of all, agreed to appoint Maran in charge of Communications, when it was well known that he had business interests in Sun TV. In fact, many of us wondered how TR Baalu was given shipping ministry, when he had business interests in a shipping firm.One would not have expected moral standards followed by DMK, but at least a PM, a person of some integrity, should have been firm.
The oft-repeated assertion about Manmohan Singh's personal integrity whenever the UPA scams are discussed reminds one of "and Brutus is an honorable man". One who tolerates corruption in people under his control (hopefully) is equally corrupt. Why is that the alacrity evident when Sashi Tharoor (against whom there were no criminal charges) was shown the door was not visible in the case of Rajas and Marans? Is it because the latter had not made fun of some of the 'netas' in Twitter?
I fail to understand what happens when a minister is involved in a million dollar scam and there is enough proof but the only thing that happens is 'HE RESIGNS'. Is this the only punishment for someone who made a loot of the nations wealth? How long will we cover this all under the veil of following the so called democratic procedures? It remains to be seen as to what will happen to Kalmadi and the Raja's as well. When would they finally end their 'Tihar Honeymoon' and come back to the royal life is anyone's guess.
It is too obvious to hide the intentions and motives of Dhaynidhi Maran however much he may try to wiggle out of his dubious role in the 2G scam. Maran apart, the powers that control the centre, i.e. Congress high command and its president Sonia Gandhi have also a have finger in the dirrty pie; why, would the Government headed by Manmohan singh should turn a blind eye until forced by supreme court to act. It is rather surprising why Manmohan Singh is being exonerated from all the wrong doings consistently referring to him as "a Prime Minister whose personal financial probity is undisputed". This tag is no longer valid as a person who abets with the wrong doings is deemed to be the wrong doer himself.
Now Kalanidhi Maran will return the 800 crores he has taken as loan from Maxis group ... of course with interest.
This forceful editorial which will not be read normally by the Delhi babus, needs to be massively emailed to the PM and his cabinet by as many Indians as possible and also by some of the NRIs who may know the email addresses. This may have a greater effect than tweeting or facebook comments. I hope one of you would gather the email addresses of these professional politicians and circulate for people to act.
It is not enough that Maran has resigned -- he has accumulated wealth to hold good for several future generations. In all the scams, money lost to the exchequer must be fully recovered. But that is unlikely to happen -- just one IPL league game or a new third-rate movie release, all the frothing and anger over scams will vanish. Things will be condoned, forgiven and then forgotten. The tragedy is that (as you rightly say) the huge amounts involved in scams, now a percentage of GDP will become the benchmark for next series of scams.
An interesting topic has been raised by the editorial board. There must be investigation regarding raising the FDI cap in Telecom; because 2G scam gives us lead that there are lot of fishy things in telecom FDI. It may be possible that in coming future, we may witness FDI scam. I am really happy with the present chivalry shown by the CBI. They must keep it up unearthing each and every wrongdoing and exposing other culprits involved too.
From hereon its gonna be a 'perpetual DUSK' in the SUN Empire.... They have emerged as the chief architects of corruption in India and they must be prosecuted promptly without any MERCY.
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