crony governance of manmohan singh

7/30/2019 Crony Governance of Manmohan Singh

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FIXING BOMB

Back With a

Bang in IPL

There must be a

ba lance betw een

grow th a nd

environment: Jaiswal

M ayaw at i w ill be

punished, if found

guilty: Rajendra

Chowdhary


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Cover Story

8 DIALO GUEINDIA " June, 2012

e-magazinewww.dialogueindia.in

CRO N Y G O V ERN AN CE O F

M A N M O H A N SIN G H

There is

growing

perception in

the armedforces that the

Sikhs officers

have usurped

meritocracy

within armed

forces and with

the access to

the highest

political level,indulged in

nepotism and

clan-kin

favouritism,

which has

created

faultlines within

armed forces.


3/10

z Haridas/ AnujAgrawal

T

he Indian Express published an intended scoop on4th April claiming that the two troops of Army

based in Hissar and Agra marched towards Delhi on16th January night, a day when General V.K.Singh filed writin the Supreme court on age issue. The target was GeneralV.K.Singh. There was obvious attempt to discredit honestArmy chief by suggesting that he intended coup,and thus topave way for his sacking.Only a week ago,a secret letter thatthe Army chief had written to the PM on the preparednessof armed forces was leaked and hue and cry was made by aparticular lobby in media to sack the Army chief for theleakage. The government ordered an IB enquiry into thealleged leakage and it is being reported that the Army Chiefhas been given clean chit.

But, questions have been raised against the IB Chief,Nehchal Sandhu by The Sunday Guardian. The newspaperclaims that Sandhu is very close to former army chief, JJSingh,the incoming army chief Bikram Singh and the retiredLt.General Tejinder Singh against whom General V.K .Singhhas forwarded complaint to the CBI for attempt to offer himbribe in the year 2010. The obvious reason is the regionaland communal lobbying. It is merely the kinship, since all ofthem are turbaned gentlemen including the source of thestory to the Indian Express. The role of Sandhu is underscanner in escalating the controversy to discredit GeneralV.K. Singh.

There is growing perception in the armed forces that theSikhs officers have usurped meritocracy within armed forcesand with the access to the highest political level, indulged innepotism and clan-kin favouritism, which has createdfaultlines within armed forces.

All this started with the UPA-I coming into power whenSardar Manmohan Singh Kohli was anointed the PrimeMinister. There was push to appoint a Sikh General. In thepreceding months,as Gen.NC Vij's term was coming to anend,there was speculation that JJ Singh might be supersededby Lt.-Gen. Shammi Mehta, an Armoured Corps officer.Name of lt. General Hari Prasad and Shantanu Chaudhary

too were making rounds. The Shiromani GurdwaraPrabanthak Committee issued a strongly worded statementfavouring JJ Singh. Finally, Gen. JJ Singh of Maratha LightInfantry took over as Chief of the Army Staff on 1February, 2005. He was the first ever Sikh to become theChief of the Army. The communalization of Indian Armybegan from this very incidence.General JJ Singh cried beforethe camera in his very first press conference on 23rdNovember, 2004 upon receiving news of his elevation asArmy Chief in Chandigarh. That was such a sensationalimage. General Singh's tenure saw the rise of corruptGenerals

Sometime in 2005, General JJ Singh initiated the 'lookdown policy' to determine the 'line of succession' to the topposition in the Army. He was not looking for immediatesuccession as he was to be succeeded by kinsman, general

Deepak Kapoor. But, he was looking to the year 2012 andfound one Sikh kinsman, Brigadier Bikram Singh. JJ Singhrealized that events and dates relating to the then MajorGeneral VK Singh, who was sure shot to become ArmyChief in 2010, needed to be manipulated if Bikram Singhwas to succeed him in 2012!

An operation was started to work out a plan to retireV.K.Singh only in May,2012 so that Bikram Singh could takeover. It had to operate at two levels. All the competitors ofthe brigadier were to be sidelined and General V K Singh'sterm was to be reduced. Those to be neutralised includedBrigadiers Padam Budhwar and MM Chaudhary, Major-

Generals Shujan Chatterjee, AK Singh and Ravi Arora, agold medalist from the same batch as Bikram Singh.General V.K .Singh was born in the army's own hospital

in Poona on 10 May,1951,and this fact was duly recorded inthe service record of his father who was then a Major ofthe Indian Army. The same date was recorded in hismatriculation certificate which is considered the criticaldocument to ascertain the age issue by variouspronouncements of the Court. Even a confidentialcommunication dated 1 July, 2011, from Lt-Gen. GM Nair,Military Secretary, to the Defence Secretary, and seen byDefence Minister A.K.Antony, categorically states that 10

May, 1951, was taken as the DOB by various SelectionBoards for promotion of VK Singh to Brigadier inSeptember 1996,to Major-General in October 2001 and Lt.-General in 2005.All the honours that General V.K.Singh hasbeen conferred has the citation bearing 1951 as the birthyear.

