Dear Mr. Speaker
With this open letter, this India citizen seeks permission to participate as a non-voting member in the debate on the Motion of Confidence to be moved in the Lok Sabha by the UPA Government.
It is a great irony of our times that the man in who’s favor the confidence is meant to be expressed will neither be a participant in this debate nor be held to a trial by fire on the floor of his house. This anamoly is symbolic of how the affairs of the nation have been run for the past 4 years with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reduced to a passive observor on the sidelines while those with no accountability to the people of India weilded power from the outside.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeks our confidence in his Government with this motion hence it is in due order to examine the record of his Government looking for anything that may inspire that spirit of confidence.
Dr. Manmohan Singh may have architected this nation’s economic turnaround during his stint as finance minister in the P.V. Narasimha Rao cabinet. But as Prime Minister, this academic bureaucrat’s record has been exactly one of that – overly academic in its prescriptions and utterly bureaucratic in its practice.
Let me begin this dissection by quoting from a speech by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the Oxford University in 2005. The speech is rather revealing on how shallow Manmohan Singh’s convictions are and how far he?can get carried away trying to impress an academic audience with his intelletual elitism. Manmohan Singh was speaking on the British Rule in India.
I was struck by the deep distrust of the world displayed by many of my countrymen. We were overwhelmed by the legacy of our immediate past. Not just by the perceived negative consequences of British imperial rule….There is no doubt that our grievances against the British Empire had a sound basis…despite the economic impact of colonial rule, the relationship between individual Indians and Britons, even at the time of our Independence, was relaxed and, I may even say, benign….even at the height of our campaign for freedom from colonial rule, we did not entirely reject the British claim to good governance. We merely asserted our natural right to self-governance
Those sir are the convictions held by this academic Prime Minister who was thrust upon this unsuspecting nation by a delinquent Congress President.? Those words sir are hardly inspiring of confidence and utterly unbecoming of a Leader of a rising India brimming with confidence.
Let me Sir now to take my dissection further to July of 2005 when the Indian Express’ Shekhar Gupta had this to say of how bureaucratic the non-Leadership of this Prime Minister had come to be.
We can be run by a permanent caretaker government, helped along by a decent cabinet secretary who recites the key covenants of the CMP along with the Hanuman Chalisa, or whatever prayers he prefers at the start of an onerous day at work
Mr. Gupta then rightly characterized the immoral nature of the UPA-Left axis that saw this bureaucratic non-Leader at the helm of our national affairs.
With just over ten per cent strength in this Parliament they can pretty much run this government, with no accountability. The CMP has been put together by adversaries who came together after the polls only to keep the BJP out. Like the Treaty of Versailles, it was always doomed to sink
Allow me Sir to next highlight how bureaucratic this Prime Minister was in his approach to governance between 2005 and 2006.
On every political hot potato, Manmohan Singh has come across an indecisive Prime Minister incapable of taking a firm stance and selling it politically within his Government and beyond. The bureuacrat in him has time and again taken recourse to constituting a Group of Ministers, GoM and then allowing the issue to fester till either the courts or overwhelming public opinion swings the issue one way or the other, thus sparing the Prime Minister from taking a firm stance
from buying aeroplanes to giving permission to setup private universities with a whopping 40 GoMs? it makes one wonder what purpose Cabinet Portfolios serve any more. Manmohan Singh might as well strip all his Ministers of their portfolios and instead maintain a rotating pool of Ministers who will get assigned to GoMs in a round robin fashion
That sir is Prime Minister Manmohan SIngh’s record in the kind of non-leadership he has brought to bear on this august office. Hardly inspiring confidence ….
So one may as well ask of the Prime Minister, what in his view would be accomplishments of his government that merit our confidence ?
The Prime Minister did present us with such an opportunity recently in his reply to the debate on the President’s address, March of 2008.? That speech by the Prime Minister provides a glimpse into the flawed and divisive politics of guilt and victimhood that has been the prime motivation of the UPA’s policies over the last 4 years.
Speaking of the Aam Admi, the Prime Minister had this to say
chronic poverty, ignorance and diseases which still characterizes millions of our people in our country
That sir is the kind of “doom and gloom” vision of India the Prime Minister expects to inspire this nation with confidence.
As far as accomplishments go, this is what the Prime Minister had to say
the number of doctors, the number of nurses, the number of specialists that are now in place, I think, is much larger than what it was four years ago
How sir does the Prime Minister expect confidence when he does not even know his facts and he thinks things are better ?
The entire speech can be reduced to really 3 issues when it comes to what really the Prime Minister thinks are his accomplishments.
