Two years into UPA-II, Sonia Gandhi made the brave statement at a celebratory event that the Congress-led coalition would “take corruption head on” and “demonstrate through actions, not words, that we mean what we say.” She went so far as to claim that “transparency, accountability and probity are the very heart of our governance.” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sounded similar sentiments in lower key, acknowledging that public concern over the “pervasiveness of corruption” was legitimate and pledging that his government would take “corrective action” and would not hesitate to act against “misuse of public office.” Considering how low the credibility of the UPA government has sunk on the issues of corruption and abuse of power — notwithstanding the Prime Minister's undisputed personal financial integrity — the task is uphill all the way. The 2-G spectrum allocation scam is India's biggest ever corruption scandal. Conducted right under the Prime Minister's nose and in defiance of the caution he advised, the scam progressed, enjoying immunity from serious investigation for an inordinately long time. But thanks to a rare combination of factors — the most important of which are public pressure, in part generated by the news media, and judicial intervention — some progress has been made by the Central Bureau of Investigation in bringing some of the corrupt to justice. Mr. A. Raja, ex-Telecom Minister, has been locked up in Tihar Jail and l'affaire Kalaignar TV has been exposed but the two questions on everyone's lips are: What about the role of other Ministers and bigwigs in the telecom mega scandal, which clearly goes back some years before 2007-08? And where has the rest of the money gone?
A Cabinet Minister now in the eye of the storm is Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran, also of the DMK. Relying on material thrown up by independent media investigations, first by The Economic Times (May 21, 2011) and then, in much greater detail, by Tehelka magazine (issue of June 4, 2011) — publications that have not been deterred by legal threats — the main opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, has aggressively posed questions to Mr. Maran and the UPA government that can no longer be ignored. The questions relate to specific actions, policy changes, and transactions that took place during Mr. Maran's tenure as Telecom Minister (2004-07) or soon after. They focus on the sudden change of FDI norms in the telecom sector, which raised the FDI limit to 74 per cent; the consequences of this big policy change; the taking of the authority of determining the pricing of spectrum out of the purview of the Group of Ministers on the written insistence of Telecom Minister Maran; the allocation in November 2006 of 14 2-G Unified Access Services Licences for a throwaway price of Rs.1,399 crore to Aircel after the Malaysian business conglomerate, the Maxis Group, acquired a 74 per cent stake in the telecom operator; and subsequent investments by a Maxis subsidiary in Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd and other Maran family-owned companies. The Congress spokesman's response to the effect that it is up to Mr. Maran to answer these questions, and that the Joint Parliamentary Committee could perhaps go into the issues, is the latest example of what WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange characterised, in an interview to The Hindu, as “a habit of covering up allegations of corruption.” The questions raised by the media investigations, and by the BJP, must be answered immediately by the UPA government and the Prime Minister — and the whole matter must be speedily investigated, without fear or favour.
Keywords: Dayanidhi Maran, 2G spectrum scam, Maxis Group, UPA government
It is really commendable that you are making incisive analysis on the state of political affairs in India. But we have to don multiple hats when we make judgements on the UPA government. In the sense, we must acknowledge that ruling a country as diverse and as complex as India is not a simple task. Couldn't the PM have chosen a job of luxury anywhere in the developed world, with his impressive background? He has chosen otherwise. We have to appreciate that. Yes, he may not be a great administrator, but we have to also give credit to the sensitive and intelligent man that he is. As for corruption, I think it is easy for one to comment and lament on it, unless there is awareness among the general public, the likelihood of this changing is diffcult.
It has become a nothing to worry thing in Indian politics.Jagan Reddy,son of late YSR amassed wealth through same means. Yedyurappa's son has done that. Ashok Chavan has done that.People in politics are not worried or are they asked about conflict of interest or Quid pro quo. Some thing should be made to stop this. These type of scams cant be proved as they are not material in nature.
After Maran, it will be Kapil Sibal! The PM should drop Kapil Sibal from the cabinet during the reshuffle of his cabinet. He should also drop PC. The PM pretty soon will find the honest leaders in short supply.
Manmohan Singh may say what he wants for public consumption along with Sonia Gandhi, but did he mention that he would get back to office and sign the sanctions asked for by the CBI to prosecute 10 babus? Did he say that Gogoi in Assam would be investigated for the NC hills fraud? Did he mention that he would ask the CBI to hurry up with the Khoda case? All this talk is to give time to UPA politicians to cover their tracks. We are probably one of the very few countries where permission is required to investigate two penny babus and netas. I personally know three of them who had nothing to their names when they took office about 2-4 yrs ago. Four years down the line they needed a fleet of trucks to shift their household items. Corruption is common in the Mahabharata and Ramayana, so can an Indian, especially a politician change now? India is a country that is damned by its leaders since independence.