But, once the Operation to install another Sikh as futureGeneral started,someone in the MS Branch 'discovered' VKSingh's UPSC application form mentioning 1950 as his yearof birth,which was filled not in General Singh's handwriting,but by his teacher at school. On 3 May, 2006, the MilitarySecretary branch was asked to rake up VK Singh's date of

birth issue based on this error .General JJ Singh and hissucceeding kinsman, Deepak Kapoor forced VK Singh toaccept this anomaly as his date of birth, before elevated asCorp.Commander without which he could not have becomethe Chief of the Army. By ensuring the reduction of VKSingh's tenure by 10 months and eliminating othercompetent Generals, the two kinsman paved way forelevation of Bikram Singh as Army Chief in May, 2012. Amemorandum signed by thousands of ex-servicemen,including high ranking officers of the three services, wassubmitted to the President in her capacity as the SupremeCommander of the armed forces, to do justice with VK

DIALOGUEINDIA" June, 2012 9

Cover Storye-magazinewww.dialogueindia.in


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Singh,but the same has not disposed off. The MoD issuedan order on 30 December,2011, and changed the DOB ofthe Army Chief arbitrarily, this was the handiwork ofanother Punjabi kinsman, a Joint Secretary in the Ministry.

The General rightly moved the supreme Court and had towithdraw application once the government submitted to theCourt that the order dated 30 December, 2011 has beenwithdrawn.

But, then an uproar was made seeking General Singh toquit his post. Once it was not done, various lobby thatincluded corrupt retired generals, arms dealers and kinsmanof the succeeding General planted news that the Army wastapping the phones of Defence minister in South Blockusing mobile interceptors in Raisina Hills. Army HQ issueda press release on March 5 and charged Lt. General TejinderSingh with planting such rumours to create rift between

political and military authority. It is against this press releasethat Tejinder Sigh moved the Delhi Court to initiatedefamation proceedings against the Army HQ.

The institution of army is facing the ripples in wholecontroversy which is meant only to see that Bikram Singhsucceeds as the Army chief. MG Devasahayam, former IASofficer and chairman of an NGO Citizens Alliance forSustainable Living in Chennai and activist working fortransparency in governance, has claimed in various writingsthat TKA Nair, is reported to have told his confidants thatVK Singh had to go in May, 2012 because the 'PrimeMinister had assured his wife that General Bikram Singh

would be the next COAS'. So, here is the clue to thecontroversy. Crony governance and the nepotism ishappening at the very top.

PM Manmohan Singh met General JJ SINgh and Lt.General Bikram Singh at his sister's house in Kolkata. Whileon official trip to West Bengal on 21-22 August, 2011,Manmohan Singh had dinner at his sister Govind Kaur'shouse in South Kolkata along with his nephew Ravinder PalSingh and his wife Kuki Sahni. The surprise attendee wereGeneral JJ Singh, Governor of Arunacahal Pradesh andarchitect of age prolongation of General V.K.Singh and Lt.Gen Bikram Singh, who is incumbent Chief of Army now.

Things were finally settled in this very meeting to destroyfabric of Armed forces just to make a kinsman as the nextChief. The sutradhar of kinship-based governance is noneelse that MMS Kohli.

Now, the government has announced that after GeneralV.K. Singh,another Sikh Bikram Singh will succeed.He willbe succeeded by another Sikh gentleman, Dilbagh SinghSuhag. It is not that Marathas and Bengalis and Telugus,Biharis,Tamils are less capable general. The fact is that it wasa Bihari Major General J.N. Chaudhary who got theobstinate Nizam of Hyderabad to accede to India. It is

Thimmaiya, a Manek Shaw, a General Jacobs who led India

to momentous victories.While Bangladesh war was won bythe brilliant acts of General Jacobs, the then CorpCommander of Eastern Command, the whole credit wastaken by General Jagjit Sigh Arora, a Sikh gentleman. But,

what message is being given that out of five successiveGenerals of Armed Forces, four has to be Sikhs and manyof them purely corrupt who got the virus of corruption intothe most puerile institution of Armed Forces. This itself isgoing to cause major dissent whenever the next gentlemansucceeds. The signs are already visible. General V.K.Singhhas forwarded complaint from a Trinamool M.P. AmbikaBanerjee against Lt.general Dilbagh Singh Suhag to the CBI.But, inspite of this fact, the MoD chose to appoint him asthe next Corp commander of the eastern Command in placeof Bikram Singh.A group of retired officers and bureaucratsmoved the Supreme Court challenging the appointment of

