“Manmohan Singh needs Amit Shah”, a Chandan Mitra article

Read this article at original location where it was posted

During a TV discussion on the case relating to the alleged murder of notorious gangster Sohrabuddin Shaikh and his associates, one of India’s most respected legal luminaries, Mr Harish Salve, made two observations. While not commenting on the merits of the case against Mr Amit Shah, he said it has nevertheless to be admitted that (a) CBI’s impartiality has been under a cloud for a long time especially in politically sensitive matters, and (b) the timing of the notice issued to Mr Shah is questionable. His second observation was made in agreement with my assertion that the CBI had deliberately raked up the issue just on the eve of Parliament’s Monsoon Session despite having enough time over the past few months to probe Mr Shah’s alleged role. The purpose, I had contended, was to put BJP on the back foot and torpedo Opposition unity in the run-up to the Session. This column is not about the much-hyped Sohrabuddin encounter although it is distressing that sections of the media seem to have fallen into the Congress’s trap and are busy shedding copious tears over the death of a wanted criminal while ignoring hundreds of alleged fake encounters that routinely happen in other States — Uttar Pradesh leading the pack.

The Government’s political motives are easily understood. The deployment of the CBI to encircle Mr Amit Shah, thereby targeting Mr Narendra Modi at this juncture has a lot to do with UPA2’s pathetic track record on several fronts. Arguably it was the Supreme Court that directed the CBI to swing into the act after breast-beating professional Modi-baiters raved and ranted against the SIT. Incidentally, SIT’s probe too was being monitored by the apex court. But given the CBI’s proven ability to surrender before Congress regimes in Delhi and tailor findings in accordance with directions from the PMO or 10 Janpath, the Supreme Court may have been well-advised to keep this agency out of a politically sensitive case.

It should not be forgotten how former Law Minister HR Bhardwaj tweaked the CBI’s ears not only to close the Bofors investigation but also sent an officer of the agency to London to ensure Ottavio Quattrocchi’s frozen account was reopened and the dubious Italian could decamp with the money. The CBI’s astounding flip-flops in the Mayawati and Mulayam Singh disproportionate assets cases hardly bear recalling. Each time the Government finds itself short of votes in the Lok Sabha, the CBI is trotted out first to accelerate the pace of investigations and then, once the affected parties are badgered into submission, permission is sought to dilute or close the matter “for want of sufficient evidence”. Regardless of whether Mr Amit Shah is convicted, the country has reason to be concerned about the repeated brazen misuse of the India’s top investigative agency by the Congress.

With attention diverted to the fallout of a notorious gangster’s death, Mr Manmohan Singh has ensured a breather for his beleaguered Government over issues like runaway inflation, Foreign Minister SM Krishna’s shameless genuflection before his Pakistani counterpart, previous Congress regimes’ complicity in letting mass murderer Warren Anderson off the hook and other instances of ineptitude or even wilful misgovernance. Despite the presence of so-called economic wizards in Government, it has abysmally failed to control food prices. Worse, it does not seem too worried about it. In July 2009, Mr Manmohan Singh had assured the nation that prices would start spiraling downwards by December of that year. Without batting an eyelid he repeated that assurance one year later. A usually sober Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee uncharacteristically promised that inflation would be down to five to six per cent by the year-end. This at a time when food inflation is running at over 12 per cent despite the arrival of the bountiful rabi crop in the market. Meanwhile overall inflation figures have again touched the double-digit mark.

The hike in petrol prices at a time when inflation is completely out of the Government’s control makes us wonder what kind of economic expertise and management skills UPA2 possesses. Compared to our neighbours, none of whom has significant oil reserves, retail prices of petroleum products are incredibly high in India. The Congress’s much vaunted aam aadmi plank stands ruptured not only by galloping inflation but also the insensitive imposition of an additional cost of Rs 3 per litre on the aam aadmi’s principal energy source — kerosene. The full impact of the decontrol of petrol prices is yet to be felt by the consumer. But it is a matter of time before monthly rate hikes become the norm. I can clearly foresee how enhanced prices will be announced for a few months and then a slight reduction will happen amid much fanfare.

The Prime Minister warned on board his aircraft while flying back from abroad last month that diesel too will not be spared the Government’s decontrol zeal. This is even more ominous, for increase in the cost of diesel immediately impacts the transport of foodgrain and promptly reflects in higher retail prices. NDA too had begun the process of dismantling the Administered Price Mechanism for petroleum products, but gave up the experiment when international prices started to climb unmanageably. Incidentally, the real beneficiaries of decontrol are not Indian oil PSUs or the Government exchequer but multinational petroleum giants, mostly US-based: Yet another pointer to this Government’s surrender to American lobbies?

That the Government has already lost its vertebrae under sustained American battering is equally evident from what happened in Islamabad when Mr SM Krishna went there earlier this month. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi stomped all over the Indian delegation, publicly mocked Mr Krishna for taking ‘telephonic directions’ from Delhi during their talks and compared India’s Home Secretary to terrorist chieftains Hafiz Saeed and Salahuddin. Far from rebutting the rampaging Qureshi and his uncivil remarks, Mr Krishna returned home and launched a tirade against Home Secretary GK Pillai on lines similar to the Pakistan Foreign Minister! Astonishingly, neither the Prime Minister nor the Congress establishment stood up to defend national honour.

The chain of humiliation heaped upon India, first at Sharm el-Sheikh, then in New Delhi during the Foreign Secretary-level talks and now in Islamabad has left India diplomatically bruised, its prestige maimed. But Washington is insistent that India must continue the dialogue with Pakistan as that serves US interests in Afghanistan. A Prime Minister less infatuated with America would have said ‘Thus far and no farther.’ But that is a stance we cannot expect Mr Manmohan Singh to take. So more insults will come our way; Mr SM Krishna will be asked to grin and bear it.

Space constraints prevent me from delving into the recent exposure of the Rajiv Gandhi Government’s duplicitous role in the aftermath of the Bhopal gas tragedy. But the ghosts of Bhopal have risen from their grave and the incumbent Government cannot wash its hands of the sins. Is it any wonder that the Congress would want Parliament stalled every day so that these issues cannot be discussed thoroughly? Is it any wonder that the Government has sought to divert attention to Sohrabuddin?