A dispassionate appraisal of the goings -on for the last forty years- in the governance of federal India and in the States, in particular in Tamilnadu, will show: 1.A rapacious loot of the public wealth: 2.A proportionate undue enrichment of the ruling families: 3.All this being done in open defiance of the Public-at-large: 4.Audit being mocked at each and every turn, to hoodwink people: 5.All this aiding amassing black money in foreign hoards: 6.Amazing disregard of the Law: 7.Astounding misbehavior of the people in the helm of affairs. India, Sir, is being murdered, from within.
A teacher serving in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh cannot perform invigilation duty or evaluate scripts if any of his relatives take the test in Kerala. Private companies organising competitions clearly specify' serving employees and their relatives are not eligible to take part in those competitons' . Did this happen when the cabinet was formed? Don't they know there will be conflict of interests? Why did the political parties were allowed to bargain for portfolios?
Corruptions are now way of life in our country.Perhaps never before have we had such a scam ridden govt at center.We've 'personally honest' PM but he can't resist scams taking place under his nose.Isn't this so called 'personal honesty' meaningless?In fact, a man who bears with dishonesty is equally dishonest.This govt has pampered corruptions since it assumed power.Unless press unearthed scams and judiciary intervened, people involved in corruptions would have roamed in our society with heads high instead of being behind the bar.It's for this dishonest people who like to perpetuate corruptions Lokpal Bill has not come into being in 42 years.
Key question is, does this huge leak continue even as we comment on the editorial? Has it been plugged or callers to Sun TV continue to use the telephone lines for which they are paying for even when they are not the calling party?
The essence of the whole scenario of corruption is that the UPA-2 is a shameless. Mr Manmohan is not a politically strong PM ,he is serving the vested interests of Nehru-Gandhi family.Mr Rahul is on padyatra,but he does not see the corruption in Delhi.He does not make the the Govt of UPA to bring a Land Acquisition Bill in the Parliament. He is only lamenting for the power in UP. He says about wrongdoings of Ms Mayavati but does not say a single word about the wrongdoings of the UPA. He should come forward to set the things right at the Centre.He should rebuke them in the UPA who come forward to cover up.Mr Diggy, Mr.Sibal,Mr Manish etc are good for nothing but are expert in cover up.Moreover the UPA is the most corrupt govt so far and it is inclined to degenerate the glory of India.
Why only resignation?The properties of the corrupt ministers are to be attached to The government of India.
As citizens we sometimes feel helpless!! When the government is dilly-dallying and making deliberations to provide three square meal to the millions of indian poor on the pretext of lack of money the last it would want is to loose thousands of crores to illegally feed its elite few. Its high time to take some concrete steps.
It sad to see that thw whole of DMK leaders are involved in some or the other kind of scams. Corruption to an extent can be tolerated. But when every single minister in the cabinet involves in a whole lot of scams ranging from telecom to televisions its a serious issue. The election commission should be more empowered to take punitive actions against such parties for which amassing wealth becomes sine qua non for staying in power.
While the politicians of the country lose no opportunity to involve themselves in corrupt practices and looting of the exchequer, it is surprising that so much of wealth was unnoticed in the Sri Ananthapadmanabhaswamy tempele at Thiruvanathanapuram in Kerala. The erstwhile Travancore kings thought that the safest place to keep such a wealth was the temple vaults rather than their fortified palaces. The subsequent politicians and bureaucrats in Kerala deserve some praise for keeping the treasure undisturbed. This also provides us an opportunity to compare the erstwhile monarchs and the present day politicians.
It has been in public domain that massive corruption in 2G has taken place but our esteemed P.M. has given the clean chit to A.RAJA, Mr Sibal says that no loss of money is there because of 2g allocation. Actually when we phased out the princely states and abolished the Rajas and kunwars little did our founding father think they are placing in neo feudal lords who think themself to be above law. Congress always make hue and cry over any missing file of gujarat riots but shirk away in taking responsibility for the corruption done by ministers in govt headed by their rubber stamp. Rahul makes a gimmick of doing padyatra in UP but he never speaks of the loss incurred by state and how much poor would have been served with that money.
The Editorial is no doubt good and timely but it's unlikely to make any difference to UPA or MMS. The fact of the matter is UPA is not too bothered about the noise generated by English media and English speaking well intentioned citizens. UPA managers very well know that more than half of English speaking voters in this country do not vote and therefore, their opinions will not make any difference to the electoral outcome. So long as the mainstay of the ruling party remains the votes of rural uneducated masses (beyond the reach of English media), UPA (or for that matter any political dispensation) will not care about what urban middle class ppl think of them. Haven't you heard Manish Tiwari (the brash Congresss Spokesman) boasting that UPA had good results in the elections in 5 states and therefore, it continues to be popular with ppl? What he actually meant (but did not say so expressly) that he couldn't care less abt English media and its patrons.
Hats off to Hindu. Nice article. Please make Manmohan read this article. His integrity is in question. He might have not involved in corruption but his inability to control these looters encouraged them to loot .So he is also one of the reasons for this shame.