Lt Gen Bikram Singh as the next Army chief on the groundthat he was allegedly involved in a fake encounter in Jammuand Kashmir in 2001. Challenging the appointment, thepetitioners, including former Navy Chief Admiral Ramdas,veteran journalist Sam Rajapa of the Statesman and formerIAS, MG Devasahayam, and former Chief electionCommissioner N Gopalaswamy, alleged in their PIL that LtGeneral Singh was involved in the fake encounter and thecase is pending in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. Thepetitioners also alleged that Lt Gen Singh failed to takeaction against officers who were involved in sexualharassment and rape when they were posted to Congo in

2008 as part of the UN peace-keeping mission.Bikram Singh's daughter-in-law is a Pakistani. Her fatheris a Pakistani and mother is a Central Asian. When variousMPs complained to the government, an IB clean chit wasprovided. It is interesting to learn that if a governmentservant communicates with a foreigner particularly fromenemy nations,he is liable for prosecution.One has seen thecase of a junior diplomat,Madhuri Gupta who is lying in jailfor having a relationship with a Pakistani gentleman whileposted in Islamabad. But, here a senior Army Officer who

will be the hub of nation'ssecurity would have a Pak

national within his owncourtyard. When the matterscame to the light, to scuttle anycontroversy, the governmenthad on March 3 announced theappointment of Lt Gen BikramSingh as the next Army chief.

The communalization andpoliticization of Indian ArmedForces started from the verytop. Manmohan Singh mayfeign ignorance about all the

Cover Story



Bikram Singh's

daughter-in-law

is a Pakistani.

When various

M Ps complained

to the

government, an

IB clean chit

was provided.


5/10

dirt, corruption, crony governance, but the patrimony inboth civil services and armed services started in a brazenform from the very top. Many analysts are aghast at the way'Turban" became the most important agenda for governanceafter Singh became the PM. No one has raised the issue ofthe worst communal Prime minister any country in worldever can have. He is not a shadow PM to Sonia Gandhi asmany believe. The way he gets Padama Vibhushana to

Montek Singh Ahluwalia in a year when his own CabinetMinister, Kamal Nath charges Ahluwalia and he has beencaught off the guard lobbying for murderer of innocentlives in Bhopal Gas tragedy, Warren Anderson. Singh getsPadamShree to Sant Singh Chatwal inspite of two chargesheets against him on account of forgery and cheatingpending against him. And when the CBI was asked forinformation by the CIC on an application by journalistKrishnananda Triphathi , the CBI itself was exempted fromRTI Act in a single night so that the truth may not prevailand the role of the PMO does not come under the publicview. One can see the way one sycophant, corrupt babu B.S.

Lalli, the CEO of Prasar Bharati was not acted against inspite of Court order because he was a sikh. Only whenpolitical leaders across party lines attacked the government,Lalli was suspended on December 21, 2010. One can also

read how T.S. Darbari and M.S. Gill were being saved inCWG scam. In the gruesome Nithari case, the wayMoninder Singh Pandher was given clean chit by the CBI inall chargesheets had raised eyebrows across the nation. Thefinger of suspicion was raised against the PMO as Pandherwas a co-religionist. In Nalanda University the way PrimeMinister got one Gopa Sabharwal as VC against the wholeMinistry's noting is not surprising, since she happens to beco-religionist and the friend of his daughter,Upinder Singhwho too has seen meteoric rise after Manmohan Singhbecame the Prime Minister.He got dozens of corrupt babusand leaders elevated as the Governors only due to the fact

that they are his kinsman. One can count the name like S.S.Sidhu, Iqbal Singh,Buta Singh.Even when Buta Singh wasremoved from the post ofgovernor after Supreme courtverdict in President Rule inBihar in 2005, he was givenanother constitutional post asthe chairman of the Scheduledcaste Commission. While hisson was arrested by the CBItaking bribe and UPA

Chairperson was not happywith Buta Singh due to his actof defiance against officialcongress candidate,