If work for hundred days is available, each family, even if it has only one earning member, would have an entitlement of Rs. 8000 per annum
First is this entitlement called NREGA. The second is his Communal Socialism.
take pride in saying that our Government has the courage to recognise that our minorities have not benefited appropriately
The third is of the farm loan waiver to address the distress in agriculture.
The reality however Sir, is that the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress President Sonia Gandhi stand guilty of betrayal of the Aam Admi on all 3 issues. The NREGA has betrayed the aam admi by distorting the rural labor market and encouraging a cultute of entitlement. The betrayal of the aam admi is even more damning when it comes to addressing educational backwardness. The betrayal of the farmer is a cruel comedy on not just the farmer but the future generations that will have to foot the unpaid distress bill of this betrayal.
But Sir all of this betrayal pales in the face of this naked hypocrisy when it comes to the Minority Community, more specifically the Muslim Community.
The Prime Minister has hoodwinked the Muslim Community with his Communal Socialism, while attempting to pull a smoke screen over the Congress’ decades old betrayal of the aam Muslim through the practice of vote bank politics. While the UPA regime continued to encourage Muslim power brokers while paying lip service to the aam Muslim, the Prime Minister was busy communalizing the budget to further encourage the ghettoization of the community.
But the most damning aspect of Manmohan and Sonia’s betrayal of the aam Muslim was in Nandigram when the communists were busy paying back with the same coin. The Muslims of Nandigram have been victims of the worst of conspiracies of silence and there is no hope of justice ever being served to them.
That sir are the accomplishments of this Prime Minister on the basis of which he seeks confidence.
But this betrayal of the aam Admi and the aam Muslim runs deeper for the UPA regime has delivered on them a deadly kiss of death. When those terrorist bombs strike they?make no distinction between Hindu or Muslim. But the UPA’s regime was not just marked by many attacks of mass terror but also by targetted terrorist attacks on Muslims in Malegaon,?Mecca Masjid and Ajmer Sharif. This government’s response to terrorism is criminal.
Sir if this Prime Minister’s anti-terrorism record is anything but inspiring confidence, the Congress President’s sphinx like silence on terrorism is an unpardonable sin.
Sir, the sins of ommission and commission of this Prime Minister’s tenure stretches long and runs deep. However I must bring this monologue to close with the subject at hand that precipitated this crisis. The merits of the strategic intent behind the Indo-US Nuclear Deal need no elucidation here. But this debate sir is not on the text of the 123 Agreement or the Hyde Act, this debate is about the leadership the Prime Minister had brought to bear in pursuing this strategic intent.
It must be said?if?the Prime Minister’s legacy will be judged by the Indo-US Nuclear deal?such judgement it will be ?a sad commentary on the botched opportunities and the abject lack of leadership. Having failed to create either a political constituency in favor of the deal or a bi-partisan consensus, the Prime Minister and his surrogates have resorted to cheap, below the belt insinuations through spin in the media.
If the Prime Minister genuinely believed in bipartisanship he would have taken a leaf from his previous tenure in Government to follow on Prime Minister Narasimha Rao’s path of enlisting the Opposition to advocate the Indian National Interest. Instead this Prime Minister side stepped Parliament and undermined his own cabinet to virtually hand over to the Left Parties a remote control on Governance for the last 11 months.
The dysfunctional nature of Governance over the last 11 months stands testimony to this fact.
In closing Sir let me say that this is not about the Indo-US Nuclear Agreement but about the lack of confidence the Congress President has in a Prime Minister she herself nominated. For she let him down badly by not speaking up when it mattered.
Let me sir finally address the Prime Minister directly to say that
The strategic intent behind the Indo-US Nuclear Deal maybe in national interest but your continuation in office is not. You sir are undeserving of the custody of our Indian National Interest and unworthy of our vote of confidence.
Filed under: Manmohan Confidence Vote
I would vote for your vote of no confidence for MMS lock, stock and barrel. Not being a Lok Sabha MP, MMS ought not to have taken such a suicidal role to bring the whole Congress party to ruin and destructions. In Mahabharat, the phrase was used, Vinash Kale Viparit Buddhi and the same logic fits here in his case. Even if he wins the vote, the magic and aura of his PM’s office, i.e. whatever is remaining of it, would have evaporated. The win or loss would be tight on either side, but such a win is a negative win under these prevailing circumstances. Sonia has taken the Congress to ruins, aided and abetted by her chosen PM.