I believe the personal integrity of everyone in the Congress party is at stake. I am a big suppporter of PM Singh. However, he must clarify if he is a part of the corruption or act in an urgent and strong manner. If he believes that he does not have the power to act, then he must resign immediately - that's personal integrity. Otherwise he is just another cog in the wheel of corruption.
The whole L'Affaire 2G Spectrum,while making one want to throw up, does certainly throw up a slew of issues,chief amongst which is the uniform defence of the PM whose probity, rectitude, uprightness and other similar adjectives just don't seem to be applicable at all.His repeated excuse of 'compulsions of a coalition government' just doesn't wash.His total lackadaisical and unquestioning attitude towards his subordinates who, without batting an eyelid, just steamrolled their personal agendas and shut his objections, does establish his culpability which neither he nor his sycophant colleages and glib party spokespersons can wish or wash away. Even after the scams started tumbling out with metronome regularity,his initial inaction and later delay in taking action contributed to destruction of evidence,documents,papers etc. and tampering of witnesses by the proponents of the scams. A real classic case of locking the barn after the horses have been stolen.
It hurts, when Mr Singh chose to look the other way. It hurts even more, when he evades the truth. It hurts worse, when one thinks that this man was impeccable as far as integrity was concerned. I for one, do not know whether he was scared to make a call? Or whether he just decided to ride the term out, keep himself personally clean? Has he taken the attitude that it is not worth it?
Whatever the reasons, it is difficult to comprehend whether anyone else can wield and assert authority, since almost every one else are badly tainted. If at all anyone should have, it must be Mr Singh, and he failed us miserably.
It is time that Ethics Committee is formed by the Parliament to formulate the rules so that ministers with commercial interest on the portfolio do head the relevant ministers. In this case though Maran could not be faulted directly, it definitely has cast a slur on the Ministry. It is right time Dr. Singh act tough even if it means to hurt the UPA as he is increasing being touted as the weakest PM India has ever had and it is sad to observe that ministers who are holding Office at the pleasure of Prime Minister are no longer under his control. Wake up Dr. Singh.
It puts us Indians in great frustration and shame when the state leaders loot the exchequer without any inhibitions - what can you expect from the rest of the 'system' down the line when corruption is a way of life starting at the top of the ladder! Sadly, the current situation stinks. Furthermore, as Indians living abroad, our integrity and credibility has taken a beating within the International community. Really hope there is a great nation wide awakening of sorts that can result in serious actions to get some level of honesty and integrity in our system.
Well the first comment hit the nail on the head. One would have expected under a PM with integrity such corruption scandals would not occur. On the contrary corruption has been scaling new peaks under UPA. What use is a PM that sits blind to these issues.
You folks think 2G is the biggest nationwide scandal "un-earthed" ever? That may be true, but if we take out "un-earthed", welcome to TN politics. In my fantasy, if I count the loss to exchequer because of AIADMK and DMK's perpetual administrations, I would be running out of numbers in mainframes. Of course I don't have proof for any of that, but as an ordinary middle-class citizen, I know how much bribe is expected to get each thing done in TN. Common things like vehicle licensing, traffic violations, passport administration, ration shops (despite the recent claim by Hon. Chief minister), real estate are no exceptions.
But as always, who am I and what change could I possibly bring in? Think this is height of frustration? Welcome to my world.
JPC inquiry should be held to uncover truth about benefits to Maran's family businesses in Chennai when Maran was Telecom minister.
There is a differece of sky and earth between in the characters of the leaders and the freedom fighters like Mahatama Gandhi, Subash Chander Bose, Bhagt Singh, Shashtri ji and many others who fought for the country, served the country and even laid down their lives for the sake of country AND of today's socalled leaders whose main agenda is to serve themselves, fought among themselves for petty issues leaving aside the very major issues of the country. They live for themselves for their kith and kin. Elections are fought and win not to serve the nation but to grab the properties and wealth. Meaning thereby character of all the leaders, barring a few ones- not exactly known yet, is more or less the same irrespective of their party background. Unless these leaders ( ministers and other VVIPs and bureaucrates) dont' change their mindset, it is not possible to get rid of the corruption. May God help them to think first for the country and countrimen before thinking for themselves. Of course people like Anna Hazare, Baba Ram Dev are doing true service to the country by creating awakening among us against corruption. It is the right time that the governments acts earnestly and honestly in the direction of eradication of this infectious disease - corruption. Jai Hind.
Here is what is going to happen. Mr Maran will continue to deny the charges leveled against him. He will try all possible tricks in the book to get away with it and take refuge in all kinds of technicalities. Media and opposition parties with vested interest will leave no stone unturned in seeing him behind bars. My Advice to Mr Maran is to step down before it is too late. So that the damage is minimal and his image could be salvaged sometime later.
Wake up UPA! Wake up its worthies! Don't hide anymore.
Alas, you will not do any such thing, until you are thrown out!
We are all very tired of hearing the oft-repeated phrase -- "personal financial integrity of PM". I don't understand how can an 'honest' PM is so indifferent to corruption that is happening all under his nose and with his full knowledge. I hope your newspaper stops (ab)using that phrase any further to the point when it loses its meaning.