Manmohan Singh continued to protect him till end.And don't forget how he has made the "issue of turbans

of Sikhs" as the only foreign policy challenge for India.Onecan see the differential treatment meted by the governmentof India on two religious-cultural issues in the same month.When Jay Leno was joking about American RepublicanParty Presidential election contender, Mitt Romney's wealthby pointing to a picture of the Golden temple and describing

the Golden Temple as Mitt Romney's summer home, thewhole Indian establishment went into a tizzy. Indiangovernment lodged a formal protest with the USgovernment mentioning that it has offended Sikhssentiments. MEA, Overseas Indian Affair Ministry, IndianAmbassador in the US all went into a huddle as if it was anational emergency. But, in the case of erasure of Hindu-Buddhist past in the National Museum of Maldives on 11thFebruary this year by Islamic radicals,what to say about thecondemnation, the whole establishment is busy burying theincident under the Indian Ocean itself.One can also contrastthe way the Rajya Sabha condemned the humiliation of



The way he gets

Padama

Vibhushana to

M S Ahluwalia in

a year when his

own Cabinet

M inister, Kamal

Nath chargesAhluwalia


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Cover Story



Sikhs who were being forcedto remove their turbans in thename of security atinternational airports,

especially in Italy on 8thDecember, 2011. ItalianAmbassador GiacomoSanfelice di Monteforte wassummoned in Delhi andprotests lodged twice with theItalian government. IndianForeign Minister calleddishonour to Sikhs as"national insult". One canalso see the urgency on thisvery issue when Indian Prime

Minister takes up the matterof Sikh turbans at important meeting of G-20 with theFrench President. It appears as if the whole establishment isso much engrossed in the issue of Sikh turbans that it is aptto call the administrative machinery as undergoing"turbanization". But, when all Hindu and Buddhist statueswere destroyed in Maldives museum after the recent powerchange, not a word of condemnation came from thegovernment.

There is an increasing perception that the Prime Ministermay project himself as 'honest", but the secular and rationalfabric of the country's institutions have been dismantled

with the overt practice of kinship-politics and patrimony.This has roots in his own pastPopularly known as "Mohana", he was a simple boy

born in Gah in present Pakistan on 26th September,1932 toSardar Gurumukh Singh, a salesman of dry fruits. It isanother matter that he has been appointed to Rajya Sabhafrom the state of Assam four times in September, 1991,

June, 1995, June, 2001 and June, 2007. Under theRepresentation of the People Act, 1951, a person has to bean elector in a parliamentary constituency in the state fromwhere he seeks election to Rajya Sabha.This requirement hasbeen done away by the Representation of the

People(Amendment) Act, 2003, which amended section 3.But, before this amendment, it was necessary to be a residentof the state from which one contest elections of the RajyaSabha. Manmohan Singh fudged his permanentaddress/home state as state of Assam. The fudged addressis as follows:House No.3989, Nandan Nagar,ward No.51,Sarumataria, Dispur, Guwahati, Kamrup, Assam-781006.And his name registered at Serial No.720 in Voter's list ofpolling station No.155 in Dispur Assembly Constituency.

Thus, he is not as "honest" and simple as the lobbyistsadvertise about him.

Somnath Chatterjee, charged the present PM when he

was the Finance Ministerduring debate on thecollapse of notorious mafiabank, BCCI on 14.9.1991 as

"Chor ka dadhi meinTinaka". Some myths haveto be busted to unravel theman who has led India tothe erosion of democracyand institutional consensus.Singh is known as aCongress man from thestart. This is another myth.He has been wearing allcaps. What he always cravedfor is some power and post,

not to serve the nation butalways to indulge innepotism, favouritism andnon-action against thewrong-doers. He wasappointed as an EconomicAdviser from 1971-72. Theelections were held and withIndira's victory and PNHaskar's rising influence, hestepped up as ChiefEconomic Adviser in

Ministry of Finance. Haskarleft Indira after showdownwith Sanjay Gandhi in 1974, but Singh gained one moreopportunity to rivet new authorities.He became full-fledgedSecretary in the Ministry of Finance in November, 1976during the peak days of emergency. When the new JantaParty government came to power, but magically in spite ofall purges, he remained seated in his position as Secretary,M/ o Finance till April, 1980. So,he was with the CongressParty, then became close to Janta Party and back to CongressParty. The shift is always with those who held politicalpower. He was also the adviser to firebrand socialist leader,

George Fernandes in the Industries Ministry,but in later yearbecame a mouthpiece of Washington consensus. Similarly,he became the Adviser to the Prime Minister of India onEconomic Affairs in December 1990. Chandrashekhar, astaunch socialist was the PM. When Chandrashekhar wasresigning from the post after the Congress Party withdrewsupport, Singh sought some other post from the outgoingPM in a bizarre behavior and later appointed as the UGCChairman, a post which he was holding before gettingappointed as the Finance Minister in June,1991.He becamefinance Minister courtesy P.V. Narasimha Rao, the thenPrime Minister only after I.G. Patel is believed to have

The country's

institutions have

been dismantled

with the overt

practice of kinship-

politics. This has

roots in his own

past.


