Should the office of the PM be brought under the purview of Lokpal? The UPA government does not think so and has forthwith unleashed a barrage of ‘Kill Bill’ tactics to ensure that such proposals are disposed of long before they are debated in Parli. Now why would the ruling regime want to insulate the PM’s post? Is it really to protect that ‘sacrosanct’ office from frivolous charges as is being touted or are there deeper devious motives as suspected by knowledgeable skeptics? In a corrupt milieu, answers to such million dollar questions should typically be sought in shady multi-million dollar deals rather than on lofty moral planes.
Enter 2G, which actually never exited our minds, in the first place. Rather, spectrum, true to its nature, is an all pervading phenomenon, a ubiquitous dark shadow that has enveloped and eclipsed the nation, not just in the recent past but for a long time to come. And we have always held in these columns that the person responsible for inflicting this limitless loot and lasting shame on the nation’s people is none other than the one vested with the moral and constitutional obligation of protecting them: The very honourable, honest, clean and eminent Dr MSingh. His cool and callous defence of Raja, pre, during and post the scam, is now history. That his protectee is now the key accused in that scam has not made a dent on the PM’s conscience either. But all that pales before the latest discovery: Buried under the Raja rice lies a bigger pumpkin, the PM-Maran 2G nexus.
Of course, it is no surprise that, with so many kin to oblige, most pumpkins naturally grew on K’s sprawling family patch. Still, while many were brought down by the slings and darts of the media, SC and CBI, the Maran pumpkin alone somehow remained below eye level and so beyond scrutiny. The media showed undue reticence in bringing up his name, the investigating watchdogs forsook the bark and bite that they at least belatedly bestowed on Raja, the current telecom minister who was clearly in the know sat on incriminating files despite the raging furore and the K-clan itself refrained from even ‘legitimate’ self-defence against a tormenting nephew. But now with the powerful Sun itself suddenly coming under public glare, the scandalous spots are out in the open. Here is a tentative count of the allegations in media and elsewhere:
The genesis of the 2G scam lay in Maran’s stint and his shady shenanigans as the telecom minister were more than a handy guide for his successor: For one, the first-in-first-out norm was first used by Maran to rip the exchequer off around Rs 22000 crs and Raja just multiplied that ‘profitable’ policy! Only that when it came to getting caught, it turned out to be first-in-last-out! But as quid-pro-quos go, the ‘coincidental’ receipt of over Rs700 crs by the Sun group from the Malaysian owner of Aircel, soon after the latter was allotted 14 licences and spectrum by Maran, is eminently larger than the sum of Rs 200 crs for which Raja and Kanimozhi are doing time in Tihar. The takeover of Aircel by the Malaysian group itself is under scrutiny, for it is alleged that it was achieved under ministerial coercion. And there are tons of sundry skeletons like Maran running a ‘proxy’ tele exchange at home which actually was used by his big brother’s businesses. Justice Patil’s indictment of Maran is straight and comprehensive. Come to think of it, the truth was obvious from the beginning. Really, but for the Maran-Raja fracas and the first family’s fratricidal war the 2G deals might have remained as invisible as spectrum.
But for now, let’s leave Sun and the nephews to stew in their own heat and turn our attention to the original sinner, the PM. That he is has been established once again in the current Maran expose too. Cut to Feb, 2006 when the 2G spectrum allocation had attained critical mass. By this time, not only was the UPA-1 two years old, but Maran was quite well entrenched in the tele ministry. Those were cosy times too for the allies. That budget month, the PM constitutes a Group of Ministers (GoM) to go into all the issues related to spectrum because allocations were due owing to leapfrogging growth in the sector and the only policy was that of 2001. Within days, telecom minister Maran writes to the PM that the GoM should confine itself to vacation of spectrum by departments like defence and leave the issue of pricing to the telecom ministry. His specicous, albeit self-serving, logic was that otherwise the GoM would ‘impinge’ on the role of his ministry. He then virtually ‘orders’ the PM with suggestions on how this should be done with an ultimatum that this better be done. To back his ‘request’ he quotes a previous private conversation in which the PM had reportedly assured Maran that spectrum pricing will be the prerogative of the tele ministry.
The scent of scandal was obvious. But the scandal which was just an abstract possibility in Maran’s mind became a reality, thanks to MSingh’s conscious ‘act of commission’. The PM promptly heeds Maran’s ‘request’ to alter the GoM’s terms of reference and lo, spectrum pricing was back on Maran’s table, much against not only the PM’s own original wisdom but in contravention of all established legal, financial and moral norms. Now, why did the PM buckle to Maran instead of standing his ground on the GoM collectively deciding all spectrum related issues including auctions? What was the private assurance given to Maran and what was it that emboldened him to claim spectrum pricing as if it were his birthright? And is not the PM directly responsible for that birthright becoming a private legacy of the MK family, at incalculable cost to the nation? Will the clean PM come clean?
If the Lokpal were to cover PMs and also miraculously pass muster in the coming monsoon session, MSingh and Cong are in for stormy times right away. Hence the antics, acrobatics and even asanas by his cabinet pals over Lokpal. On whether PMs should be subjected to Lokpal, I can only say this: This PM should certainly be! For that matter, why wait for Lokpal? One of the kingpins, Balwa, has actually told the courts that MSingh be called as a witness. And that talk is no bawla. Also, an ‘honest’ PM is unlikely to hide the truth, not under oath, at least!
That is the only way the 2G scam can be fully unravelled.
e-mail the writer at [email protected]