One curious thing to know:
<b>Does only IT ministry have the possibility for this kind of tactics?</b>
The editorial is an eyeopener and it is hoped that the congress will respond positively in the matter
I think India is having a cabinet form of governement and the Prime Minister is the leader of the Cabinet and the decision of the Cabinet are called collective decisions and collective responsibilities. I am a lawyer. but i still have serious doubts as to whether the constitution has been amended and the concept of collective responsiblity had been eroded?
Mahatma Gandhi after independence did not want congress (party) to be a political entity and wanted to break it down or make it a non-political entity, as he thought other leaders might use it as a tool to rule India. had Gandhiji's idea been implemented India would not have been deprieved of good rule, non-corrupt politicians and prosperity.
there is a saying that we can guess the character of the king by the character of the citizens he rules. here we don't have to see the citizens, just see the ministers and leaders u can guess in what state INDIA is. Change is the need of the hour, I hail from tamilnadu and i could see that there was a silent but strong wave from the citizens, that crashed DMK and took it to 3rd position (not even an opposition party). this should be taken as a lesson by others or soon enough they shall feel the silent tsunami in the coming election.
I find it extremely funny that people in India get easily offended when someone questions Manmohan singh and his level of competency as a leader. The fact that he did not accept any bribes personally does not mean that he should be absolved for dereliction of duty as a Prime Minister. As a leader of this country, he has lost all the moral right to lead by looking the other way when people in his cabinet are looting the exchequer. He is guilty of witnessing the worst corruption scandals in Indian history and being a mute spectator. I am surprised that he does'nt have a social conscience and feel that it is honorable to walk away and be a part of academia if he feels that he could make an impact to the Indian society.
Excellent, thought provoking editorial. To curb corruption in Govt. Offices, the GOI should give top priority into demands of the Civil Society Members of the Joint Drafting Committee. Transparancy and Accountability can be ensured only if the Cabinet as a whole and judiciary are brought under Lokpal Bill. The Govt. may also think of (like RTI Act) break up details of daily expenditure incurred, purpose etc. by all Departments/Minisries may be made avilable in Govt. Websites on daily basis (as closure of daily transaction on the same day as in Banks) so that the targetted groups (public) of the concerned ministry will come to know the wrong doings of the official/department and brought to the notice of higher authority then and there for suitable action. The media can also play their Role still better, more effectively, investigate and curb corruption and the erring officials/politicians may be made accountable and punished then and there. If this is done, over a period of time, the corruption in the country may be eradicated to the expected level.
PM seems to be stuck between the devil and the deep sea. If he admits to approving the decisions that led to 74% FDI & no consulting GOM on pricing, the very intelligent Finance professional that he is, would come across as a slow-witted individual who just happens to sit at the helm of affairs. If he feigns ignorance, there would be doubts on his own personal integrity (not that it really helps the nation)! I think the story runs deeper than it is presented.The Congress goverment cannot detach itself from the wrong-doings with a holier-than-thou attitude! Their scruples are more openly being questioned than ever before. Hope law takes its course and hope it wouldnt be a scam-erasing-scam in minds of the public!
'The Prime Minister's undisputed personal financial integrity' - You could have said this last summer not anymore...Please
There seems to be no difference on the modus operandi between Kalaigner TV and SUN on siphoning the Public money. And interestingly SUN has been awarded several times and Kalanidhi Maran baged several awards like 'Entrepreneur of the Year' , 'Business Excellence Award' etc.. But, now He is getting exposed totally on how he got the rewards and awards. So, all connected in this 2G Scam Part -2 must be put under bar and tried in the court of justice. Everyone knew that this would not have happened without the knowledge of DMK & Congress chiefs. Hence, DMK has been already punished in the peoples' court during the TN election. Congress would also deserve the same treatment.
How hard can it be to introduce an unambiguous legislation to shut down corrupt enterprises? If SUN TV is found to have received illegal funds, shut it down. Just punishing people for crimes is not enough if their ill funded enterprises can continue to flourish. Shut down all of Maran's enterprises if he is found guilty.
..Maran's family business enriched while Dayanidhi is (was?!) in UPA-2. Check the profitable Indian Airlines routes.. taken over by Kalanidhi Maran (Brother of Dayanidhi) owned SpiceJet Airways.. with the help of Civil Aviation and DGCA.. If someone investigate..another scam will come out of vessel..
How can the PM Manmohan Singh be called honest any longer? He knows about the 2 scams by Maran since 2007... he has sat quietly on that. He knew about the CWG scam since 2008 when then Sports Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer brought it to his notice. He knew about the whole 2G Scam since a long time, watched it unfold sweetly and silently. He knew nothing about the ISRO Spectrum Scam which he should have known as it is under his Ministry... Well a person who is dumbly sitting on the PM's chair and only trying to ensure that his party does not lose power so that others can loot must be called corrupt. The entire MEDIA owes an apology to LK Advani, because he had clearly called MM Singh as a WEAK PRIME MINISTER and the media attacked LKA for that... LKA was 100% accurate in his comments... Sadly the country is suffering now for having voted this man back.