The air is thick with rumour of impending resignation of the Speaker, when he probably will address the floor managers of all parties tomorrow on July 21. If that happens, one more constitutional crisis will arise to momentarily sidetrack the issue of no confidence.
God save this country from such delinquents.
Great Post Y,
Keep going
Yossarin….
SATYAMEVA JAYATE
Great Post….
J,
On a positive note, isn’t that we want “The congress in the dust bin”, the office of PM is not a material possession, it is dependent on the soul that occupies it. When the right person occupies the office, it automatically gains stature.
Oho this is what the BJP thinks (or rather wants us to think) the current trust vote is about.
Hey Jujung,
Man you are going nuts with this BJP bashing. This statement of yours has shown how empty you are: What do u expect the BJP to do?? Do you want them to lend support to the congress to run the govt. The trust vote is about the govt having numbers, and BJP will of course not support congress on the numbers table. Learn to put things in perspective or shut up
Great Post Yossarin!!
I wish you were in Parliament.
Murali,
Take it easy dude. My point is the BJP does not support the deal and is, in my opinion, acting against national interest in doing so. The only reason it is doing so is political expediency.
If this trust vote were abt the Govt having numbers, then the BJP would come out in support of the deal (and yet vote against the Govt. due to its political compulsions for all I care. But this would be absurd. wudn’t it?)
Yossarin even if he recognizes the merits of the deal, he sidesteps it by talking abt irrelevant issues. For all his exhortations about him being not aligned to any particular political party, everyone knows which party he bats for. We have seen reams and reams of posts about how Sonia didn’t invest politically in the deal, how Manmohan is weak in advancing the deal, how Congress didn’t try to build consensus etc etc, but not a single post about BJP’s reneging on national interest. Now, Yossarin can write whatever he wants on his blog, but to claim he is not aligned to any party is disingenuous.
What an eloquent post Yossarin…bandhu, gujjuman rightly said: you should be in the parliament!
“….even at the height of our campaign for freedom from colonial rule, we did not entirely reject the British claim to good governance.”
—
Manmohan Singh’s 2005 Oxford speech demonstrates that he is in the company of limber loyalists such as Dadabhai Nowrojee.
The judgment of Manmohan’s servile complaisance will be left for posterity.
Jujung,
So all the three nuclear scientists who have been writing tirelessly about how the deal is not in our interest are idiots and the MSM projection abt the deal is coreect!!!!!!
Huh
Jujung
You might have a point on BJP’S confused position on the N-deal.Sharp politican that he his,I am sure Shri.Advani clearly senses that opposition to N-deal does not go well with vocal non-voting section of BJP Supporters.Shri Advani appears to have thoroughly failed to rein in the elements in BJP who have driven the party to take a maximalist stance with no room for nuanced position
Having said that Congress and their backers appear to be turning desperate in their attack on BJP.They need to be reminded that till recently Manmohan Singh was running a government with the backing of Karat invoking that bogey called ‘Secularism’.
Apparently the extra-territorial preferences of commies which Congie supporters gleefully point out now(which bloggers like Yossarin exposed through his posting on Mitrokin archives) etc slipped Congress and its supporters attention during these four years .
Indian public was made to believe that ‘Communalism’ was the greatest danger afflicting mankind, its quite ingenous on the part of the Congress and supporters to expect that forces is alleged to epitomise this threat to turnaround suddenly and support them.
The struggle that the Congress is going through to a get a fairly well negotiated deal is a price that the Congress is paying for perperating charade called ‘Secularism’and treating a deply flawed but genuinely nationalistic political force in the country as an ‘untouchable’
Jujung, in a parliamentary system, a motion of confidence is at its core, is merely proof that a sitting government enjoys the majority backing of MP’s…it has never been written anywhere that is a vote on majority backing for a particular deal or issue that the government has taken up. This is the historical precedent. To emotionally blackmail the nation into thinking this motion of confidence is a vote on the deal is irresponsible based on that precedent, even though many people have decided to play it as such.
…and as someone who takes a deep interest in American politics as well, its funny to see all these ‘experts’ with an interest in the deal going through talking about how if it does not get done now, it will never happen. Sorry, but no. There is too much of an Indian-friendly caucus in the US houses of Congress to keep it from happening…and as for fears that unfriendly whitehouse could block such a move, again, ridiculous sentiment – it just isn’t a politically big issue in the US (in fact, no American media has even mentioned the deal with India because the average American person could care less!) to warrant them trying to block it. Yes, I am talking about dearest Mr. Barack Obama and Mr. John McCain, one who will occupy the whitehouse next year and who will not think twice about signing such a deal with the hopes that he can stick it on his resume. Thats how politics works, folks.