7/10



refused the post. Rao supported him throughout his tenureand safeguarding him from the allegations in BCCI collapse,Harshad Mehta stock market scam.But, Singh dumped Raoand changed his loyalty to Nehru-Gandhi dynasty in 1996.

There have been allegations that he indulged in backbiting toget Sitaram Kesari dumped out from the seat of CongressPresident.As a prime Minister for last 7 years,he didn't evenbother to say a single word in praise of the statesmanship of

Rao nor named symbolically even a single street in his name.One should not forget how he dumped Amar Singh after2008 Cash for Vote scam that shamed India's parliamentarysystem to let his way on Indo-US Nuclear deal. The samepattern can be seen in 2G case where the responsibility wasfixed over a junior colleague and the way he feignedignorance though being complicit in the sordid saga. Withthe coal mining scam now hanging over his own head, he istrying to obfuscate the issue by attacking the institution ofthe CAG.

But, the charges of wrong doings are not new.The worstattack came against him for association with the BCCI in the

Parliament in the year 1991. In the month of September,1982, he was appointed as the RBI Governor, though hisspecialization was in international trade and not in currency.It was during his tenure that the BCCI (Bank of Credit andCommerce International), the infamous Pakistani Bankwhich was being used by the ISI-CIA to funnel arms andmoney for Afghan mujahideens and in Iran's contra Affairs,was allowed to open a branch in Bombay against the

incriminating evidence and advise of India's intelligenceagencies. In this year, the branches of Bank was being closedin Latin America but being the RBI Governor, he overruledthe objections. When the BCCI collapsed in the year 1991with $16 billion, the Parliamentarians attacked theGovernment. With lot of pressure, the Government agreedfor a debate on a motion moved by Jaswant Singh, butbefore that the Congress Paryty forced a commitment from

Jaswant Singh to withdraw the motion after the discussionand this caused shock among the opposition leaders. MMS,as Finance Minister blamed that the permission to open therepresentative office (not a functional Branch) was given by

SINGH IS NOTKINGTeam Anna has clubbed Prime

Minister Manmohan Singh along

with 14 other Cabinet Ministers, as

corrupt and has threatened to

launch an indefinite fast from July

25, if an SIT is not constituted to

investigate these corrupt ministers.

Anna Hazare has referred to draft

CAG report on Allocation of Coal

Blocks and Augmentation of Coal

Production by CIL(2011-12) to make

charges against Singh when Coal

Ministry was with him. The

government deferred the tabling of

the CAG Report on Coal scam in

the Budget Session even though

the same was submitted by the

CAG on 11th May, fearing the

political implications of Manmohan

Singh getting embroiled in the

charges of corruption. CAG had

earlier estimated in draft Report that

Rs 10.6 lakh crore loss has been

incurred to the exchequer on

account of allotment of coal blocks

during 2004 to 2009 without auction.

Of the 155 coal blocks given to the

private sector, no work has begun in

124 of them. In the final Report , aloss of over Rs 1,80,000 crore to the

exchequer in the allotment of coal

blocks to private companies has

been pointed.

Manmohan Singh always pits the

blame over others in every loot and

national crime. In 2G scam, the

CAG estimated the presumptive loss

to the exchequer is of the order of

1.76 lakh crore. Though, the PM

has been privy to every decision in

2G spectrum allocation, the blame

has been shifted to a junior Minister.

It is the hallmark of Dr. Singh . The

recent controversy on the Army

Chief's letter leak is sought to be put

under the carpet when the inquiry

points to his own office, though a

huge media storming was done to

sack the General on the allegation.

In Nalanda University scam, the

direct hand of the PM in appointing

his daughter's friend as Vice

Chancellor at a fat salary has been

reported in media. When the BCCI

bank collapse issue was embroiling

him personally in 1991, he sought todeflect attention by claiming

systemic failure. Similarly, in 1992,

when Harshad Mehta scam came to

limelight, Manmohan Singh, then a

Finance Minister said he would not

lose sleep over what happened in

the markets After the Joint

Parliamentary Committee concluded

that it was the handiwork of dubious

activities of certain share brokers,

Manmohan Singh's claimed it as

mere "a systemic failure".