At last, the words are bold and beautiful. Straight to the point, hitting hard on the powers that be. It is also high time, our esteemed newspaper muster courage to point out that the buck stops at PM's table on the 2G issue. No more covering up on P.M's personal integrity, please. He has to answer the nation on the massive loot and take steps to bring it back. It is time for PM to act with firmness and with out fear or favour.
There are no more coalition compulsions. If Anna goes, Amma will support. The most unfortunate part is that the congress party is full of rogue leaders and mouth pieces, who are ready to spit venom on important issues. It is all the more painful to see Mr Chidambaram trying to defend Govt's stance on LOK PAL bill. What they are trying to do now is to present a bill of their own in the parliament and put the blame on the civil society for stalling it. It is not going to work.
I have few questions. 1. Why do people need so much money? This is not philosophical but a practical question. One really does not need crores and crores of rupees. 2. Corruption and politics have been good friends for long all over the world (politics is the game of scoundrels). Is one party better than another? Not really. The ruling party has the opportunity and hence is seen as corrupt. That does not make the opposition party good. They would behave the same way when they become the ruling party. 3. What is supposed to be the job of PM of India? How can he be seen as a person of integrity when his cabinet colleagues are alleged to have been involved in scams? And why should the PM be excluded from the purview of Lokpal? 4. Why does the media not bring such things to the fore? Even when they do so, they do it more for sensationalism than for public benefit. Media is also corrupt. Ironically some of the media companies are themselves owned by the polticians! 5. Of late, the Supreme Court of India has the 'judicial activism' but can the judiciary be left to run the country? At the same time, even members of judicial community (like former CJ) are accused of corruption. 6. India has had Ram Raj (Hinduism), Moghul Raj (Islam), British Raj (Christianity). It is now having Atheist Raj (wih only the meaning of atheism changed to 'no belief or faith in moral values'. Unjust Prejudiced Alliance (UPA) is ruling the country. Can't we have an escape? 7. Lastly, I want to raise the question Bharathi raised: "When will my Mother (nation) be free of the shackles?"
Well! Well! Well! The chicken has come home to roost. Daya Maran was the epitome of high handedness first by hounding poor Sivashankar of Aircel and then by crudely armtwisting Ratan Tata to sell Tata Sky to Sun TV. Today's The New Indian Express has headlined another scam by Maran which no print or electronic media has even touched upon. It seems Maran had not one, not two but 323 telephone lines laid at his residence in Chennai which was later used enmasse by Sun group via state of the art underground cables laid from his house to Sun TV office. And not one paisa apparently was paid by Maran or Sun TV. The number of calls from one line alone for March 2007 was a shocking 48,72,027 call units. Looks like Lakhs and Crores are a patent of the DMK party! Now we all need to wait for Kapil Sibal to say there was 'Zero Loss' in this scam,too.
Excellent edotorial. But this UPA -II is too thick skinned to get affected by such articles. People have developed only disgust for this Government in general and for the PM in particular. With rising prices of petroleum and other necessary items and the huge corruption, people have lost faith in this PM.
The Congress party can no longer shrug off its collective responsibility by putting the blame solely on individual ministers. As a leader of the coalition Prime Minister himself is answerable for the wrongdoings taking place under his nose.He should come up with a better explanation than he is not personally involved in or financially benefited from any scams.
Dayanidhi Maran being exposed is coming very very late.He is a very cunning politician who can cover up tactfully without giving the slightest element of doubt.
This is one of the long over due and every acts of UPA- II is covered up. In spite of these hollow cover up the ruling party lost all before the people in Tamil Nadu of the recent elections among various vexatious issues haunted them. This scam is also instrumental in dethroning them to third position. Need of the hour is expedite the probe of all departments concerned collectively act in booking culprits before all escapes. Justice delayed is justice denied.
Maran has 323 telephone lines in Chennai: Indeed a shocking, daring robbery. A telecom central minister from Tamil Nadu got the BSNL to connect 323 telephone lines to his home, not in Delhi where he had work, but in Chennai where he had none. He got all the 323 home lines listed not in his name but in the name of the Chief General Manager BSNL Chennai. These lines virtually constituted a telephone exchange in the minister's home. It was exclusively used for his family business by laying 3.4 km long secret cable along public roads to connect the lines to the business premises. This had caused huge loss to BSNL. Who was that enterprising minister? The infamous A Raja? No. It is the famous Dayanidhi Maran; Raja's predecessor, now the central Textile Minister. The CBI, which probed the fraud, wrote to the Secretary Telecom on September 9, 2007 recommending action against Maran for the fraud. Dayanidhi Maran was obviously not playing marbles with 323 telephones. He got the BSNL to lay separate and exclusive underground cable from his Boat Club home to the SUN TV office at Anna Arivalayam in Anna Salai and fraudulently linked the 323 home lines to his brother Kalanidhi's SUN TV network. Since the first four digits '2437' were common for all 323 lines, the lines constituted a home telephone exchange. The Dayanidhi home exchange was operational in the SUN TV establishment for at least months from January 2007 through the fraudulent cable connection from Dayanidhi's Boat Club home. The Maran home exchange, says the CBI, was 'programmed in such a way that no one other than the authorised BSNL staff were aware of the existence of such an Exchange created for his [minister's] exclusive use'.
