The Hindu Business Line : Nation expects transparency

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, are doing no good to the cause of good governance and integrity in public life by their ambiguous pronouncements on the persistent allegations of corruption in the allotment of the 2G spectrum, especially when astronomical amounts of Rs 60,000 crore or thereabouts are being bandied about. If true, it will turn out to be the largest ever scam in 60 years of Independence in terms of money value.

‘Incorrect’ allegations

The Prime Minister has been reported as saying that the allegations are “incorrect”, and the Finance Minister has cryptically confined himself to the general proposition that allegations should not be taken as truth. The Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Mr A. Raja, who is in the eye of the storm, has been steadfastly asserting that all the decisions taken in the matter had strictly followed the guidelines and precedents applicable to such cases, and been in accordance with the procedures laid down by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

To boot, he has been consistently claiming that the Prime Minister and the Cabinet had duly approved the allotment.

In the midst of all this, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) stepped in to ask the CBI to probe the allegation. Following this, the agency has conducted extensive searches, apparently connected with the allocation of 2G spectrum, in 19 premises of the Department of Telecommunications in New Delhi and eight other cities and has publicly given out the loss to the public exchequer consequent on the grant of ‘Unified Access Service Licences’ to some private companies to be more than Rs 22,000 crore.

Murky atmosphere

If everything was hunky-dory, why did the CVC insist on a CBI investigation and why such nation-wide raids? Mr Raja adds a new angle to the raids by suggesting that they might well be directed at officials who had played foul after the policy decision based on due observance of rules and regulations at his level had been communicated to them.

The whole matter has now assumed the complexion of a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. It is squarely and solely within the power of the Prime Minister to clear the air. It would have become him, by virtue of the office he holds, his professional background and the people’s belief in his commitment to honesty and transparency, to have called for the papers at the appearance of the first published report of blame laid at the doors of his Cabinet colleague, and certainly after Mr Raja’s claims that he acted only with his approval and that of the Cabinet.

He should then have either come out with a categorical statement of his colleague’s innocence or shared with the nation any adverse findings that he may have formed following it up with calling for Mr Raja’s resignation and going to the root of the matter by ordering an investigation.

This is what Jawaharlal Nehru, whom Dr Singh professedly admires, would have undoubtedly done.

Instead, the Prime Minister has chosen to be betwixt and between, contributing to an unprecedentedly murky atmosphere that had been allowed to be dragged on for well over a year.

Even now it is not too late to save the nation from further suspense and uncertainty on this count.

B. S. RAGHAVAN

Related Stories:
Opposition parties want Raja to quit
3G auction, 2G allotment are different issues: Raja
DoT wants TRAI report on 2G by Sept
Clearing the air on 2G Spectrum

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