M.J. Akbar, the former Asian Age editor widely believed to have lost his job due to his opposition to the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, continues with his relentless assault on prime minister Manmohan Singh in Khaleej Times:
“There is enough evidence that the voter punishes corruption and rewards probity. Leaders like Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Naveen Patnaik, Nitish Kumar and Narendra Modi have won support because they are believed to be personally honest. It may not be the only reason for re-election, but it is a primary reason.
“The Congress had that advantage in the image of Dr Manmohan Singh. That reputation has self-destructed….
“The Prime Minister cannot hold his nose above the stink anymore. He was personally involved in the purchase of MPs…. The mask of morality used to fool us for four years now lies in that great receptacle called the dustbin of history.”
Read the full column: The headmaster of a school for scandal
M.J. Akbar is behaving like a child who has been denied his candy. Bawling and throwing tantrums at the PM. In his personal quest for maligning the PM at the slightest opportunity given to him, he has conveniently given facts a go-by.
When you get emotional and start frothing at the mouth, you undermine your ability to reason out.
Mr. Akbar grandly states, “There is enough evidence that the voter punishes corruption and rewards probity. Leaders like Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Naveen Patnaik, Nitish Kumar and Narendra Modi have won support because they are believed to be personally honest.”
Enough evidence to show voter punishes courruption?
Whadajoke!
Laloo Prasad was given a thumping majority in the last lok sabha elections soon after his fodder scam came out in the open.
Jayalalitha was given another five year term to rule TN, after several cases of corruption was lodged against her.
Shibu Soren was reelected and his party was the number one in Jharkand, after the infamous bribery scam.
Sukh Ram was re-elected after teh four crore was found under his bed.
Ananth Kumar was elected again from Bangalore South Lokh Sabha seat inspite of the HUDCO case lying in the courts.
BJP govts got elected in several major states after the Cash for Questions scam, after the MPLAD scam, after the Tehelka scam.
The sad truth is corruption is no longer an issue, because all parties are expected to be corrupt. Corruption isn’t punished, but rewarded by re-electing them again and again.
Mayawati’s assets have grown by 1000% ever since she became CM the first time around. Yet, her popularity is increasing by leaps and bounds.
What nonsense is MJ Akbar talking about voters showing courrupt politicans the door?
MJ Akbar has a pathological obsession against the Nuclear Deal. But, if Objectively looked at I don’t see how Congress did any wrong in this matter.
If hanging on to the power was the main intention of MM Singh, he could’ve easily done so by forgetting the Nuclear Deal, and retaining left support. He chose not to do that, and take necessary action to get the deal done.
How do you get support for any act that may change status quo in this country? The MPs /MLAs are least bothered about the true reason why we elect them (to debate and make public policy). So, the only way they can be brought to vote for a pathbreaking policy is to bribe them politically and economically.
To a great extent this happens in all democracies, but it is a bit more vulgar here. But, you can’t blame a govt. BJP/Congress for trying to get something done, which it feels is in the interest of the nation. It is a state of affair that’s not of MM singh’s making, but he has to work under.
Besides, people against nuclear deal don’t have anything concrete to offer, except point to nebulous thing called ‘alternative energy’ or pointing to bringing more coal/gas for our energy needs. Coal/Gas besides becoming expensive day by day is environmentally unsustainable. There is a consensus that Altnernative sources like Wind/Solar are atleast 50 years away.
Closed minds never appreciate a good deed.
Read Akbar again. “(Integrity) may not be the only reason for re-election, but it is a primary reason”, he wrote. Likewise, corruption may not be the only reason for getting booted out at the hustings, but it definitely is a contributing factor. Voters tend to tolerate corrupt politicians when they deliver on the governance front. An incompetent, non-delivering politician is more likely to get re-elected if he is not also reputed be corrupt than if he is.
Manmohan Singh’s time is up. No amount of reliance on the Sardesais and other fixers and brokers in the media is going to bolster his battered image. Rajiv Gandhi could not achieve it with Doordarshan at his disposal and major sections of the media eating out of his hands.
Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Naveen Patnaik, Nitish Kumar and Narendra Modi have won support because they are believed to be personally honest.”
AND also because they are young, and functional.
All the old men of India, respected Advani, Hon’ble PM mms, Hon’ble ex PM
Gowda and et al, you have served us well. It is time for you to retire asap.
