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“Manmohan should say what is being done to check prices”

P. K. Bhardwaj

Sound management of the economy is a core responsibility of Centre: Advani

— Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

STRESS ON PROBITY: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani with CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and MP Sitaram Yechury at the CII national conference in New Delhi on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI: L. K. Advani, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, on Wednesday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to tell the nation what his government was doing to bring down the prices of essential commodities.

“Apart from telling the industry what it should do and what the Opposition should do, I wish he had also told the nation what his government is doing to bring the prices of essential commodities down,” Mr. Advani said while addressing the valedictory session of the annual conference of the industry body, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

“People want results”

Commenting on the observations made at the CII meet on Tuesday by the Prime Minister seeking political consensus and help from the industry to fight inflation, he said: “….. people want to see results on the ground. After all, sound management of the economy is a core responsibility of the Central government.”

Dr. Singh had said: “For government to be more productive, more creative and more effective, we would need greater political consensus and some nationally accepted norms of governance in our Parliamentary system.”

Mr. Advani said there was nothing wrong in what the Prime Minister had stated. However, the nation would also have liked to know from Dr. Singh what “nationally accepted norms of governance” the government was following on certain crucial issues.

“If a Minister thinks that it is a part of his duty to seek favours from another ministry for businesses owned by his son, and if the Prime Minister chooses not to make a statement on the issue in Parliament, it is my understanding that neither the Minister nor the Prime Minister is following a nationally accepted norm of governance in a parliamentary democracy,” he said.

In this context, he cited the instance of the Mundhra scandal exposed by Feroze Gandhi, then Congress MP, in the 1950s which led to exit of a member of the Union Cabinet following a judicial probe by Justice M. C. Chagla.

The public hearings conducted by Justice Chagla remain an unsurpassed case of enforcement of probity in public life, Mr. Advani said, reminding Dr. Singh of two points that Justice Chagla made in his report, “both of which have been scornfully ignored by the UPA government.”

The first point was: “In a parliamentary form of government, Parliament should be taken into confidence at the earliest stage to avoid embarrassment from other sources of information.”

The second was: “The inquiry has been an education for the public. It should also act as a corrective to administrators all over the country, because in future they will act with the consciousness that their actions may be subjected to public scrutiny.”

“Most corrupt”

The BJP leader said that Dr. Singh’s personal integrity was beyond doubt.

“However, it is now equally beyond doubt that he is neither able nor trying to enforce probity in his government. In dealing with corruption in his government — and it is now common knowledge that the UPA government is by far the most corrupt in India’s history — he is exhibiting the same helplessness that he earlier did in acting against crime-tainted Ministers.”

Terming corruption as a foe of pro-poor growth, he said that it was one of the biggest obstacles to inclusive and sustainable growth.

“Indeed, corruption in governance, especially corruption in high places, results in malignant growth. It leads to moral degradation of politics and society, which cannot be measured in quantifiable terms.”

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