Rahul turns heat on PM

There are no two ways about the fact that the Congress-led UPA was mired in corruption and lack of probity. However, perhaps the UPA’s saving grace was that the party didn’t resist public pressure for too long or deflect attention through belligerent spokespersons or irrationally malicious troll squads. Every time they came under attack, the UPA ministers were asked to resign and prove their innocence.The party didn’t rough it out defiantly as the BJP government has been doing till now. Every single person who was alleged of corruption or impropriety during the UPA ultimately resigned. Just ask Shashi Tharoor.

Compare it with the BJP, the party with a difference that promised good governance and zero-tolerance to corruption, all of which the party promised us would translate into acche din. Despite clear documentary evidence of misuse of office, explicit conflict of interest and even pecuniary benefits, the party chose to justify and protect Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje in Lalit-gate. No amount of proof was good enough for the BJP to concede political misdemeanour because the party has arbitrarily decided not to give into public scrutiny. The only excuse the party could give was a tenuous bit of legalese.The BJP’s belligerent and in your face stand was no different on the allegations against Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde’s corruption allegations, Union minister Smriti Irani’s fudged degrees. 

And the most shocking was the Vyapam scam which has metamorphosed into a killer epidemic deadlier than Ebola under the watch of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Until Tuesday, the party was not even open to external scrutiny. even as people connected with the scam died like moths burning in the candlelight. That Modi did not even once express his opinion on the recent revelations about external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia helping sacked Indian Premier League chief Lalit Modi has not helped his cause, as it set tongues wagging in the Bharatiya Janata Party and the government, with even party members, including  its members of Parliament, openly sniping at Modi and his team.All this while, Modi has dilligently carried on with his regular monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat (Speaking one’s mind), while keeping silent on charges against his party leaders, resulting in his critics labelling the programme Maun ki Baat (Matter of silence).It’s high time that the Prime Minister cleared the air or concede ground to the opposition’s claims that this is a government which is now officially tainted.