Socrates, the great philosopher renowned for his contribution to the field of ethics, once said 'unexamined life is not worth living'. The PM should at least wake up now and realize that his image of Mr. Clean is at the lowest ebb of his career and would do well to examine his current state and move head on against the likes of Mr.Maran and other corrupt colleagues and demand and place country's interest above narrow political gains. There are more worms and virus in the yet unopened cans. Mr. PM please act now, for god's sake.
"the Prime Minister's undisputed personal financial integrity" - I disagree with this wholeheartedly. The Prime Minister knew fully well what was going on.Yet,he did not take any concrete action to prevent it.This Prime Minister is like the person who watches loot and murder all around him,does nothing to prevent it,and then throws his hands up and says, "You know what. mate,I didn't kill anybody,I didn't loot anyone." He is as much at fault(if not more) as all the Rajas, Kanimozhis and Marans of the world.The JPC and CBI must investigate his definite acts of omission. Every now and again,on impulses,he harps about corruption and integrity while he overlooks it everyday.Now,instead of looking into the real issues he seeks to pacify publicity seeking swamis.He does indeed have a habit of covering up for the corrupt in this country.
The brave words of Ms Sonia and Manamohan sounds hpllow as they are not followed up with action.such promise to fight corruption has been made earlier also but scams after scams involving the nations wealth has ben on the increase.The PM should obtain the resignation of his textile minister Maran who is involved in corruption and show that he mean business and not whine about corruption and watch it as a helpless onlooker
Bravo for a very unusually bold editorial. I am just wondering whether the tone and tenor would have been the same had the DMK recaptured the Power in Tamil Nadu. The last phrase 'without fear or favour' perhaps can be used by leading news papers like The Hindu only only when they are not under any political pressure. Nevertheless, your stand is very welcome.
PM Manmohan Singh's financial integrity is unquestionable -- that means nothing. It is the principles that people in high power espouse and propagate that matter. And Ms.Sonia Gandhi seems to be a lone warrior out there trying to do something real as Congress President and as the chairperson of NAC, but she must not hesitate in calling a spade a spade -- she must not think twice about the problems the cronies around her may create, the real and ultimate power rests with the electorate.
On 2nd January 2011 I wrote in an article 'Mr Prime Minister You Have Let Down India' and opined that Dr Manmohan Singh has caused far greater damage to India than any other person in history. That Dr Singh allowed a free hand for corruption and has 'a habit of covering up allegations of corruption' is very sad indeed. Even when unassailable evidence became available against A. Raja, Dr Singh did not ask him to resign, but supported him through his ministerial colleagues. At least now, the Prime Minister should send the right signals by getting Dayanidhi Maran to resign and allowing the investigating agencies to conduct a thorough probe and get the guilty punished.
Another great piece of ediotorial and all along I have been under the false impression that somehow The Hindu which was forefront in exposing the Bofors scam about 25 years back,has not been aggressive in doing its investigative part in reporting let alone unearthing the huge 2G scam, but today I stand corrected in my view. Mr.Maran should come clean by subjecting himself to the due proceedings instead of gagging the media through empty legal notices. The PM on his part, should forthwith ask for Mr.Maran's resignation given the degree of improbity allegedly indulged in by Mr.Maran in the allocation of spectrum to Maxis company.
“ The questions raised by the media investigations, and by the BJP, must be answered immediately by the UPA government and the Prime Minister — and the whole matter must be speedily investigated, without fear or favour.”
Noble expectations! But no such thing will happen from the present Government.
In 1931, speaking in the House of Commons of Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, Winston Churchill recounted how, as a child, he had been:
taken to the celebrated Barnum's Circus which contained an exhibition of freaks and monstrosities, but the exhibit on the programme which I most desired to see was the one described as "The Boneless Wonder." My parents judged that that spectacle would be too revolting and demoralizing for my youthful eyes, and I have waited fifty years to see the boneless wonder sitting on the Treasury Bench.
Today we can see the new boneless wonder in the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. He is universally acclaimed as upright man. But it does not mean being upright he will do no damage. If l'affaire Raja is any indication, he will do all he can to defend the indefensible.
Will anyone believe that the PM and his cabinet were not involved in (1)the sudden change of FDI norms in the telecom sector, which raised the FDI limit to 74 per cent (2) the taking away of the authority of determining the pricing of spectrum from the purview of the Group of Ministers on the written insistence of Telecom Minister Maran and (3)the allocation in November 2006 of 14 2-G Unified Access Services Licences for a throwaway price of Rs.1,399 crore to Aircel? Not only Minister Maran but also the PM on behalf of himself and his government has to explain how all this happened. Unless convincing answers are forthcoming from him, one doesn't have to explain what conclusion the public will come to on the murky affair.