Else, We will retire you.
Mohan,
You say courrput politicians are tolerated, if they perform.
UPA and non performing?
Our percapita income has doubled since Manmohan Singh came to power.
Our growth rate is a phenomnal 8.5% for the last for years.
Our railways have made record profits over the last four years
Our youth have got jobs in rural areas thanks to NREG
Everybody in India has saved a min 4000 to a max 44, 000 per year on income tax.
Debt ridden Farmers loans have been waived
RTI has given us the power to question corrupt officials and politicians
8 new IITs were given permission to open up in various Indian cities, recently
Allotment for education has been increased like never before
Healthcare expenditure has been increased.
And now, somebody has the have the vision to look 20 years ahead. To think of the burgeoning demand for energy.
Economic growth cannot happen without energy. India will regress to 15th century if we don’t have energy. We will run out of coal sooner than later. Coal is polluting anyways. We need clean sources of energy. Nuclear enrgy is one the options.
We are an energy starved nation. Even the so called IT city is starved of power. We need energy urgently. Everything, virtually everything hinges on power. Our jobs, our recreation, our entertainment, our industries, our shopping malls, our cinema theatres, our hotels, our resorts, our restaurants, …virtually everything..needs power….
Petrol costs are all time high..and somebody had to take the energy-deficient demon by the throat and kill it…..only Manmohan had the vision to do it.
20 years from now, if your kids are breathing clean air, 20 years from now, if your kids have uninterrupted power supply, they will silently remember Manhmohan Singh and thank him.
Way to go Manmohan Singh Ji.
eega iro tondre gaLalli idu bhahaLa mukhya. hiriyaraada MMS-ji avarige bad press sikthalla annodu mukhya.
“The mask of morality lies in dustbin of history”…!!!???
Where was it at the first place? It slipped when the ‘Sonia Maino Gandhi’ faked a ‘BaliDaan’ and gifted us the Prime Minion as a proxy.
It slipped again when a ‘fraud’ and ‘Ghost Talking’ woman of NO substance was anointed as “YOU’R PRESIDENT’ of a BILLION strong nation!
It slipped when all thugs and crooks and rapists and murderers and tricksters and DALLALS were cobbled together to save the skin of one HIGHLY IMMORAL Prime Minion who in any case would be just at a footnote of the history for all the wrong reasons- when ever it is written.
I have always maintained that this man who KIDS know as the PM of India had always been a shrewed man and is just serving his time so that can live a happy ‘retired’ life…. possibly in Texas.
That is the real face of MMS, not the one being projected by the Congress rag Hindustan Times and by the ‘PADAM VIBHUSHAN’ (HUH!) ‘Sickular’ Rajdeep and Barkha.
PERIOD.
PI
So you mean Manmohan Singh can finally, confidentally, stand for Lok Sabha elections?
Looks like Sikhs do not consider him to be one of their own(quite evident from revival of demand for Khalistan and other fanaticism) and obviously Asomese do not recognise him either.
Stupid BJP has hijacked Bellary and Chikmagalur! Now he has to depend on Amethi/Rae Bareli but what would Gandhis do? Momma and her kids…
May be he can stand in Lucknow as Vajpayee has said that he will not participate in electoral politics anymore and try his luck now!
Question saar/madam,
You did not put how proud were we Indians when we had a president like APJ Abdul Kalam and prime minister like Manmohan Singh while USA had to do with a diseducated leader like Dubya!
Err… who’s the president of India now?
I fully agree woth MJ Akar views on Manmohan Singh losing the high moral grounds that he gave to Cong govt. Infact, this view is taken by lot of Indians like me who supported N Deal beacuse we trusted an honest Manmohan Singh’s – not nessarily Cong or UPA – judgement on this.
The deal may be good or not..we dont know yet. But post Congress machination on giving red carpet welcome to jailed MPs, going on knees to Soren and other open acts of inducements..Manmohan Singh and Congress have definitely lost the moral authority they held.
Not A Witty Nick Mahashayare,
Presidentaa ? , Tuth, better not if we talk about her even. aDu yaaro obru murder case iro, ghost pooje maaDo, tale meLe almost drape hakoLLo full common man type antha pose hoDeyo and north india hogi guns brandish maaDo prathibha “tai” patil. The worshtest president that india has got in years, if not weakest president.
