This refers to the reports “Missing coal block files disrupt House” (Aug.21) & “End to Parliament impasse unlikely” (Aug.22). Being a student of psychology, it is easy to understand how politicians, as a class, are power hungry and high on the power motive, a scale which psychologists have innovated to measure the inborn hunger to grab power either through coercive or persuasive methods. That 200 files that relate to the coal block allocations have gone missing points to the failings of our democracy and the executive. What about the more than 50 files that belong to applicants whose bids were rejected?
Vikram Singh,Kurukshetra
The neck-deep-in-scams UPA government has lost whatever credibility it had. It is only trying to save its already blackened face from becoming even darker due to malpractices in coal block allocations.
Yogeshwar N. Tompe,Degloor
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is so quick to declare that he is honest, is silent. The Opposition is raising only issues that are convenient to it. There are already 116 bills pending to be discussed and passed. The government is solely responsible for wasted parliamentary time.
M.M. Kale,Kakinada
Dr. Singh was in charge of the coal ministry. It is inconceivable to think that he was unaware of what was going on. Hence, it is his responsibility to explain in Parliament how things have come to such a pass. He should have done this voluntarily, which would have saved Parliament much of the agony it is experiencing. By not saying anything, he is making matters worse.
Parimel Azhagan T.,Hyderabad
This seems to be the grandma of all UPA scams. As one who served in the Indian Air Force 59 years ago, I know pretty well how nasty it can get for an airman or an officer if even a not-so-important file went missing. If this was the case, how can 200 files go missing?
Mani Natarajan,Chennai
As BJP leader Arun Jaitley has said, files do not disappear but are made to disappear, especially when all of them relate to a major controversy under investigation. It is obvious, too, that files cannot be made to vanish so completely and in such a number without the motivation, connivance and involvement of persons at the highest levels of the ministries concerned. That this can happen in a case being closely monitored by the Supreme Court is a pointer to the high stakes that the truth must involve.
The government — which has so far been resorting to tactics such as barefaced denials, stonewalling of discussions, fettering the CBI to derailing investigations, obfuscating the truth, discrediting constitutional authorities and invocation of the prerogative of policy-making to cover up its scams — seems to have descended to the level of destroying evidence of wrongdoing.
A.N. Lakshmanan,Bangalore