The size of the Harshad Mehta

scam estimated by the Joint

Parliamentary Committee (JPC) was

Rs4,024 crore that would be Rs

23,000 crore today. Along with growth

in economy, the size of scams have

overgrown under his tutelage. Will a

future SIT investigation bring out the

truth about the man who has dressed

himself under the cloak of "honesty"

for too long?


8/10

Cover Story

14 DIALOGUEINDIA " June, 2012


the then Finance Ministry of the Janta Party government in1979 earlier,but hid the fact that he himself was the FinanceSecretary. He promised the Parliament that the RBI wouldconduct an enquiry into the collapse of BCCI, which was

never done, even though the US Senate Subcommittee onBCCI Affairs led by Senator, John Kerry concluded thatBCCI activities were dubious and its relationship with theHinduja family remain to be explored further.

While replying to motion on Collapse of BCCI on14.9.1991, a notorious ISI-CIA orchestrated Bank ofPakistan, this is what pleaded and admitted at the Floor ofthe parliament: "An explicit refrence has been made to methat I have been attempting to cover up the BCCI becausemy daughter got a scholarship from a particular agencywhich in turn given some monetary help by the BCCI. I wantto come clean on this count, because I do not want to hid

anything from this House and I think I would not be worthyof being the Finance Ministerof this country if there is aslightest suspicion about myconduct in this matter whichallegedly involves the security ofour country." Then,he narratedabout his connections withBCCI and the circumstances inwhich his eldest daughter,Upinder Singh got a scholarshipfor a degree abrod in Canada,"I

have a daughter who has a verybrilliant career. She hasthroughout been a first-classstudent. She graduated with First Class Hons. From DelhiUniversity. I had left the Government of India to take up myposition as a Secretary General of a South Commission. Inthe meanwhile she graduated from the Delhi University. Inthis country we have an Oxford and Cambridge Society,which is a society of the alumni of those two universities.

Those people made contribution to a firm and for severalyears the Oxford and Cambridge Society has been givingscholarship of about Rs.50,000 to intending students who

want to peruse their studies in Oxford or Cambridge. It isalso true that in 1988, the BCCI made donations to theOxford and Cambridge society in accordance with theapproved Reserve Bank rules for donating money by thebank to various institutions.And it is certainly true that whenmy daughter applied, she was selected for the award ofscholarship of Rs.50,000. I was not in this country at thattime. I did not know also whether she had applied. I amabsolutely faithfully stating to this House that I can neverimpress anybody for the scholarship and I am quite willingto be judged by the honourable Leaders of the Oppositionwith regard to my conduct, insinuation and the charge that

has been made in the Indian Express today that because mydaughter got a scholarship of Rs.50,000 from the Oxfordand Cambridge society and because it partly came fromdonation which was made by the BCCI,therefore I am trying

to cover up the BCCI ."Does this explanation prove his innocence. Look, heclaimed that because he was not in India, he was not evenaware about the application by his daughter.He claimed thathe couldn't impress anyone. This is the hallmark of theMMS. Indulge in all kinds of wrongdoing and pretendignorance.

Let us reflect upon what he added about his furtherassociation with the BCCI: "I can also mention the Thirdworld foundation which was financed by the BCCI. When Ibecame the Secretary General of the South Commission, thetheirs World Foundation had promised to give to the South

Commission 4 lakh dollars. because SouthCommission was supported by the THIRD WORLDfoundation and therefore the Chairman of the SOUTHCommission thereby became a toll of the CIA or of druglaundering and all these things."

Now, read at the slip of tongue.No one imputed MMS asa CIA's tool in the Parliament.Why should one overreach toscore a self-goal? The fact is that he admitted that BCCI wasa tool of the CIA and indulged in drug laundering and otherbad things. The BCCI opened a representative office in1977.Who was the Finance Secretary? It was MMS. In 1979,the Finance Ministry at the level of minister of State decided

that the RBI should be asked to give BCCI branch in India,as per admission of MMS,which is half-baked fact,as he wasthe then Finance Secretary and with his "intellectualprowess" must be overwhelming the then finance Minister,Chaudhary Charan Singh, a humble peasant leader or hisMoS. In 1983,as the RBI Governor, he gave permission tothe BCCI to open branch in Bombay. Not only that, it wasseen that the nationalized Banks like SBI parked their surplusin the BCCI bank, which the FM, MMS defended on thefloor of the House. If he facilitated the entry of the ISI-CIAoperated BCCI bank into India,what was wrong if the BCCIgave donation to an organization at that very moment when

the organization was extending scholarship to his daughter!One must remember that his daughter did not go to Oxford-Cambridge in Britain as per the custom of the scholarshipextended by the Oxford-Cambridge Society but to McGillUniversity (1988-1991) in Canada . Is it mere coincidencethat he became Secretary General of an organization heavilyfunded by the same BCCI network? The pretentious maskof the man was off when by sheer goondaism, the Motionwas forced to be withdrawn on the last day of the FirstSession in 1991 new Lok Sabha just as has been done withthe Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha at midnight. MMSpromised to get an enquiry conducted by the RBI and the

