Acid of distrust

The Supreme Court’s comments on CBI and UPA government have left no scope for any further debate. Still the UPA government is trying to defend itself. And in their eagerness to defend the government, the UPA leaders have become oblivious of the fact that Manmohan Singh has lost much of the respect that he had so diligently earned over a period of time. It’s an irony that Manmohan Singh who has been conscious, throughout his life, to keep his image spotless and unblemished, is now putting everything at stake just to save his chair. His acolytes are offering all sorts of interpretation to the SC comments.

Some of them are telling Manmohan that SC has just made a comment and it’s not a judgment while some others are consoling him by suggesting that SC has not taken the name of PM in its comments. Some people are saying that it’s the prerogative of the law minister to call CBI officers. Some of them have gone to the extent of saying that it’s just a hype created by the media as common people are least bothered about coal and CBI. It seems they all need to be shown the mirror.
 
Who doesn’t know that Ashwani Kumar is close to Manmohan Singh and that they have family relations? It’s an open secret that Ashwani Kumar, not a political heavyweight, managed to get law ministry, a high profile ministry, just because Manmohan Singh pushed his case. Similarly, it’s no secret that CBI is raising fingers at Manmohan Singh, in some way or other, in coalgate scam. The reason is very simple- Manmohan Singh was the coal minister when this scam took place. Ashwani Kumar put everything at stake to save his mentor PM Manmohan Singh. He called the CBI director  and asked him to share with him the details of the affidavit that the CBI planned to file in the Supreme Court. Ashwani did all this without giving any thought to its possible repercussions. In this meeting government’s law officers as well as officers of PMO were also present. Even a novice can understand the objective of this meeting.

Sources reveal that in this meeting, the law minister blasted CBI officers and ridiculed the poor standard of their English. He told the CBI officers that their affidavit was full of legal loopholes. And then he made changes to the affidavit on his own laptop. He removed many sentences while adding many lines. Even the officers got the message after watching the body language of the law minister and they also came up with additional suggestions that were implemented. Who needs any explanation from CBI director to understand why all this happened?
 
The officers lost their sleep when newspapers reported that the CBI will apprise the Supreme Court of the fact that the affidavit has already been shared with the law minister, law officers and PMO officials. But an undeterred law minister kept justifying it citing the rules of law book. He was rather trying to find out as to who leaked all this. He was perhaps thinking about next course of action on how to send the right message to the Supreme Court. Ashwani Kumar was busy in planning next steps while the PM kept losing his reputation.
 
Manmohan Singh could have saved his reputation to some extent, had he sacked the law minister the day reports about this meeting appeared in the newspapers. But he missed the opportunity and today his own chair is in danger but how can he resign? He must have been told that the nation is facing danger and is passing through a very difficult phase.
 
China has intruded 19 kilometers inside Indian territory, Pakistan is issuing  threats, Sri Lanka is unhappy and there is instability in Nepal. Manmohan Singh must have been made to understand that he is the only saviour at this moment as General Elections is approaching fast, Rahul Gandhi is not willing to take the baton and Sonia Gandhi is not keeping well.
 
But things don’t seem that simple and easy. The Supreme Court has taken a very tough stand on the entire matter and wants to know what changes were made to the affidavit, who made these changes and why these changes were made et al, who all were present in the meeting etc. Now the secrets will tumble out.  Did a high ranking CBI officer send two SMSes to the CBI director in this case? Did a PMO officer get changes made to the affidavit by sending instructions in an email?
 
More questions are bound to arise. Now, how will the PM say that CBI is totally independent? How will the law minister say that CBI was not used to save PM? How will the law officers explain the fact that they used their legal expertise for saving the PM’s skin? Will the PMO confess that it misused its power and authority to deter the CBI?
 
These are very uncomfortable questions for the government and PM. The government will have to explain why the court is so miffed with it? It will also be asked why the government is looking so distressed? As usual, partymen will say that there is nothing to worry about over these reports as Indian public has very short memory.
 
But the problem is that this piece of advice is miles away from the ground reality. People’s distrust can destroy any force, howsoever mighty it may be.