Saturday, January 29, 2011

Gurcharan Das, Pratibha Patil and Manmohan Singh

In his copiously researched book, "The Difficulty of Being Good : on the subtle art of dharma", Gurcharan Das writes:

       " A similar conspiracy of silence (reference here is to Bhishma's silence when Draupadi was getting humiliated) diminished the office of the President of India in the summer of 2007. The official candidate for the largely ceremonial office was a woman Congress party leader, Pratibha Patil, against whom there were extensive corruption charges that were widely reported in the press. She had started a cooperative bank in Maharashtra whose licence was cancelled by RBI. Her bank had given 'illegal loans' to her relatives that exceeded the bank's share capital. It had also given a loan to her sugar mill which was never repaid. The bank waived these loans, and this drove it into liquidation. The government liquidator of the bank, P.D.Nigam, said, "The fact that relatives of the founder chairperson (Pratibha Patil) were among those indiscriminately granted loans and that some illegal loan waivers were done has come up in our audit." Six of the top defaulters in Pratibha Patil's bank were linked to her relatives.

      In July 2007, the nation had a Bhishma-like person of unquestionable integrity in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. But he remained largely silent, deferring to his party's choice of the presidential candidate. In passing, he called it 'mudslinging' by the opposition, and the nation believed him. In any case, the Congress had the votes and Pratibha Patil replaced perhaps the most upright and popular president in Indian history. After that, the charges were never investigated."


        Gurcharan Das deserves kudos for his fearless expression of facts. He is not cowed down by adharmic authority. Manmohan Singh has a history of remaining silent when the nation's interests are thrown to the winds. His acquiescence in the appointments of P.J.Thomas as CVC and K.G.Balakrishnan as Chairman of NHRC  should not therefore surprise us. In July 2007, the nation believed Manmohan Singh. Does anyone believe him now ? It is also obvious that he is acting at the behest of someone else. It suits the interests of that someone else if dubious and hence pliable persons are placed in crucial positions. It is shocking that over a billion "intelligent" people are led down the garden path by a scheming alien.

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