No one imputed

M M S as a CIA's

tool in the

Parliament. Why

should one

overreach to

score a self-

goal?


9/10

DIALO GUEINDIA " June, 2012 15


security agencies, but everything was put under the a carpet.The demand for JPC was refused. The Opposition wassilenced and the murky affairs of the BCCI remain hiddenfrom Indian public even after 20 years, though the inquiries

in the US revealed that BCCI frequently bribed leaders andofficials in India and were involved in the drug trade, terrorfunding, arms trade and even nuclear black marketing thathelped Pakistan to build N-bomb. By committing a fraudagainst the Parliament to get the motion withdrawn amidstwalkout by the opposition and scuttling the

investigation, MMS put the activities of BCCI in India off

the public radar for ever.When Jaswant Singh in his book "A Call to Honor"claimed, that there was a mole in Narasimha Rao cabinetwho gave prior information about nuclear test to beconducted in 1995, the PMO went on overdrive to counter -attack and suggesting different names like V.S.Arunachalam,who was not a Cabinet Minister, but Scientific Adviser. Thenation has seen how the votes were bought at the floor ofthe House during the No-Confidence Motion in 2008 tosave the government only to shield the Indo-US CivilNuclear Deal which borders on surrendering India'ssovereignty over a strategic element of national interest.

Similar pattern can be seen in the recent episode of leakageof letter of General V.K. Singh written to the PM.

When MMS became the PM, he got appointed an IASofficer of Assam cadre as Director in the PMO on 16th

August 2004. In 1999, the Chief Secretary of Assam, V.S.Jafa reported to the then CVC, N. Vitthal about seriousillegal association of this particular official with ULFA. TheCVC alerted the Home Ministry about the ULFA man in theAssam government being protected by the Home Ministry

officers. This particular officer, asper CVC report, was facilitatingULFA with the governmentvehicles for extortion. When an FIRwas registered, the driver of the saidvehicle was found dead. Again, thecase took curious turn with the

death of this witness's death. TheChief Secretary of Assam soughtZ+ protection for himself to surviveagainst threat from a DC in Assam.Finally, he met with serious accidentwhile traveling in Haryana inFebruary, 1999. A truck rammedinto his car, he survived. The CVC

and the Assam government alerted the Centre Governmentagainst this officer, but nothing was done. The HomeMinistry sat on file.

Later, this official was posted in the PMO of the MMS

and the other officer who protected ULFA's IAS man waselevated as Home Secretary by the MMS. Mid-day reportedabout this mole of ULFA in the Central Government on 4th

January, 2008 in a big scoop. But, the same officer gotelevated as Joint Secretary and posted to the FinanceMinistry while the intelligence agencies were certain abouthis role in the terror funding network through the stockmarket. Why was this particular officer given so much ofliberty? Because he managed the fake certificates forpermanent residence of MMS from the state of Assam inthe district of Kamrup.

He has also allowed a myth created that he is a brilliant

economist who helped India to stem the crisis in 1991. Themyth is created to build a personality of honest Statesman ofthe country, who understands India better than theparliamentarians who are less qualified and mere therepresentatives of the rural or half-educated masses.But, noone knows what contribution Singh made in the field ofeconomics or governance or philosophy or literature.He didhis D.Phil from Nuffield College,University of Oxford.Thetopic was, "India's Export Trends and Prospects for self-Sustained Growth" (1951-60).This work was later publishedby a publisher in Oxford in 1964. The book runs into 369pages and argues for the role of State Trading Corporations

An official was

posted in the PM O

of the M M S and the

other officer who

protected ULFA's

IAS man was

elevated as Home

Secretary.


