New Delhi, August 29: Why do I find Dr Singh less than transparent as opposed to the praises for integrity heaped on him by an ever-fawning media
One, it was to save Dr Singh’s policies when he was finance minister that MPs were bribed in a trust vote, which he would have lost. MPs were again bribed when he was prime minister to similarly bail him out. In the first case, the MPs were jailed but not the bribe-givers.
Two, Dr Singh used a bureaucratic loophole to assert he was a resident of the remote tribal state of Assam. This is hardly what a man of integrity would claim. But it was a requirement if he was to be elected to the Rajya Sabha from that state. The law has since been redefined under his initiative and now any citizen of a certain age can contest from any state to the Rajya Sabha subverting the federal character the constitution had envisaged for the upper house.
Dr Singh holds the distinction of being the third longest-serving prime minister without ever becoming a member of the Lok Sabha. Ergo he never won a popular poll mandatory for a prime minister even in Pakistan.
Corruption was always around in the corridors of power in India. But ministers would resign when found culpable. Dr Singh has not remained unsinged by the recent spate of graft charges against his cabinet colleagues though he has denied personal responsibility. Now a former minister jailed for corruption has threatened to summon him as witness.
–Agencies–