Time has come for 'silent majority' to speak up: CAG

Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai, who had estimated that the 2G spectrum allocation caused the exchequer Rs1.76 lakh crore, Friday said that democracy was at the "crossroads" and it was time for the "silent majority" to speak up.

Addressing a gathering of his Hindu college alumni and students at a function where he received the "Alumunus of the Decade" award, Rai also said the work done by his institution had taken a toll on his friendships.

"Democracy is at crossroads today and each one of us assembled here needs to contribute to debunk the myth of the silent majority," Rai said.

"The time has come for the majority not to be silent because it is a minority which speaks on the behalf of the majority," the government auditor said.

Speaking in a lighter vein, he said: "The pace at which I am losing friends, this award better came this year. Next year you may probably not even decide to give this award to me."

He said his friends in the bureaucracy and otherwise "have stopped even acknowledging me everytime they are on my wrong side or I am on their wrong side".