Disappointing inclusion

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has taken back Shibu Soren in the Cabinet, as the minister for coal. This is the same Mr Soren against whom a non-bailable warrant had been issued last July. Mr Soren, who was a minister at the time, had absconded.

He could not be found for more than a month. Then he surfaced, and was remanded to judicial custody. On September 8, he was granted bail and has been out since.

He is alleged to have been involved in the killing of 10 people 30 years ago, when he incited a mob to attack the Muslim-dominated Chirudih village during a campaign to "drive away outsiders". Mr Soren was one of 69 charged with murder.

He procured bail in 1979, but the bail was cancelled in 1986 and an arrest warrant issued for him. The 1986 warrant was not acted on by the Bihar police, which was ruled by the Congress and then by Lalu Prasad. Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh included Mr Soren in the original cabinet although they were fully aware of his background.

Indeed, he had another feather in his cap, of which Dr Singh and Ms Gandhi were aware: he was involved in the famous bribery case in Parliament in 1993.

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) was shown to have received money from the Narasimha Rao government to support it in a no-confidence vote, but in a strange verdict the court finally held that this could not be described as a bribe.

Why has Mr Soren been taken back? For a reason that makes eminent sense to politicians, even the "upright" ones like Ms Gandhi and Dr Singh: assembly elections are due in Jharkhand in February. The Congress hopes to form an alliance with Mr Soren's JMM and other parties.

He is critical to the alliance because without him it doesn't work. In fact, to put pressure on the Congress, Mr Soren had begun flirting with the Nationalist Congress Party of Sharad Pawar. Given the choice of taking back a man like Mr Soren and having a lame-duck alliance, the Congress has chosen the low road.

For those who respect Dr Singh for his moral stand on a variety of issues, this comes as a severe disappointment. He cannot explain it away by saying that he is now a politician, with the implied sub-text that he should not be held up to the same standards as before he became Prime Minister.

The reason is that he cannot run with the hares and hunt with the hounds. This episode also shows how he remains the prisoner of a weak mandate from the electorate, and is forced to make one compromise after another, whether it is in the area of Cabinet formation or economic policy.

As a way of getting around the fact that members of his Cabinet have criminal cases pending against them, the Prime Minister had suggested, when the issue first surfaced, that the country and the political establishment should find a way to deal with politicians accused of crimes, and who function with impunity because of judicial delays.

But Dr Singh has done little to lead a proper and purposeful debate that will lead to a satisfactory resolution of the issue. Surely this much should be expected of him.