Manmohan's failures

Between the lines

Maoists kill 35 more people, including security officials, at the same place, Dantewada, in Chhattisgarh where some Gandhians had marched for peace earlier in the week. Essential supplies continue to be blocked by the Nagas to the northeastern state of Manipur. Food prices show 20 per cent increase in six months. Teachers assault a vice-chancellor. Two passengers are killed in a melee that the railway officials cause changing platforms of two trains at the nick of their departure.

All these things happening one after another in a couple of days give an impression that the Manmohan Singh government, completing its sixth year of rule this month, is not able to fix the country’s problems. No doubt, some of them are trivial but they underline the fact that there is no accountability. More than that, what they emphasise is the listlessness that has crept in governance. It is not so much the systematic failure as is the government’s ineptness to deal with even minor hiccups.

The obvious reason is that the prime minister who is called a ‘guru’ by President Barack Obama on economic matters is out of depth when he faces even mundane affairs. His focus on the 9 per cent growth has pushed everything else to the background.
Yet his main failure seems to be his inability to meet the biggest challenge: corruption. It has corroded the society pervading in every field. Understandably, the prime minister has to take into account political compulsions. He has to overlook the malpractices or sheer dishonesty of coalition partners to stay in power. The Congress has 206 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha. And this was clear from the compromises made during the cut motion against the government in the last session of parliament. But did the Congress party have to go to the extent of foregoing prosecution in foolproof cases? UP Chief Minister Mayawati has been let off the hook in the disproportionate assets case. Telecommunications Minister A Raja of the DMK has cost the exchequer Rs 4,000 crore in the mobile bands scandal.

I am not arguing the moral side of what the ruling Congress has been doing. I am drawing the attention of the prime minister to the effect it is having in all the fields, whether public or private. Corruption is beginning to be even accepted as a normal way of life in India. I do not recall him making in the recent past any statement against corruption. Nor has he made any visible effort to cleanse the government which has only a few honest officials left.

Lok Pal
Had Manmohan Singh pursued the proposal to appoint a Lok Pal who has power to look into corruption at high places, the prime minister would have been seen as at least creating an institution, independent of the pressure that the ruling party in a minority has to reckon with. The Lok Pal, the appointment of whom was the election plank of the Congress, would have taken note of proven evidence collected by the CBI.

How come the government is all there in taking action against the Maoists or the Naxalites? The prime minister has rightly pinpointed that they are the greatest danger to the country. Their violent defiance and the spree of killings in which they indulge are an adequate proof of their challenge to the state. But this fight should not restrict the democratic space which the Indian constitution ensures.

Government officials have warned members of the civil society that the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, which calls for imprisonment of up to 10 years, could be used to punish individuals in contact with the Maoists.

The home ministry’s statement threatens to make political discussion difficult. The government should not equate criticism with criminal acts of the Maoists. In fact, Congress president Sonia Gandhi herself has in a way criticised the government for the lack of development in the Maoist-affected areas. Yet mixing the Maoists’ violence with the economic progress is oversimplifying the problem.
In the fight against the Maoists, it is important to have active cooperation of the states. A country of the size of India is best governed locally, not nationally. The states have to be at the centre of the stage although they are dependent on the centre for weapons and training of their ill-equipped forces. But Home Minister Chidambaram gives the impression as if he is the only person standing between chaos and order in the country. Some states may have a different way in dealing with the Maoists and they should be appreciated.

As regards the blockade, Manipur needs New Delhi’s support because the state has suffered from the excesses which the security forces have committed there. The government has promised to lift the Armed Forces Act from Manipur but has not done it so far. The Nagas’ strength is their well-equipped underground force, an equal irritant to the Centre.

Democracy survived in India even when the Congress government suspended the fundamental rights some 32 years ago. The Maoists or their ilk cannot extinguish the nation’s faith in the ballot box. What is needed is the right approach and the political will.