That’s a ‘both sides of the ocean’ perspective. Yes, the “experts” on both sides are coming out now to push it, but what do you expect? They want their moment of glory now, not later (as do GWB and MMS).
Prasanna,
“I am sure Shri.Advani clearly senses that opposition to N-deal does not go well with vocal non-voting section of BJP Supporters.Shri Advani appears to have thoroughly failed to rein in the elements in BJP who have driven the party to take a maximalist stance with no room for nuanced position”
Advani and others in the BJP know this very well, they know that committed BJP voters will vote for BJP after the sickular govt they have seen for the past 4.5 yrs. The wavery voter is more concerned with other issues than this deal. The people who scribble on the net painting the BJP as being anti national in terms of the deal are not voters. The BJP knows this only too well. In fact I would not be surprised if the urban voters also punish the congress for the reservation issue. Just that BJP cannot openly campaign against that.
Great post, Y.
OT but pertinent:
juju is showing itself to be a troll, increasingly. Wasting oxygen ‘debating’ with trolls whose only aim is to disrupt discussions in ideologically adverse sites and threads, is like rain over the sea – a total waste.
And yup, sadly, does look like the troll has succeeded given how everyone took its proferred flamebait.
Don’t get me wrong. Going against majority forum opinion isn’t necessarily wrong. There’s a healthy way to doing that. But flaming majority opinion with drive-by one-liners backed by neither sobreity nor reasoning is, IMHO, trollish. And should be treated as such.
JMTs etc.
/Have a nice day, all.
Hi Murali
True.Thats why i called them “non-voting section”
However they have tend to set the agenda for the public discourse through their vocal presencee in MSM/Internet etc .Its fair to say that some part of momentum that BJP always used to enjoy in 90’s was derived due to their support.Recent Karnataka elections amply demonstrated the electoral irelevance of this class though the noise levels that they can create is pretty high .Their hostility can create a huge negative perception.
Having said that i think BJP should not have gone the complete distance in opposing the N-deal .The incompetent Manmohan Singh government can now probably partially wipe out the his woeful record of governance by seeking martyrdom on N-deal
>>Take it easy dude. My point is the BJP does not support the deal and is, in my opinion, acting against national interest in doing so. The only reason it is doing so is political expediency.<<
Mr Jujung is entitled to his own opinion, but THIS IS AN INDIAN SITE, NOT SOME TIBETAN CHRISTIAN SITE, AND WE DO NOT NEED OUTSIDERS, COMMENTING HERE. WE INDIANS ARE CAPABLE OF THINKING FOR OURSELVES THANKS. ADVISE PLEASE GO TO IBN OR NDTV site. The deliquents and “Christians” are welcomed there (more so if you can provide them few pegs of liquor).
By the way Tarun Vijay has very succinctly described the position in his article about the distinction between the Islamic Jehadi lobby and the Lunatic Christian crusader/foreign interests lobby led by Congress and nationalist perspective. As for martyrdom on Nuclear Deal, public is asking WHY HE DID NOT DO THE SAME WHEN TERRORISTS ARE KILLING INDIANS, WHEN FARMERS ARE COMMITING SUICIDE, WHEN INFLATION REACHED SKY LEVELS, FROM WHERE THE Rs 25 CRORE PER MP CAME FROM (ATLEAST NOT FROM ITALY), people understand the game, they are not fools which the real fools the politicians and media think. Even my peon knows the situation clearly
http://timesofindia .indiatimes. com/Columnists/ Tarun_Vijay_ Doctor_Bushmohan _Singh/articlesh ow/3253235. cms
Excellent & timely article by Swapan Dasgupta:
The Third Front googly
http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnist1.asp?main_variable=Columnist&file_name=swapan%2Fswapan208.txt&writer=swapan
“Advani clearly senses that opposition to N-deal does not go well with vocal non-voting section of BJP Supporters.”
I don’t think so. There are two kinds of “middle class” praja – those who have taken the pains to (micro)analyze the deal and know that it can be improved; or those who have just been exposed to some “mainstream media” views on the deal. The latter of course are misinformed or don’t see the whole picture. But my point is first they don’t matter because they are not voters and secondly even if they do matter it is extremely naive to think they are gonna abandon the BJP ship just because of the N deal.
With regard to the deal itself I think there is another reason why BJP might be doing this. They want to signal to the world that they are a party extremely tough on national security no compromise period. In other words BJP-Congress are playing the good cop-bad cop routine to the world. BJP also wanted to “pressurize” the Congress to get the best deal by being in opposition but they still messed up.
