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Saturday, February 19, 2011

WHAT A FALL WAS THERE, MY COUNTRYMEN


A letter to the Prime Minister of India
by B.Raman
.Dear Mr.Prime Minister,
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Like millions of ordinary Indians, I too watched from the beginning till the end your televised interaction with selected journalists from the electronic media on February 16,2011.
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You had never spoken to us, the ordinary people of India, on the various scams which have rocked the country one after another since August last year. Our only source of information has been the media.
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As the citizens of this country who put your party in power, we had a right to expect that you will talk to us and explain to us what is the truth and how you intend arresting and reversing the rot that has set in and the continuing decline in the credibility and image of India as a result of the stories of these scams .
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These stories---whether correct wholly or only partly--- have brought out one thing loud and clear--- the ineptitude and incompetence of your Government, the poor supervision which seems to prevail in many Ministries and offices, including the Prime Minister's Office, and the insensitivity of many senior members of your Cabinet to public concerns over these alleged scams.
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Corruption is nothing new, but the magnitude of it as seen since you came to power has been highly disturbing . What is new is the ineptitude, the incompetence and the lack of supervision which seem to prevail since you came to power--- the like of which one had not seen under any other Prime Minister of India since we became independent in 1947.
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You try to blame your difficulties and embarrassments on your having to run a coalition.You are not the first Prime Minister having to run the country at the head of a coalition. V.P.Singh, Chandrasekhar, Deve Gowda, Inder Gujral and Atal Behari Vajpayee headed coalitions too. Despite this, they gave us a government which worked as a team and which did not pull in different directions. I can't recall any instance under the previous coalitions where a Minister repeatedly circumvented the instructions of the Prime Minister, without fearing the consequences of his action.
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All the previous Prime Ministers, who headed coalition Cabinets, made it clear to their political associates who the boss was and who would take important decisions. They never tolerated anyone who sought to circumvent their instructions. They never let their political allies dictate terms to them.
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This is the first time we are seeing a Prime Minister, who tries to earn not the confidence of the people by projecting himself as a strong leader who will not tolerate any nonsense from his coalition partners, but the pity of the people by projecting himself as a helpless leader, who has nothing but to do what his coalition partners ask him to do.
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We watched in utter amazement for one hour on February 16 not the rallying cry of a leader, who has realised the magnitude of the rot and who is determined to set it right whatever be the consequences to his position as the Prime Minister, but an exercise in self-pity of a leader who is at the mercy of his coalition partners and does not have the courage to call them to order.
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This was the first time we had an opportunity of listening to you on the State of the country in the light of these scams. We were looking forward not to excuses and pretexts to explain away the sins of commission and omission of your government, but to a bold re-assertion of your leadership as the Prime Minister of this great country, who has the courage to face the people of this country in their eyes and reassure them: Thus far and no further.
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I have no doubt in my mind that many right-thinking people of India, like me,must have felt ashamed and enraged as they saw the Prime Minister of this country giving out one excuse after another for not being able to govern effectively and for not being able to prevent blatantly wrong decisions and corruption.
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You let us down badly, Mr.Prime Minister. You let us down badly.
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for more details click on link below.
http://ramanstrategicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-fall-was-there-my-countrymen.html


4 comments:

  1. In view of the weakness and compulsions displayed by the Prime Minister and the ever increasing cases of corruption, Should we not, insist on putting all ministers / bureaucrats / officials facing corruption charges and now all those plunderers/robbers whose names have been revealed, behind bars immediately and also confiscate their entire wealth and properties which should be put to appropriate uses by the respective Governments without any delay. The present government will never enact death sentence for such enemies of India, though, they desrve nothing less.

    Col LK Anand Retd

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Friends,

    Although every one would like to follow the rule of law and the legal system, but is there still a scope for following the legal route? Is our Government or bureaucracy following it? We are all aware of the delays caused by the judicial process in India. Everyone knows the fate, to which the Indian Judiciary is being confined to lately.

    Considering that wherever the state machinery fails to perform, due to grossly mismanaged affairs in every field of activity, by its totally unaccountable and irresponsible bureaucracy, who have not only been misguiding the politicians, but also the entire Nation by their misdeeds and corrupt practices, it is the Army which invariably comes to the rescue of the Nation.

    It seems that this time also, it has to play a more than a major role to play, perhaps in combination with and advice of the really patriotic and enlightened citizens of India (may be the likes of Mr Subramanayam or Baba Ramdev and many more), to root out and reform the country’s politicians and the bureaucracy and to set up a rule of law, which has become a major casualty today. The law enforcement agencies, also not being autonomous, are working at the beck and call of these anti national rogues and criminals. The authority of the Apex court has also become questionable under this ruling government. The President cum Supreme Commander of India being literally a rubber stamp is incapable of taking any effective action.

    There is thus a certain degree of ruthlessness required now to fulfil such ambitions and aspirations of the Indian citizens, which our weakest and gutless prime minister can never do or will ever do. However,it has to be done if not today, may be tomorrow or may be a day after, but we cannot delay it indefinitely. All the best.

    Col LK Anand Retd

    ReplyDelete
  3. My Dear Friends and Citizens of India,

    Every one wants and expects that there should be rule of law in the country. But how and where will the rule of law come from, if the greatest perpetrators of breaking laws are the law mak...ers themselves. Similarly, if every one starts interfering with the functioning and authority of the Supreme Court, either the justices of the supreme court would also start breaking down under pressure (which no one would ever desire, except the perpetrators themselves), or it would become necessary for the Supreme Court to take a much tougher and activist role, to teach all those not honouring its rulings/verdicts timely, or questioning its authority, a proper lesson under contempt or any other provisions within its repertoire.

    I would love such a tough stance being taken not only by the Apex Court but all the High Courts and lower courts as well. Whether, it really happens is any body's guess. If it does, then we could have high hopes in this country.

    Col LK Anand Retd

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dear Friends,

    It is a pity that we Indians are rather too tolerant and often tend to accept the worst which the Government heaps upon us. Prime Minister's rants infront of the press would make us all take pity on him. Inspite of what all he says, there i...s every possibility that such a sordid state of affairs would continue in the country, till the next elections are in sight.

    Congress led UPA is only interested in funds and more funds and its vote bank policy. You will see, it would again dole out a few lakhs of crores, for farmers or minority welfare (some of their favourite communities) or for attracting any such vote giving Janata, to win elections.

    Unfortunately, Indian people’s memory is too short lived and after four and a half years of miserable living with few positives in the last six months, it would again come thronging to the booths to vote for the ruling party, for repetition of another term of misery. I hope the people would realise at least now, and not repeat their folly of forgetting and forgiving the miseries undergone.

    Best Wishes for good sense to prevail amongst our highly tolerant countrymen.

    Col LK Anand Retd

    ReplyDelete