Email sent on 2-Aug-2011
Dear Mr. Salman,
Government lost a historic opportunity to root out corruption from the country. You know better than me that the Lokpal bill as approved by cabinet is a paper tiger. It cannot stop corruption at all. If you don't like Lokpal bill as prepared by Anna you may reject it. But please don't dilute the basic principle of fighting corruption - complete independence of investigative agency and inclusion of PM under it. It will be a giant step if government makes CBI as independent as election commission with a power to prosecute PM. People of India are thankful to election commission for conducting absolutely free and fair election.
I do not understand why Government does not want to bring PM under Lokpal. UNCAC mandates that every civil servant including PM should be under stringent anti corruption law. India is signatory to it. Government's defenses for not to bring PM under Lokpal are
1. According to Pranab Mukherjee, PM cannot work if there are allegations of corruption and if PM goes, government goes.
2. You said to Karan in Devil's advocate that 'for the period someone is the PM Lokpal will not be able to inquire. If someone brings question mark on his office, you are going to hurt the country'.
3. National security, international relation and pivotal decisions are so much dependent on PM that he cannot be questioned till he demits office.
Nothing can be more hilarious, ridiculous and bizarre than above arguments. Nation cannot afford to have a PM against whom there are charges of corruption which have been accepted by court. When prima facie of corruption is established against the PM, he becomes threat to national security. Hence he must leave the office. In 1975 when Mrs. Indira Gandhi lost to Allahabad High Court, she should have resigned immediately. Instead she declared emergency and changed constitution through 39th and 42nd amendment to elevate her above law. Let me give you list of Japanese PMs who had to resign due to corruption, but neither did government collapse nor there any danger to national security.
1. Kakuei Tanaka (1972-74) resigned over Lockheed bribery case
2. Noboru Takeshita (1987-89) - resigned over insider trading
3. SÅsuke Uno (1989-89) - resigned over sex scandal
4. Morihiro Hosokawa (1993-94) - resigned over misuse of personal fund
Let me tell you very bluntly that any self respecting PM would have resigned in 2G scam. Dr. Singh deliberately tried to bury the scam under the carpet. How many times he said in the parliament that Raja is innocent? 2G scam shattered the integrity of PM. Dr. Manmohan Singh may not be financially benefitted, but allowing Raja to loot the country ensured that DMK does not withdraw support from UPA government. Let me remind you that TT Krishnamachari resigned as finance minister in 1957 over the alleged sale of fraudulent shares to LIC. There was no direct evidence against him, but he took moral responsibility because scam happened under his very nose. PM asked Raja to auction spectrum and Raja overruled him that lead to one of the worst scam ever. PM cannot escape responsibility. So. for the interest of the country PM should be under Lokpal.
I listened your conversation with Karan in Devil's advocate. Many of your comments are confusing and unacceptable.
1. In the context of 20,000 officers to support Lokpal you said 'If you give too much power at the lower level they will misuse it'. MPs also misuse MPLAD. It does not mean that MPLAD scheme should be scrapped. Should we abolish Panchayat system then?
2. You said 'RTI has gone long way in accountability at the lowest level'. RTI can only expose scam. It can't prosecute the concerned person. When RTI exposed CBI lie on the expense of Bofors investigation which was projected as 250 crore against real expense of 5 crore, concerned CBI officials were not investigated for twisting data.
3. You candidly admitted that it is not possible to find 20,000 officers to support Lokpal. This is a shocking statement on part of law minister. Cancer of corruption is so deep rooted in our country that you cannot trust anybody. For God's sake please do not under estimate our young generation. They are as honest as you and more determined to fight corruption than PM.
4. You talked about de-centralization of power. Government does not want to include below class 'A' officers under Lokpal. My suggestion would be to form two more institutes like Lokpal to look into corruption of police forces and other government officials.
5. You said Lokpal is a quasi judiciary body. Authority to investigate wrong doing of judges cannot make Lokpal quasi judicial. High court and Supreme court may be kept outside the purview of Lokpal. But lower courts where corruption is rampant may be brought under Lokpal.
There is no point in going into ego clash with Anna and his team. Land Acquisition bill is also drafted by civil society under the banner of Sonia's national advisory council. Anna's team hasn't drafted anything which is malicious, inappropriate or threat to national security.
