Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Perception of soft stand on corruption

In the backdrop of the spate of scandals like 2G Spectrums, CWG, Chopper, Coal gate and railway bribery, the Union Defence Minister A K Antony has rightly said that the perception has evolved among the public that the UPA-II government is soft on corruption. The fact is that no area of activity has been left sacrosanct. The Indian Army is considered above all corrupt practices. However, the way the immoral act of unlawful sexual activities have come to light in navy is a matter of great concern for the public. Though the Union Minister AK Antony has ordered for enquiry the moment he received a complaint of a naval officer’s wife that she was being pressurized by her husband to establish sexual relation with the senior officer, a perception has certainly developed among the public that no department of this UPA govt is untouched with immoral acts. These things are nothing but indicate that the sharp degeneration is setting fast in all spheres of lives. As far as the public perception about corruption in the government is concerned, it is growing day by day due to soft peddling of the issues of corruption by the government. At last, under media and opposition pressure, the Manmohan Singh government had to take resignation from Pawan Kumar Bansal as Railway Minister because of railway bribery scandal and Law Minister Ashwani Kumar because of his sharing CBI draft status report on Coalgate . This development has definitely sent the message that the former law minister did so because he wanted to save Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who was also the coal minister from 2006 to 2009. If the UPA-II had acted tough against all those who were allegedly involved in 2G Spectrum the moment the scandal surfaced, no other scam after it could have occurred. But the UPA-II did not act until the Supreme Court asked it to do. This action clearly has sent the message out that this government is very soft on the issue of corruption. To change this public perception, the Govt. will have to act very fast, tough and sincerely. Perception is not made in a day. It takes time. Though no allegation of corruption has been proved in the court of law, the litany of scandal is so large that it is natural for the people to think that Manmohan Singh-led UPA-II government is neck deep in corruption.

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