|
Go
Mr Sinha: We’ll trust you more!
I have
come to the conclusion that we are an insensitive country: whenever
anyone makes a mistake we think he should be punished. We believe
that criminals should go to jail; murderers should be hung and those
who cheat us should be locked up. How unfair this is. Now look at
the song and dance we’re making about Yashwant Sinha. Everyone’s
baying for his blood: they want him to step down and he like all
good Indians is very puzzled. His track record has been impeccable:
He has ensured that the country’s tax payer funds every silly
mistake he and his ministry make: so I am not surprised if now we,
the taxpayers, will have to fund his UTI debacle. But why blame
Sinha. Like all ministers of this Government, he too can claim to
be ignorant: in fact the manner in which the ministers claim their
ignorance on everything makes me wonder if this country is running
on auto-pilot.
Look
at the innocence of Sinha: when questioned as to whether that devious
UTI Chairman consulted him, all he said was no. He then went to
add that the Ministry was kept in the dark. If this is how your
ministry works Mr Sinha, then go and borrow lanterns from Laloo’s
Bihar. My worry is not just the UTI but instead some other corporations
that you ultimately rule over. But then I agree with you: you as
the Finance Minister have been so much in the dark that our economy
is today in a tailspin inspite of your unbridled optimism. You have
ensured that millions of Indians lose, overnight, their investments
because you and your stooges believed in a man who was, I have been
told, intrinsically corrupt. The FM has shown a complete lack of
accountability and has opened himself and his Prime Minister to
the kind of Parliamentary ridicule which will be certainly unmatched.
I cannot understand how Yashwant Sinha could even make a comment
which suggests HE DID NOT KNOW.
It
is your business to know, Mr Sinha and if for some reason you have
not been informed, then heads need to roll. You should fire some
of your bureaucrats as you should certainly offer to resign. I am
aware that for you, this Ministry holds some significance but look
at the bloomers that your Ministry has unleashed. It is no secret,
Mr Sinha, that people hold you singularly responsible: it may suit
you to ignore this or you may, like all crafty politicians, say
this is a conspiracy to oust you: let me tell you the plain truth:
you need to resign for what you have done to the Indian public.
I do not believe anyone in the investing public believes you any
more. Just look at Ketan Parekh; look at the role that SEBI played;
it is sad that you continue to occupy this high office and nothing
seems to move you out. Forget confidence building measures with
Musharraf’s Pakistan: first build them in India.
What
angers me is also that people in this country can do so much damage
and get away so lightly. The UTI Chairman should be locked up: he
has destroyed the common man’s faith in his Government. This
Government should be investigating all those companies which withdrew
their investments in UTI within a span of one month: they knew something
which the common man did not: there is no doubt that they were forewarned
by a head of that corporation who gave away money as if it belonged
to him. Mr Sinha, you need to realise that you are holding this
office in trust: it is not your jagir and never will be. At the
same time, your people down the line must realise that when organisations
like UTI mess up, people’s lives are destroyed: but why should
you and your johnnies care. Your money was not involved.
There
are several steps that Vajpayee needs to take: Mr Prime Minister,
you need to ask your Finance Minister to go and he must take the
Subramanyams of this world: it is officers like Subramanyam who
must be made examples of — you need to be seen punishing corrupt
and self-serving heads of institutions: these very officials become
satraps in their own right since in many cases they handout largesse
to ministers and their relatives if not to an ever-obliging media
which then again immunises them from criticism because there is
a clear violation of all governance — Your Government has spent
more in investigating the corrupt rather than doing what you it
is supposed to: book them and ensure processes and systems fall
in place to avoid any recurrences: it is obvious your erudite Finance
Minister has not learnt from the mistakes of the past.
The time for heads to roll has come. I admire Yashwant Sinha for
his statement that the buck stops with him: now if he can rid himself
of doublespeak, he should just step down or better still, step aside.
And to be fair to him, he must take the Finance Secretary with him.
This
country can hardly afford an ill-informed Finance Minister. For
that matter, neither can your Cabinet, Mr Prime Minister!
|