Government lost a historic opportunity to root out corruption from the country. You know better than me that the Lokpal bill as approved by cabinet is a paper tiger. It cannot stop corruption at all. If you don't like Lokpal bill as prepared by Anna you may reject it. But please don't dilute the basic principle of fighting corruption - complete independence of investigative agency and inclusion of PM under it. It will be a giant step if government makes CBI as independent as election commission with a power to prosecute PM. People of India are thankful to election commission for conducting absolutely free and fair election.
I do not understand why Government does not want to bring PM under Lokpal. UNCAC mandates that every civil servant including PM should be under stringent anti corruption law. India is signatory to it. Government's defenses for not to bring PM under Lokpal are
1. According to Pranab Mukherjee, PM cannot work if there are allegations of corruption and if PM goes, government goes.
2. You said to Karan in Devil's advocate that 'for the period someone is the PM Lokpal will not be able to inquire. If someone brings question mark on his office, you are going to hurt the country'.
3. National security, international relation and pivotal decisions are so much dependent on PM that he cannot be questioned till he demits office.
Nothing can be more hilarious, ridiculous and bizarre than above arguments. Nation cannot afford to have a PM against whom there are charges of corruption which have been accepted by court. When prima facie of corruption is established against the PM, he becomes threat to national security. Hence he must leave the office. In 1975 when Mrs. Indira Gandhi lost to Allahabad High Court, she should have resigned immediately. Instead she declared emergency and changed constitution through 39th and 42nd amendment to elevate her above law. Let me give you list of Japanese PMs who had to resign due to corruption, but neither did government collapse nor there any danger to national security.
1. Kakuei Tanaka (1972-74) resigned over Lockheed bribery case
2. Noboru Takeshita (1987-89) - resigned over insider trading
3. SÅsuke Uno (1989-89) - resigned over sex scandal
4. Morihiro Hosokawa (1993-94) - resigned over misuse of personal fund
Let me tell you very bluntly that any self respecting PM would have resigned in 2G scam. Dr. Singh deliberately tried to bury the scam under the carpet. How many times he said in the parliament that Raja is innocent? 2G scam shattered the integrity of PM. Dr. Manmohan Singh may not be financially benefitted, but allowing Raja to loot the country ensured that DMK does not withdraw support from UPA government. Let me remind you that TT Krishnamachari resigned as finance minister in 1957 over the alleged sale of fraudulent shares to LIC. There was no direct evidence against him, but he took moral responsibility because scam happened under his very nose. PM asked Raja to auction spectrum and Raja overruled him that lead to one of the worst scam ever. PM cannot escape responsibility. So. for the interest of the country PM should be under Lokpal.
I listened your conversation with Karan in Devil's advocate. Many of your comments are confusing and unacceptable.
1. In the context of 20,000 officers to support Lokpal you said 'If you give too much power at the lower level they will misuse it'. MPs also misuse MPLAD. It does not mean that MPLAD scheme should be scrapped. Should we abolish Panchayat system then?
2. You said 'RTI has gone long way in accountability at the lowest level'. RTI can only expose scam. It can't prosecute the concerned person. When RTI exposed CBI lie on the expense of Bofors investigation which was projected as 250 crore against real expense of 5 crore, concerned CBI officials were not investigated for twisting data.
3. You candidly admitted that it is not possible to find 20,000 officers to support Lokpal. This is a shocking statement on part of law minister. Cancer of corruption is so deep rooted in our country that you cannot trust anybody. For God's sake please do not under estimate our young generation. They are as honest as you and more determined to fight corruption than PM.
4. You talked about de-centralization of power. Government does not want to include below class 'A' officers under Lokpal. My suggestion would be to form two more institutes like Lokpal to look into corruption of police forces and other government officials.
5. You said Lokpal is a quasi judiciary body. Authority to investigate wrong doing of judges cannot make Lokpal quasi judicial. High court and Supreme court may be kept outside the purview of Lokpal. But lower courts where corruption is rampant may be brought under Lokpal.
There is no point in going into ego clash with Anna and his team. Land Acquisition bill is also drafted by civil society under the banner of Sonia's national advisory council. Anna's team hasn't drafted anything which is malicious, inappropriate or threat to national security.
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