The editorial “Loyalty above duty” rightly asks why the prime minister was saying to the Central Bureau of Investigation and its cohorts what he should say to his own Cabinet. His statement that his government “stands firm in its commitment to do everything possible to ensure probity, transparency and accountability in the work of public authorities and is committed to fighting the menace of corruption in every possible way” is a fine example of contradiction between words and deeds. If that was the case, the recent scams would have been impossible.
Dr Manmohan Singh also stated that a proposal is being mooted to include “corporate failure” to prevent bribery. What about preventing governance failures that lead to mega scams? Take the Robert Vadra case. He has been accused of having received undue favours from the real estate company DLF. Vadra, the Congress party, the Haryana government and DLF are party in the case, and their denial is nothing more than the usual “no guilty” plea. Corporate Affairs Minister Veerappa Moily’s claim that “he had ‘personally examined’ the papers of Vadra’s companies and had found nothing wrong” has conflict of interest and is, therefore, untenable. Congress spokespersons cannot fool the country by adopting diversionary tactics and attributing motives to Arvind Kejriwal. It only adds to the prevailing suspicion. In fact, if there was nothing wrong, Vadra and the Congress party must have been the first to offer an impartial inquiry into the matter and then taken Kejriwal to court if his allegations proved unfounded.
M C Joshi Lucknow
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