In July 2008, BJP leader LK Advani as the Leader of Opposition
had called Manmohan Singh as a ‘NIKAMMA’ (useless) Prime Minister during the debate on a no-trust
a motion against the UPA-I govt. Then replying to the no-trust motion, Manmohan
Singh had given a befitting reply (link given below) whose excerpts are as
follows:
“The Leader of Opposition, Shri L.K. Advani has chosen to
use all manner of abusive objectives to describe my performance. He has
described me as the weakest Prime Minister, a nikamma PM, and of having
devalued the office of PM. To fulfill his ambitions, he has made at least three
attempts to topple our government. But on each occasion his astrologers have
misled him… All I can say is that before
leveling charges of incompetence on others, Shri Advani should do some
introspection. Can our nation forgive a Home Minister who slept when the
terrorists were knocking at the doors of our Parliament? Can our nation forgive
a person who single handedly provided the inspiration for the destruction of
the Babri Masjid with all the terrible consequences that followed? To atone for
his sins, he suddenly decided to visit Pakistan and there he discovered new
virtues in Mr. Jinnah. Alas, his own party and his mentors in the RSS disowned
him on this issue. Can our nation approve the conduct of a Home Minister who
was sleeping while Gujarat was burning leading to the loss of thousands of
innocent lives?...”
This strong reply presented Manmohan as an able PM and he
received applause from the people as well as media. But for the last two years
the country has seen a different Manmohan who has allowed himself to be painted
by the vociferous Narendra Modi as a ‘man of no action’. We all know that the scam charges, deserting political
allies, rising prices of petroleum products, and gloomy world economic scenario have
contributed to Manmohan’s woes. But when the poor and middle classes see the
govt being unable to control even vegetable prices (which are not linked to dollar),
they have no option but to consider the Manmohan govt as ineffective.
Media has time and again attributed the rise in onion prices
to hoarding and black marketing of onions. Now I think hoarding and black
marketing have also spread to other vegetables, like potato and tomato whose prices are also skyrocketing. It’s possible
that many traders, having loyalty to the anti-Congress camp, may be resorting
to these malpractices to paint the Manmohan govt in bad colours. But, to prove
its sincerity for aam admi’s welfare, the Manmohan govt should have informed people regularly about its actions or its instructions given to state govts to
check vegetables hoarding and black marketing.
I think Manmohan and top
Congress leaders very well know that the masses living with high inflation won’t
care that UPA II is the first govt in Independent India, which acted against some of its own ministers and some members of high-profile political families, who were put behind bars for
their alleged corrupt acts. They also know that people are facing hardships
because of subsidy removal from petroleum products, which is a major
factor of general price rise but is a good step to encourage judicious use of petroleum
products and generate more resources for the exchequer.
But neither Manmohan nor top Congress leaders appear to be doing
anything that would tell the aam admi that they understand his problems and
want to help him. Have they already conceded defeat to Narendra Modi?
Manmohan’s reply to no-trust motion: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2008-07-22/india/27927772_1_astrologers-home-minister-shri-advani
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