» POLITICAL BUREAU Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, in his last address to the press before passing over the baton to a new incumbent, spoke on a range of issues and his governance during the last ten years. The move by Dr Singh was ostensibly aimed to publicly announce his unwillingness to accept a third-term and to pitch for Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s projection as party’s prime ministerial candidate. Dr Singh’s address, coming after the drubbing the Congress party received in the November assembly elections and presiding over a series of alleged scams, was hardly convincing and appeared more like a confession. His statements: “I have full confidence that the next Prime Minister will be from the UPA coalition,” and that, “It will be disastrous for the country to have Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister,” has put the spotlight back on the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. The masses, professionals and the corporate world expected much more from their economist Prime Minister, but he appears to have failed mostly on this count. With a sliding growth rate, slump in manufacturing sector, decline in exports and depreciation in Rupee against the US dollar besides high inflation and spiraling food and fuel prices, the common man is feeling the pinch and blames Dr Singh’s government for the mess, even though some of the issues may well have been beyond his control. The biggest problem appears to be impression among the people about UPA heading a corrupt bunch and involved in corruption throughout. Some of the scams the magnitude of which no one ever imagined took place under the UPA government strengthening the public belief; the Prime Minister and the Congress party chief failed to address the same in time. On corruption Referring to the charges of corruption against his government, he said, “Most of these charges relate to the period of UPA-1. Coal block allocation as well as 2G spectrum allocation were in the era of the UPA-1. We went to the electorate on the basis of our performance in that period, and the people of India gave us the mandate to govern for another five years. So, whether these issues which have been raised from time-to-time by the media, sometimes by the CAG, sometimes by court, one must never forget that they belong to a period which was not the period of UPA-2, but the period relating to the previous five years, and the people of India entrusted us with new responsibilities. So, the people of India do not seem to have paid heed to all these charges of corruption which are levied against me or my party.” “I feel somewhat sad, because I was the one who insisted that spectrum allocation should be transparent, it should be fair, it should be equitable. I was the one who insisted that coal blocks should be allocated on the basis of auctions. These facts are forgotten. The Opposition has a vested interest. Sometimes the media play into their hands as well, and therefore, I have every reason to believe, that when history is written of this period, we will come out unscathed. This is not to say that there was no irregularity. There were irregularities. But the dimensions The Opposition has a vested interest. Sometimes the media play into their hands as well, and therefore, I have every reason to believe, that when history is written of this period, we will come out unscathed. This is not to say that there was no irregularity of the problems have been overstated by the media, by the CAG sometimes, and by other entities.” On price rise “What is going to happen in the months to come, I would not like to speculate – certainly not in this forum. But I will be honest enough to say that, it could be that price rise was a factor in the people’s turning against the Congress party. And I have explained that the reasons why price rise took place are reasons beyond our control, because international commodity prices are rising, because international energy prices are rising. These were the factors which made it difficult for us to control prices as effectively as we could have done. But having said that, I would also like to say that we have taken enough measures to protect the weaker sections of our economy and our society against rising prices. The Public Distribution System has been stabilized. Prices of public distribution food grains have not been increased since 2003. What is more, through instrumentalities like the MN- REGA, we have ensured that the rural wages earned by the agricultural labourers, are indexed at the rate of inflation – they provide a certain measure of protection to these segments of our society. These factors should not be lost sight of.” On AAPs ascent Corruption is an issue and certainly the AAP has been able to make a success of its concern for the eradication of corruption. Whether it will succeed or not, “I think that only time will tell. I have a feeling that dealing with corruption is not an easy process. Even though there may be opportunities as well as challenges, we must collectively grapple with the task of dealing with corruption. This is not a matter which only one party can accomplish. Various political parties have to work together to deal with this monster.” On Indo- Pak relations “I have tried to improve relations with all our neighbours to the best of my ability. At one time, it appeared that an important breakthrough was in sight. Events in Pakistan, for example, the fact that General Musharraf had to make way for a different setup, I think that led to the process not moving further. But I still believe that good relations between India and Pakistan are very essential for this sub-continent to realise its full development potential, to get rid of poverty, ignorance and disease, which has been the inevitable lot of millions and millions of people in this sub-continent of ours. I would very much like to go to Pakistan. I was born in a village which is now part of west Punjab. But as Prime Minister of the country, I should visit Pakistan if conditions are appropriate to achieve solid results. I have thought of it many times, but ultimately I felt that circumstances were not appropriate for my visit. I still have not given up hope of going to Pakistan before I complete my tenure as Prime Minister.” Report card “It is for you to judge. As far as I am concerned, I feel I have done reasonably well. The growth process that we sustained in the last ten years despite the global financial crisis , despite the Eurozone crisis, and considering also what is happening in other emerging countries like Brazil, like South Africa, like Indonesia, I don’t think ours is a story which can be described as non-successful or eventful.” 35
<strong>POINT</strong> <strong>OUT</strong> GALLERY GALLA GALLERY GAL GALLE 1 A Festival Of Democracy » Different moods of election campaign 1: Indira Gandhi wearing a traditional Maratha nose ring during an election campaign. 2: Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao during 1983 election campaign.3: Mamata Banerjee during election campaign at Bhabanipur. 4: Election campaign towards 8th Left Front government. 5: Narendra Modi at Lal Bahadur Stadium, Hyderabad. 6: Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri with party leaders - June 1964 New Delhi. 36 FEBRUARY 2014
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