Also, saavira jana murder maaaDi attahaasa maaDi, americaDalle 9/11 create maaDi, own janaraNNa kondu, “wolfowitz doctrine” aNNu jaarige baruva haage maaDiDa george “dubya” bush jote en katkollbeku namma Manmohan Stinkge antha gottiLLa :O
Question,
>>20 years from now, if your kids are breathing clean air, 20 years from now, if your kids have uninterrupted power supply, they will silently remember Manhmohan Singh and thank him.
That’s a spirited speech, and you deserve some applause for whipping up the kind of rhetorical flourish that Rahul Gandhi’s speech-writers would be proud of. However, what we need is logic. Have you heard of the post-hoc-ergo-propter-hoc fallacy? That there has been 8% growth in the last four years does not prove that MMS has been responsible for it. (It was 8% by the time he came to power). NDA’s growth rate is directly attributable to its economic policies. There was liberalizatoin in several sectors, and rapid infrastructure growth in telecommunication and transport. Government expenditure was brought under control and revenues were generated by selling off public sector white elephants. MMS instead gave us communist cesspool of corruption called NREGS. He put all economic reform on halt. As to disinvestment, his record is pathetic.
In fact, the bar for MMS was higher. He received a booming economy at 8%. It was expected of him that he would take it to 12%. And he would have, if he continued Vajpayee’s sensible policies. Instead he took inflation from 3% to 9%.
Yes, electricity is needed. The Nuclear Deal is in national interest. But purchasing MPs and subverting democracy is NOT in national interest. Those who are justifying corruption in the name of national interest and patriotism are the very ones prone to quoting Samuel Johnson to the Right, to wit: patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. Ironical, isn’t it?
Sorry to hear MJ, whom I regard as one of the finest Indian editor, was fired because of a political reason. I may not subscribe to all his positions, but he was way above average editors Indian press seen in recent decades.
The three “muslim” MPs that were given chance to speak in the parliament at last moment- Mehbuba Mufti, Abdulla Jr and MIM’s rubble rouser , was done by Somnath Chatterjee. It was AGAINT the consensus reaches in Speaker’s chamber minutes before that NOBODY WILL SPEAK ANYMORE- PM WILL SEEK ANSWER AND THEY DIVISION OF VOTE WILL BE DONE.
Speaker surrdnered to Communal politics of Congress (by putting 3 Muslim MPs to speak to show muslims are not against it).
I think, this blatant politics was one of the reason why Karat FIRED SOMNATH.
* PM WILL SEEK –> PM WILL GIVE
Ok Manamohan ji go ahead and make money, acquire real estate in prime areas in metros, do the same for your friends and relatives. Our people will not object to all this AS THIS HAS BEEN DONE BEFORE. What a shame!
We will never change. Just because some people have been corrupt you want this trend to continue for ever and pardon people as there has been a precedence.
Go and shit in front of the opposite house as they did it in front of yours.
Mohan,
Yes, In 2003-04, the NDA’s last year, the economy registered a growth rate of 8.5 per cent. However, this was a statistical aberration and entirely due to the base effect of the low growth rate of 3.8 per cent in the previous year.
Can you imagine 3.8%? what an apologetic figure!
And the average growth rate of NDA was a pathetic 5.5%
In contrast UPA has consistently hit 8.5% or more for the past four years. And the average is close to a phenomenal 9.0%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Congress initiated the liberalisation process way back in the early 90s. So if NDA seeks to get some credit even for its pathetic 5.5%, all of which should go to Manmohan Singh for kickstarting liberalisation in 90s.
In the three years between 1994 and 1997, (narasimha rao, deve gowda, gujral as PM)the economy had recorded an average growth rate of 7.5 per cent and, despite the severe Asian crisis, the economy grew at 4.8 per cent in 1997-98. That is when the BJP assumed office. What is the record of the BJP/NDA in the subsequent six years? The average for those six years was only 5.8 per cent and, in two of those years, the growth rate was abysmally low at 4.4 per cent!
So dude, you need to check do a reality check befoer accusing me of rhetoric!
Manhmohan did not take inflation to high levels that it is today. Inflation is high in each of the 200 oddd countries in the world. Most of the countries have higher inflation than India. So, full credit to MMS for keeping a check on inflation inspite of RECORD oil prices.