Mr Maran is a highly literate individual & will surely understand the word "nexus". Under Indian Judicial System, a person is innocent until proved guilty {beyond all reasonable doubt}. But, in this instance there are nothing but doubts and Mr Maran's explanation/s sound very very weak. IE carries a news item stating that the jilted party has already given some statements to CBI under the advice of his American Counsel; the dealys of over 2 years in - finally - not allotting the Telecom Licences to AIRCEL, the 100% owner then selling off his 100% shareholding to a foreign party {74%} & local investors {26%}, then - hey presto - the Telecom Licences of not only the circles asked for BUT 7 additional circles to the same AIRCEL but under different owners, within a very short period, that 74% owner investing Rs. 800 or 700 or 600 Crores in a SUN TV group company, Mr maran now claiming that he is not a shareholder in any group company etc., are events that dwarfs the Rs. 214 Crore l'affaire Kalaignar TV scam that has already put several top persons behind the Tihar Jail Bars! Dr Manmohan Singh has to take the call - NOW - and the least he can do is to ask for Maran's resignation till Mr maran is tested under the judicial process & found guilty OR OTHERWISE. Any delay here citing coalition dharma will severly impinge upon "the Prime Minister's undisputed personal financial integrity" - your phrases here!!
I am at a loss to understand why the UPA continues to involve itself in the cover-up tactics in sale of 2G spectrum allocation? When the silence of the Congress party brings more doubt on the shadow deal. The PM is seen nowhere when the nation is facing a battalion of controversies. PM's silence sounds bad.
A bold editorial when TV channels of Tamil Nadu are even not mentioning this news in detail.Such has been the stranglehold of SUN empire on Tamil Nadu media.
It also transpires that Maran tweaked the very rules which were thrown at Aircel under Sivasankaran, after he sold the company to Maxis. Hindustan Times has brought this information.
It is refreshing to note that Hindu has been in the forefront of the anti- corruption crusade in the 2G scam.
It would be interesting to note any Wikileaks on 2G scam-Can the Hindu bring it out to the public domain?
You say that "the whole matter must be speedily investigated, without fear or favour" ~ why? The matter has already been investigated by the CBI in 2007 itself!
Transparency, Accoutability and Probity, everything is seen and come to light in scams. These are the words in the dictionary and not practised by the UPA or any Govt.
Your Editorial was good to read.In the past two years, UPA 2 has achieved only Scams ,Scandals and Corruption allegations .Among all the Political Parties our long standing (only for the name sake)Congress Party is known for its corruption attitude which has been proved in the recent Giant Episodes. Basically none of the politician has got the interest to develop the country, particularly the common man's status. Earlier Raja was telling that he is innocent,but his innocence was not accepted by the CBI.Maran is also telling the same thing after 50 hours. Will his innocence be proved? All these days people are mum, and today they wake up. Singh's administration should explain to the People of India.
K.Ragavan.
In the central government two things stand out in recent months, one is the detached attitude of congress party in its response to massive corruption under its nose. With the guilty making a beeline to the Tihar central jail Congress response has been the same "the law will take its own course"; as if to give the public a sense that the party is no way responsible for the actions of ministers under its regime. Second is how can a PRIME minister not know about the mind boggling corruption?
DMK is just a platform for like minded people whose only goal is to rob the country; tomorrow it will be another party. Indian citizens have shown that we are united when it comes to fighting this cancer and have shown it in Tamil Nadu, we can very well show it during central elections.
How one can believe the UPA when your partners are corrupt. Vilas Rao Deshmukh is still in your ministery even after slammed by the supreme court to drop him from the ministery. What about the politicians named in the stamp paper scam. Any action? No. It's all fuss nothing else.
"notwithstanding the Prime Minister's undisputed personal financial integrity"
I am finding the above assertion difficult to buy. Morality is higher than any other form of integrity, isn't it? Of what use is "personal financial integrity", when hard earned tax payer money is being swindled under this PM's watch! This is especially when less than 5% of Indian citizens pay taxes! I wish The Hindu does not condone the moral responsibility of this PM on account of his "personal this and that integrity".
Leadership has to be measured by moral responsibility of the person at the helm! Unless of course he is not at the helm and is only a proxy!
What looks surprising to me is do these political leaders think that citizens of India are blind and as far as UPA government is concerned while Sonia and Manhoman ji issued bold statements it appears to be clear result of public pressure and no steps are taken in order to curb corruption.
Maran had always been serving in the interests of SUN and it is a popular joke in the public domain that he is the Minister for SUN Network and not just Telecom / Information. All policy statements ensured that SUN was the first beneficiary.
