Perception matters. It should not!!

In the last decade or so, media seems to have attempted to contribute significantly in informing people at large about facts and details behind political events. However, perceptions still remain irreplaceable while framing of political judgment. Facts and details can be boring, extremely volatile and are often short lived. Perception acts as a direct substitute. It is easy, convenient and often goes uncontested.

Our incumbent Prime Minister, from the day he occupied his chair in 2004, is ‘perceived’ to be an ‘economist’ with impeccable honesty and integrity. It is this continued perception which resulted in victory for the congress and his re nomination to the post in 2009. 

If one were to simply brush up and study the course of events and the established set of facts during last nine years, Prime Minister egresses as anything but an economist with integrity. 

Irrefutable facts evidencing disturbing credentials emerged about the UPA left presidential candidate Pratibha Patil after her name was announced for the post. She founded and continued as the chairperson of a ‘mahila sahakari bank’ (woman’s co-operative bank). Bank was found to be ill managed by Reserve Bank of India after several inquiries and RBI was forced to order its liquidation citing the interest of depositors. Irregularities smacked of corruption and nepotism.  Out of the funds collected from depositors (mostly comprising of small vendors, rag pickers and other indigent depositors etc.), loans were issued to her family members and first degree relatives (including male members) worth millions of rupees and were later declared as ‘non performing assets’. But for her presence, the borrowers in the first place would not have even managed to get a penny loan out of the bank.

However, Prime Minister found it absolutely unnecessary to even have a look at these facts investigated RBI, by official liquidators and by banks own internal audit in their reports. Several letters written to her by Union to the bank also indicated how ‘loot’ was carried out under her chairmanship.

Series of events also showed as to how she was also suspected of shielding her brother while he was charge sheeted by CBI for conspiracy to murder. Prime Minister who is believed to be an ‘honest economist’ summarily rejected these overwhelming set of facts as ‘mud slinging’. Resultantly, Pratibha Devisingh Patil became President of India and continued in office for five years.

It was hardly a surprise when her tenure as a president failed to inspired and was marked by unending controversies ranging from her extravagant and massive expenditure on foreign trips, unprecedented clemency largesse to dreaded convicts serving punishments for brutal multiple murders and gruesome crime on children and women, and breaching protocols.

The otherwise indecisive Prime Minister has not only defended her, but he was equally quick in putting his entire weight behind former telecom minister A. Raja when the allegations of 2G scam (second biggest scam in the world after Watergate scandal) emerged for the first time, Suresh Kalmadi before he was jailed for the CWG scam, and former CVC chief P V Thomas before he was disqualified by Supreme Court; all of whom the congress party and the prime minister himself now finds completely indefensible and claims to maintain a safe distance.

Perception had always done the trick for the Prime Minister. So strong was its effect that he was able to entirely avoid any accountability for his debut ‘cash for votes’ scam which surfaced during UPA-1 regime.  

Prime Minister’s second term in power has seen a series of debacle and disasters. Every possible thing which could go possibly go wrong with a government has gone wrong. Monumental scams involving billions and millions of rupees, undue favours to political favourites in building economic empires, economic mismanagement leading to unprecedented fall in the rupee, lowest GDP growth rate, continuously soaring inflation, international disapprobation, international aggression, administrative inefficiency and indecision making, wholesale judicial reprimand on multiple issues, civil unrest in large parts of urban and even rural India etc. So much was the chaos that when the Indian Express wrote a story about a possible military coup, it almost seemed believable.

Such is the situation in the government that the best possible tactic, given the media and people’s fascination for breaking news, to budge attention of the people from one scam or blunder, is to invent another. In face of all this, the perception, the presumption refuses to die. The teflon coating refuses to tire out. Meanwhile the smugness, habitual obduracy, mysterious silence and imperturbability of Prime Minister remain impervious.

To those for whom shielding, fielding, protecting and defending the corrupt is not sufficient enough to be convinced about one’s ‘personal culpability’, Comptroller and Auditor General of India indicted Prime Minister himself in the biggest ever scam in independent India.  

CAG’s most damaging accusation in its report on coal block allocation was that “In all since July 2004, 142 coal blocks were allocated to various governments and private parties following the existing pattern of allocation which lacked transperancy, objectivity and competition”. Prime Minister himself was in charge of the coal ministry for most part of this period(2006-2009). CAG states that final decision on the process of allocation of coal blocks through competitive bidding was made way back in July 2006.  Para 13 of his statement as read out in the parliament in response to the accusation merely stated that “Any administrative allocation procedure involves some judgement and in this case the judgement was that of the many participants in the Screening Committee acting collectively. There were then no allegations of impropriety in the functioning of the Committee.” A very convincing reply indeed!

CAG reports unambiguously states that the loss caused to the exchequer due to faulty allocations is upto Rs. 1,86,00000 Million. On this, Prime Minister states that CAG loss estimates are ‘questionable’. That’s it!!. Take eighty percent discount. Does that make it any better? All this in a country where approximately three hundred thousand people are engaged in manual scavenging and government will require few thousand million rupees to get rid of it.

Prime Minister had also shown complete faith in the age old tradition of congress by allowing subversion of every independent institution, mainly the investigative bodies, so that the truth will be never be known. Consequently, absence of final definitive account or an official stamp on the scam generates lengthy debates and generated confusion allows the prime minister to retain and maintain the perception. The last week drama over the issues of coalgate and railgate leading to the resignation of two senior ministers should now strike a final nail to burst this enduring perception. Who was former law minister trying to protect after all?

But do not even point out these facts. How can you even sniff a scam? Prime Minister highly ‘qualified economist’ with undoubted honesty!!

Prime Minister has picked on every opportunity to play tawdry political tricks. Way back in 2006, he said that religious minorities have the first share on nation’s resources. In fact, it wasn’t just an unintended slip, he meant what he said. His government had the audacity to introduce religion based reservation in educational institution and even go in an appeal to the Supreme Court after it was declared unconstitutional by the High Court. The latest one from him came in his campaign rally in Gujarat, where he told the gathering how minorities in the state are not safe.   To add to all this was sheer apathy. When country was roiling over horrific delhi gang rape and people took on streets, Prime Minister took his own time which lasted for a week before he could address the nation. Government under the leadership of prime minister has managed to be extremely versatile even in their blunders. But let me recollect, Prime Minister is not only perceived to be honest and an eminent economist, he is also perceived to be secular and very sensitive!

-Bhargav