What doyou mean by I made a spirited speech sans logic? How can you not see the writing on the wall? Tax collection has been at an all time high. Fiscal deficit has come down to manageable levels, outlay for education and health has been increased, white elephants will now be disposed off thanks to the left withdrawing support.
The UPA Government has overhauled the moribund manufacturing sector the NDA left behind and the increased business confidence is reflected in the investments made by both domestic and foreign investors. Even in the agriculture sector, the average growth rate in the four years of the UPA Government has been 3.55 per cent. Specifically, in the production of food grains, output has increased by about 10 million tonnes every year.
I promise you more facts, as opposed to your delicate argument which lacks a strong foundation.
As far as courruption is concerned, its like the devil quoting the scriptures. MLAs were purchased in Karnatka by your holier-than-thou party. Now corporators are being purchased (see today’s paper). In the MPLAD scam, the max, number of MPs were from BJP. In the cash for questions scam, max number of MPS were from BJP. I am not even getting into the Ram Naik petrol scam, Ananth Kumar HUDCO scam, Bangaru Laxman Tehelka scam….the list is endless.
Corruption is irrelevant. No party is free from the disease of courruption. What we need is progress. Progress can be achieved through energy. Energy gives jobs to millions of people. Every office, every industry, every factory, every shop, every recreation centre, every mall, every hospital, every everything needs energry. The more the energy,the more the jobs, the more the happiness, the more the economic growth.
If parties want to play cheap politics, by opposing the nuclear energy deal, it’s clearly anti progress, anti development.
Also, under NDA, the railways were making loss after loss after loss every year, until a knight in shining armour called Lallo came in..and the rest is history
Question,
Going by your logic.. During UPA period the growth was good because communists were on board :-) Because for several decades under congress (only) rule we had ‘Nehru’ rate of growth which they wrongly called ‘Hindu rate of growth’. :-D
I like your rhetoric though.. it reminds me of the political hardliners in the villages who read out from the pamphlets again and again and don’t listen to anyone :-)
Your comments on the scam called NREGS alone speaks about your understanding of the ground realities..
Grow up kid..!
@ Question,
looks like you are preparing for the election campaign, good luck with that.
But I suggest sticking to traditional rhetoric like reservation, garibi hatao, BJP communal and such as the hollow stats that you quote so religiously wont cut with even the dumbest of your beloved ‘aam aadmi’. You only have to look back at why the UPA got into power in the first place :)
Raghu and Karihaida
Looks like you guys are bent on throwing out MMS by without analysing the positive points and revolutionary contribution of UPA to governence. Note that while I have given a statistical point by point rebuttal, you guys have given mere empty speeches, sans logic, sans fact.
Did BJP think of RTI? While they ran an opaque govt, UPA ran a transparent govt. many wrong doings were brought to light, thanks to misuse of official machinery by govt. officials. Without RTI, citizens would have never known how bad our officials are.
Remember karihaida, BJP is the champion of reservation..they set a new example in Rajasthan. By giving reservations to all and sundry..so much so that it exceeds even the 50% quoata set up by the supreme court. Jats, Gujjars, Meenas……even Brahmins have got reservations, at the cost of merit.
BJP is no longer communal. It has become secular.
BJP and fundamental Muslims are against the nuclear deal
BJP gave 150 crores to minority fund in karnataka
a hundred other examples prove that BJP has become ‘secular’.
Whatver you say about Nehru rate of growth, have been corrected by Cong itself. First in 1990s by liberising the economy, and now in mid 2000, by further propelling our nation to a massive 9% growth year on year.
NREGS is a scam? Oh, so was Golden Quadrilateral Project which was seeped in courrpution. Thank you.
Kiddo..
Cool down.. go for a BP check.. :-)
If you think people can’t see through your BS.. you are wrong!!
BTW: Did I talk anything about GQ? I am a villager and saw NREGS in work (e.g. constructing a check dam on paper across a non existent stream and paying <5% of money allocated to the workers!!) and hence know what NREGS is all about..
Raghu
I am perfectly calm. Don’t get personal here, if you cannot answer my pointed queries.
Like I said, corruption seeps every aspect of our lives. every department, every office, every factory, every industry, every govt. scheme. NREGS is no different.
There will be some flaws here and there. but over all NREGS has been a gigantic success.