The PM Presser

In a very strange way, we celebrate our democracy. In a way that US does not. For example, PM talking to press is headline news. In fact, I think I have been verbose. It appears that PM is speaking is a National News. So, it came to pass on 16th Feb 2011, that PM decided to offer the editors of TV, Valentine's gift by talking to them. The newsrooms across the nation went into a spin. Some heard him with rapt attention; a few found him tone and content convincing. Most of them were disappointed.

As a viewer of this TV show and as a citizen of India, I took down notes during the presser.

What was the purpose of the presser? The engineer in me forces me to start the problem solving process with an unambiguous focus on the target. The Economist in him forces him to go through the motions and offer excellent anecdotal evidence of his experience. In hindsight, everything is 20/20. So his story is likely to be sexier than mine. Coming back to the "goal", I went into the program expecting him to offer a diplomatic insight into his side of the argument.

He confessed that he was driven by coalition compulsions to tolerate the choice of ministers, it was understandable. That this choice meant that he could afford to abdicate the sense of accountability and leadership that rests on his shoulders, was simply damning. It set alarm bells ringing in my mind. What if another PM came and gave the same excuse – “I had no choice in the matter, so I tolerated something ever messier”. I knew that PM had crossed the line here. And from my point of view, this meeting was going downhill.

He often added that he was troubled by the scams; but he was not the culprit. In fact he was more nuanced than this. He said he was not as much a culprit as he is being made out to be. So, my question is, how much out the 5 Lakh crore worth [agreed that this based on back of the envelope computation] of culpability across 4 scams [2G, ISRO, Adarsh and CWG], can be notionally assigned to you. And do you believe that the figure is small enough to be overlooked as pocket change. Get serious. India has been fair to you, Mr. PM. No one has said that you are corrupt. In fact, what is astonishing is the fact that these scams could happen under your nose and you could tolerate this or look the other way. I simply do not buy the argument that you did not know. And what worries a citizen like me is that if this could happen when Dr MMS is the PM, the nation has a bleak future when we have lesser mortals occupying the chair. You threatened to resign to save the Indo US Nuclear deal. It was important to you. Why did you not use your power to "blackmail" the UPA constructively? If this did not work, it was for Mrs. Sonia Gandhi to find a solution. At the very least, you would have come out much stronger. Who did you think you were protecting? You staked the reputation that has become synonymous with Dr MMS. What was this for? History will judge you harshly if this was worth anything at all.

The most misquoted statement in Indian politics is about Caesar's wife being above suspicion. I suppose this is applicable to your cabinet colleagues as it is applicable to you. Mr PM, Caesar's wife has been gang raped. No more suspicion. It is a fact. Now she is asking for mercy, because it was forced upon her, therefore this was compulsion, and not a matter of choice. She was helpless. Now the question is - should we exonerate her under the circumstances? This is the real question.

Coalition dharma is the excuse bandied about by every political scoundrel. What exactly is this dharma? Is this dharma at all? Is tolerance to a corruption and scam that runs to about 5 lakh crores right under the nose of a helpless PM - the pre-eminent requirement for coalition? If it is the case, we Indians have the wrong kind of democracy. We need a constitutional amendment. Coalitions are here to stay in India. And we cannot afford the CM and PMs to walk by overlooking the rape and plunder of National Wealth under the guise of signing up for coalition dharma. I am not a constitutional expert, but as a citizen, I cannot accept this plunder. No way. This is first amendment we need, even before the Lokpal bill. No future leader in our land must use coalition as an excuse to ignore, tolerate or be a patron of corruption.

The PM seemed to be extremely sketchy on details. It appears that he used the often misused mantra of empowerment. The assumption that people will execute using self-correcting processes which require no detailed reviews at critical decision points is highly misplaced one. Honest reviews are the way to ensure execution success.

Where does corruption begin? Rarely can a policy be held guilty. Even FCFS, can be executed in a clean and transparent way. The issue was not so much about the policy as it was about the execution process adopted. Corruption started when someone started assigning the scarce national wealth to their inner circle. The scam is about the price the companies sold the spectrum in 6 months of its allocation vs. the price at which it was bought.

Prima facie, PM did not believe that his neck was on the line; given his understanding of the coalition dharma. Collective responsibility is more than this. You are accountable for success and failure - for all the possible outcomes. This is not empowerment. Mr. PM, this is abdication of responsibility.

Enough said. I was left wondering – Dr. MMS, was your silence more eloquent than your speech?