Mr Honest (PM), Prove your Honesty!

If their is one quality or attribute which both the Government and the Opposition are hell bent to showcase these days, it's certainly that of being 'Obstinate'. So if the BJP led Opposition is relentlessly demanding for a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the Rs.1.76 lakh crore 2G scam, the Congress led UPA government is vehemently refusing to all such demands. And the overall output of this stalemate is the fact that winter session of parliament got adjourned for all the 21 days leading to a humongous loss of public money.

Now the big question is why is the opposition so adamant on its demand of setting up a JPC or what good a JPC will do to the fortunes of the opposition? As a matter of fact, in the post independence political history of India, 4 JPCs have been formed respectively for investigating the Bofors scam, the Harshad Mehta scandal, the Stock Market scam and the pesticides adulterated cold drink debacle. And on all the four occasions, leave aside the prospects of anybody getting punished, not even a single person has been convicted, rather even no substantial remedial action has been taken against the suspected defaulting party. So with such a backdrop, ideally even a full fledged JPC inquiry should count for nothing.

Also, the JPC makes sense if it manages to clear up the murky dealings between the politicians, the bureaucrats, the industrialists and the media. But who cares for all this, at least the opposition hardly does because the biggest plus which they are seeking from a JPC probe is the fact that a JPC probe can even summon the Prime Minister to appear in the dock. And with that happening it clearly tarnishes the image of the man on whose innocence, goodwill and stainless record, the Congress led UPA government has been sailing smoothly on even the roughest of waters. And with a huge role that the Prime Minister Office has to play in the entire 2G Spectrum allocation process, their is every chance that the honorable PM might be summoned to appear before the JPC and eventually face quite a few awkward questions, which for sure will be a matter of great shame for not only Dr Manmohan Singh but also for the government. No wonder the government is shying away from a JPC probe and the opposition is so hell bent on gaining a huge political mileage over the government by letting it happen.

But amidst all this brouhaha the biggest and the most surprising question is that, why is the government so reluctant and rather so defensive in having a JPC to probe the 2G scam.Obviously with such a huge uproar on this matter already they are foreseeing a risk of finding themselves in minority on this issue and this apart from the stated reason of finding the honorable Prime Minister in the dock. But by constantly denying a JPC they are reinforcing the fact that something is wrong from their end and they are trying to shield the Prime Minister from a shameful scrutiny. And this rather uncharacteristic behavior on the government's part is also shocking because going by the past records of JPCs, none of the JPC probes, findings/recommendations have been implemented or were rather implemented as a watered down version. So when they could have easily lingered on with a nod to JPC, relying on its non-productive outcome, they have made matters worse and rather dubious for themselves by constantly objecting to it.

And what is most disgusting amongst all this is the government's new found habit of advocating the Prime Minister by saying that the opposition should not raise fingers against a person of Prime Minister's stature, as he is a man of utmost integrity, he has always been a role model for millions and is rather the best and the cleanest Prime Minister in the history of Indian politics. But if that is the case, they should make things even more simple by letting the Prime Minister and in turn the government prove their innocence by going through a JPC. And idolizing is a good thing only if it is done in the right vein, but when it crosses the limits of sanity it turns into stupidity. So if a man has been an impeccable character all his life, doesn't mean that he will remain one for the rest of his life too, he has to pass through various litmus tests to prove his mettle time and again.

Obviously with the public memory being short lived this multi crores scam will also evaporate from our storage disks in due course. A prospective aberration to this can be an united opposition still adamant for a JPC and thereby also disrupting the budget session of the parliament. But with no offence against the honorable Prime Minister and with full regards to him, in the interest of this nation he should be the first man from the government to cross the line, agree to a JPC, prove his innocence and come out clean.Only then will it set a good example for all the politicians, bureaucrats and industrialists to traverse the path of honesty and integrity.

Jai Hind!

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