Low point

It usually takes a new government anything more than a year to reach a low point. But as the Shibu Soren episode shows, not to mention the continuing to-do over tainted ministers, Manmohan Singh's UPA government has started diving within just 70 days.

Most of the country is willing to give the government some latitude on the issue of criminality, partly because of the Prime Minister's personal standing, and partly because people recognise the compulsions of coalition politics. But the facts are straightforward and pretty damning, and the government has been busy digging itself into a hole.

The (now erstwhile) minister, Shibu Soren, 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 the 69 charged with murder. He procured bail in 1979, but the bail was cancelled in 1986 and an arrest warrant issued for him. A magistrate has now declared Mr Soren an absconder since 1986. The 1986 warrant was not acted on by the Bihar police, which was then ruled by the Congress.

Mr Soren later became the chief of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and was involved in the famous bribery case in Parliament in 1993. The 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.

Ten days ago, a fresh order for his arrest was issued by the court. Mr Soren promptly disappeared. It took many days for the Prime Minister to sack him and he didn't do even that properly. Instead of simply getting rid of him, he asked the absconding minister to resign, which the latter did. Mr Soren's goose may be cooked but the incident has put the UPA government's on the slab for skinning.

It is not just the government on which a cost has been imposed. The whole country is feeling ashamed. How can it be, people will be asking themselves, that a politician can not only get away for such a long time with a murder charge but also become such a political darling that he becomes a minister?

True, he is not the only one. There are many such in the state ministries, Raja Bhaiyya being the latest in UP. But this is the second time this has happened in the central government.

Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh included Mr Soren knowing full well about not just his background (being charged with murder) but also proclivities (being open to bribery).

It will be interesting to see what happens in the case of other such men in the Manmohan ministry. If the government does not get rid of them too, the Opposition will continue to feast on the opportunity, guaranteeing that the government will suffer future embarrassments.