PM’s move, a case of too little, too late

Prime minister Manmohan Singh is to be commended for his willingness to be questioned by the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) which is looking into allegations of corruption in the 2G spectrum allocation.

However, it may have been a bolder move had he made it when Parliament was still in session. Instead, rather than make this declaration at a public forum, he has done so during the Congress plenary.

It is also heartening that the prime minister believes that he and his office should be above suspicion and therefore would do anything to clear his name.

However, it is also true that the opposition has not accused the prime minister of any wrongdoing in his personal capacity nor attacked his integrity.

They have questioned — legitimately — how the former Union telecom minister A Raja was allowed to get away with practically giving away 2G spectrum without anyone checking him.

Moreover, the leaking of the taped conversations of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia do paint a rather unsavoury picture of corporates with telecom interests trying to influence Cabinet decisions — particularly to make sure that Raja gets the telecom portfolio. There is also the nexus between politicians, bureaucrats and corporates that has emerged here.

Quicker action by the prime minister would have engendered more confidence in this government. It may be true that it has worked reasonably fast — by government standards — to get rid of its corrupt and tainted ministers.

And it may also be true that the Bharatiya Janata Party has not similarly been able to take Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa in hand. But neither of these facts, in any way, has any bearing on the 2G spectrum scam, the scale of which is phenomenal.

The opposition and the government have, both, been equally stubborn on the Joint Parliamentary Action Committee, neither budging, which has not really helped the matter move forward.

This prime minister was selected because he was seen as a ‘doer’ as well as a ‘clean man’. Unfortunately, in its second edition, the United Progressive Alliance under Singh’s leadership, has faltered at the starting line and the PM’s clean record cannot be a sufficient defence here.

If this government means to show us that it means business, we need more than pretty rhetoric at this stage. Or it’s just one more case of too little, too late.