The corruption in Indian politics is at its peak. But the the judicial action against ministers like A.raja and Kanimozhi gives a little hope and make us believe that there is some hope that these corrupt ministers and other public officers will be punished.But this is a very critical time and we should have faith in democracy and Indian judicial system.
I welcome your editorial comments on the Maran episode. When the Telecom Ministry has been given to DMK, it was treated as the private property of the DMK. And the PM kept mum when improprieties were reported. Not only Maran, but also PM owes an explanation to the nation.
My father paid bribe for my birth certificate .I repaid the dues by bribing to get his death certificate. Is for this Independence our elders sacrificed their every thing for?
This exercise is a sheer waste of time. Methods and means of sacking the UPA government must be found and implemented asap.If need be let us have a nation wide revolution to throw them out. It is much too much and how long can we sit and hear news about scam after scam.
This editorial ends with "the whole matter must be speedily investigated, without fear or favour". Let us hope the investigating agencies and the courts have this in mind and act accordingly so that justice is delivered on time. (Justice delayed is justice denied.)
There is a definite pattern in the behaviour of Dayanidhi Maran and A.Raja with regards to allocation of spectrum , especially on the very critical pricing aspect of it. Both of them have been particular that the pricing aspect has to be out of the GOM purview and as usual took our 'Honest PM' and the Nation for good jolly ride.
It is now beyond doubt that the letter written by Maran to MMS to have the pricing out of the Cabinet decision is not born out any concern for the slow growth of the Telecom sector or in the larger public interest , but it was well-enacted plan to get investments , which can only be treated as a bribe from the Malaysian Telecom major Maxis, to the family owned Sun Group.
So, fellow Indians, be wary of any Minister working over-time or showing undue diligence and dynamism at work.
As the Editorial concludes, PM must answer the Nation now and order an enquiry which must be expressely done.In the meantime, as BJP and Ms.Jaya ,and am sure the vast majority of Indians believe, Maran must step down immediately.
A political party founded on lofty ideals of social justice in Tamil Nadu and a national party that prides itself in getting independence to the nation face an allegation of corruption day in and day out.
What has been the response from the parties concerned is an attitude of 'so what' and that is irritating to the core.
Especially the party spokesperson of the Congress (the DMK does not have one now that Kanimozhi is also in jail)'s contempt for the press persons and the people of the country when he said that it was for Maran to explain, speaks volums about the respect that these worthies have the press and the people.
Had it not been for the media and some public spirited individuals, the entire 2G scam would not have come out of the closet at all.
Let Smt.Gandhi speak-up directly probably via a press conference, instead of mouthing some empty verbiage through spokespersons, to clear the stand that the party and the government have taken on corruption.
Probably that is too much to ask.
All the papers and magazines ( including your paper) in Tamil Nadu did not dare to write about 2G scam ! what a change
When PM gives a commitment he should stand to it. Even if Mr Maran
pleads innocence he should step down to prove that.
As in the case of Julius Caesar’s wife Pompeia, a public servant “must be above reproach” (i.e., without even the implication of impropriety). [Caesar divorced Pompeia, who was accused of adultery. Although he stated that he believed in her innocence, he reputedly stated, “I thought my wife ought not even to be under suspicion.” In Ramayana, Rama made Sita to walk through fire to prove her innocence to the world.] Unfortunately most politicians ignore the history/epics.
The statements made by both Sonia Gandhi and PM are to be believed, they have to ask Dayanidhi Maran to resign and request CBI to investigate and report to the Government. If they try to delay or sidetrack the issue people will lose faith in all the investigations on 2G and other related scams.After seeing the Election results in Tamil Nadu Congress has to be very serious in dealing with Corruption otherwise they will have very difficult position in future elections.Soniaji and PM have to act boldly with out further delay.
What India needs is a Prime Minister who is vibrant and vigilant, not dormant and diffident as Dr.Manmohan Singh has been. We, the citizens of India, are tired of his apologetical attitude.
The guity must be punished. For too long, politicians and officials have defrauded the country of thousands of crores of rupees. Corruption has become so pervasive that many politicians belonging to the opposition are also tainted and as a result political opponents have remained largely silent.
I am unable to understand when people say,"notwithstanding the Prime Minister's undisputed personal financial integrity".I have been trying,in vain,to explain to my conscience this personal financial integrity.
If by personal financial integrity you mean that Manmohan Singh has not amassed wealth disproportionate to his income,then in this country of more than a billion people there will be undoutedly millions of individuals who will have undisputed personal financial integrity.But when it comes to the Prime Minister of India that falls short of the target and only personal financial integrity counts to nothing.
Just take the example of much hyped Lokpal bill and now the government wants the PM, CJI and other ministers out of its purview.
If these are the views of Mr Manmohan Singh then he is as guilty as others and if these are not his views this country does not need a PM of such a personal financial integrity who has been reduced to nought!
In-depth, fearless observation, by the editor. Why Mr.Ram can't enter politics and save our nation from further disgrace? If educated, talented and fearless persons like him, just watch and comment, nothing is going to change.
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