10/10

(STC). He was gung-ho for the socialist model of economy.This was a nave and short study of mere 10 years of tradebalance sheet of a new nation when neither trade was variednor there were many international players with trade linkages

as the trade relationship during colonial times gets skewedand over-dependent on the core-nation viz. Britain. Apartfrom this work which is mere reproduction of Doctoratethesis without any fresh idea or any insight, there is nooriginal or any other work done by Singh in the field ofknowledge.He started his career after a brief stint as lecturerin Punjab, in the UNCTAD as Economics Affairs officerfrom 1966-69. In 1971, he became a Professor at JNUcourtesy,P.N.Haskar, a close aide to the then Prime Minister.One of his colleagues at Nuffield and a senior Congressleader in South India,V. Isvarmurti, who is the Chairman ofthe Vadamalai media group that publishes Agriculture and

Industry Survey mentions about his insight into economics:"He joined the Indira Gandhiestablishment under P.N.Haskar and he, sorry to say,imbibed the authoritarianculture and from that timeonwards he was in everypolitical establishment. So, wehave to be a bit more honestand also objective enough to seethat Dr. Singh had neverarticulated his basic economic

beliefs in any of the major areas.He just sticks to the standardjargon of percentage ofeconomic growth, budgetdeficit and inflation."

His understanding of economics has also come underfiring line.Exchange rate value of rupee has plummetedbelow 56 rupee per dollar. Dr. Singh appears to be thebrain behind weakening of rupee which in turns makeimports dearer and to compensate the same, oil prices arebeing hiked. The calculations suggest that weakening ofrupee by amount of 1 rupee entails increase in oil import

cost of Rs.4000 crores. When a policy of devaluation ofrupee was launched under the New Economic Policy in1991, the pretext was to improve India's trade balance.The government browbeated the critics and shouted fromall available platforms that it will make exports cheaper andimport costlier, thereby making Indian productscompetitive and import would be discouraged. But, thevalue of Rupee has declined from 18 rupee a dollar in July1991 to now 56 rupees a dollar, still the balance of tradehas deteriorated massively from mere 2.7 billion dollar tonow projected 200 billion dollar. Thus, nation owes anapology from Singh for misguiding and in the process

compromising with India's wealth accumulation byintentionally launching a deleterious devaluation policy ofRupee.

When during the 2008 economic crisis in the US, there

was a fear of a run against dollar; the RBI pursued a policyof actively intervening in Forex market to checkmate thenatural rise of rupee against dollar and help support astrong dollar policy which American policy makers weredrum beating. Dr. Singh addressed press on 23rdNovember, 2009 en route to New York and defendedstrong dollar policy. This was surprising since he wascoming from BRIC summit where it was decided to reducedollar role in world economy after the American economywas on verge of bankruptcy. Devaluation of weakcurrencies make exchange highly unfavorable for theexporting countries. The US realizes the advantage of

strong currency. This is the reason for postponement of'dollar devaluation.' Instead, US is pressurizing China torevalue Yuan. The rich nations have created currency areaswith their own strong currency at the centre to reap thebenefits of distorted exchange rate system. CFA FrancZone in Africa, an expanding Euro Zone towardsSouthern Mediterranean area and emergent process ofdollarization reflects the urge by strong nations to earnundue advantages at the cost of poor nations. But, here isa PM who has guided rupee destiny from Rs.18 to now Rs.56 per dollar and still claiming that the market shoulddetermine its value while not raising heckles against dollar

whose strength is created artificially to maintain America'sglobal hegemony.His rise to the seat of the Prime minister itself is neither

based on merit nor on popular support. He can go to anyextent to practice patrimony since his own rise is rootedthrough this way. Niether did he face any competitiveexamination to reach to the top in the bureaucracy nor didhe even win even a municipal election to reach to the topof the political leadership.Thus, it is not a surprise that hehas allowed crony governance based on nepotism,corruption, fraud to penetrate each sector of India. It willnot be a surprise that some day the PM will appear with a

Sikh Army chief, a Sikh deputy Chairman of planningCommission, a Sikh IB Chief, a Sikh Foreign Secretary anda Sikh Cabinet Secretary(either of two Khullars orDhingra), dozen of Sikh governors, Sikh VCs of India'stwo International university, South Asian University &Nalanda. Meritocracy will soon succumb to patrimonypracticed by India's worst communal political CEO. But toinfect the armed forces with the virus of crony selection isto dismantle the spine of national unity. General V.K.Singh is retired but the armed forces will continue to sufferdue to the misdeeds of those who practice corruption andkinship-based progression.

Cover Story

16 DIALOGUEINDIA" June, 2012


His understanding

of economics has

also come under

firing

line.Exchange rate

value of rupee

has plummeted

below 56 rupee

per dollar.

crony governance of manmohan singh

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