JOIN USObfuscation will hurt PM’s credibility
The most notable and the loudest part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, and in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, was what he did not say. The Prime Minister was expected to answer questions about his proximity to the Adani Group and his government’s alleged favours to the Gujarati business house which is facing charges of corporate malpractices.
Opposition members, particularly Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, had raised these charges in the House but the Prime Minister completely avoided the topic and claimed that the “lies and abuses” of the Opposition would not affect him as he had the protective shield of the people’s trust. He said he had earned this shield by doling out free food grains and other freebies to the poor. It is wrong on the Prime Minister’s part to refuse to answer questions on the Adani issue on the ground that he has earned public goodwill through government schemes. Democratic accountability and probity are not based on the public goodwill a politician enjoys.
After all, such public goodwill is based on incomplete and imperfect information about the politician’s private affairs.
The Prime Minister chose to attack the Opposition and the previous UPA government for their failures in the past, instead of speaking on the Adani issue, which has hit the nation under his watch. Even if the Opposition is guilty of the wrongs Modi accuses them of, that does not absolve Modi and his government of the charges levelled against them. These charges, including the one that the Adani Group has gained from its proximity to the Prime Minister, are in the public domain, and it is not just the Opposition that has raised the questions. Whataboutery, self-congratulation, arrogance and rhetoric are suited for political pulpits.
In parliament, they amount to evasion and obfuscation.
Parliament is a forum for reasoned debate and discussions on issues that are important to the nation and the people, and for the Prime Minister and the government to be held accountable. The government is duty bound to answer truthfully and straightforwardly questions raised about its policies and conduct. Issues relating to the Adani Group are important and the questions they raise about the conduct of business and the nexus between politics and business cannot be dismissed as unworthy of reply by proclaiming that the Prime Minister is above the fray. Given that the spectacular rise in the Adani Group’s fortunes has coincided with this government’s reign, questions are bound to be asked about the relationship between the two since certain revelations have now become public about the corporate practices of the Adani Group. The Prime Minister should not run away from these questions. By doing so, he loses his credibility.