Anyways it was funny to listen to Kapil Sibal mudslinging BJP and saying such stupid things like Advani initially supported the deal but then backed out because of lust for power. Yeah right!!! Who can match the sacrifice of Madam and her prime concern for “supreme” national interest, right?
Now it isn’t even about the N deal. More than that, this govt. needs to go because of its sheer arrogance. They still think India is governed by one party and they are the lone sheriff in town. That is totally unacceptable in a democracy like India. This govt. has also taken propaganda to a new level by its pocket media.
The 3 scientists are: PK Iyengar, A. Gopalakrishnan and AN Prasad.
Guys,
I have just finished reading “A Secular Agenda for Strengthening our country, for welding it” by Arun Shourie. I believe everyone here on this site should read it. I will provide a brief write up on its contents later.
I believe it is a work of immense clarity and exposition of secularism as envisaged by our founding fathers. He also demonstrates how Congress has been hoodwinking our nation.
Next steps in the political circus. GVL Narashim Rao in livement.
1) If the govt falls, then Left UNPA will try to install Mayawati as PM with BJP supporting from outside. But BJP might be interested in going for fresh elections.
2) In that case, Left and UPA might get together without MMS as PM.
3) If the govt survives, it will still be a bit shaky.
Anti-congressism of nineties sees revival
http://www.livemint.com/2008/07/20225521/Anticongressism-of-nineties-s.html
Oh ho Arjun,
Thank goodness the BJP leaders who back in 1995, 1997 and AGAIN in 2002 viewed Mayawati as a “friend” are out of the way now, and replaced by those who realize how dangerous she is…Rajnath, Kalyan, Lalji and others while Vajpayee, Tripathi, Joshi and others are out of the picture. So let us hope there is no change in this.
This Make Mayawati the PM campaign is seriously disturbing.
Janpar, I absolutely agree. This Mayawati thing is going out of hand and it might hurt BJP. That’s exactly what Abhishek Manu Singhvi of Congress was saying. He said that BJP is supported Mayawati at the risk of losing their own claim to PM ship.
I think the best possible outcome for BJP is that the govt scrapes through with a small margin. That keeps Left and Mayawati at bay.
The deal goes through and BJP is back to focussing on aam admi issues. The only problem with this approach is that bad performance in state elections in MP Rajasthan will hurt their chances in 2009 elections.
I agree too. There’s mot many months left in the UPA’s constitutional lifespan. Better to let it die of old age than let it assume some martyrdom mantle.
Mayajaal is giving sleepless nights to everyone in the BJP camp. If Maya had delivered on the governance plank in UP, I would’ve been happy. Sure, BSP raj is better than Mullayam raj but that isn’t saying much. Can anyone comment on how UP’s governance has been under Maya?
Also, this INC-SP combine reviving old cases against Maya is another twist to the tale. Just like Sukh Ram, Maya hasn’t been too sophisticated about covering her tracks when eating bribes etc.
I SUPPORT THE MOTION TO BRING DOWN THIS EXISTING GOVERNMENT, WHICH CHEATED THE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENTS AND INDIAN CITIZEN.
PRIME MINISTER DOES NOT KNOW WHAT HE IS TALKING, WHAT HE IS DOING, WHAT HE IS GETTING.
THE INFLATION GONE UP… ROTI, KAPDA, MAKHAN ALL GONE AND IF THIS GOVERNMENT CONTINUES, THEY CAN SEE ONLY THE PHOTOS OF ALL THESE AND NOT IN REAL
R M BABU
+254737702578
[...] which is exactly what this debate ought to be about as Offstumped had extensively dissected in the open letter of no confidence. The last point worth commenting on was the PM’s contention that everything he did was in the [...]
MMS must go .
What a coloured commentary. Our P.M is a decent man with his heart in the right place. Regrettably, it has become a fashion with some so called intellectuals to pull down our P.M while he quietly goes about his duties without making a song and dance about it. It is obvious that the writer would prefer Advani who has no plans except the burning ambition to somehow occupy the P.Ms chair. It is time we thought about the country and not look at issues through the prism of religion, caste and region. I am reminded between the difference between a politician and a statesman. One thinks of the next elections while the other thinks of the next generation.
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[...] are some excerpts from Open Letter of No Confidence July 2008 So one may as well ask of the Prime Minister, what in his view would be accomplishments [...]
[...] are some excerpts from Open Letter of No Confidence July 2008 So one may as well ask of the Prime Minister, what in his view would be accomplishments [...]