UPA : A year of non-perfornance & misgovernance

A YEAR OF

NON-PERFORMANCE & MISGOVERNANCE

NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE

Exposes UPA Government’s Record Of

Unkept Promises, Infighting & Vendetta

New Delhi - May 23, 2005

A Synopsis

Within one year of its rule, the UPA government has done more damage to the democratic institutions, norms and standards of our polity than any other government in independent India’s history, barring the Emergency imposed by Smt. Indira Gandhi in 1975. The fragile and artificial character of this unprincipled and opportunistic alliance has been borne out by the events of the last twelve months. The Common Minimum Programme, subsequently adopted as the National Common Minimum Programme by the UPA government is like the wall-paper which has miserably failed to conceal the cracks in the wall itself.

Smt. Sonia Gandhi’s renunciation drama: The Congress party, which leads this coalition, with only 145 seats in a Lok Sabha of 543 members, pretends as if it has secured a massive majority in the 2004 general elections. It has become the victim of its own propaganda. Power has gone to its head. The arrogance of its supreme leader Smt. Sonia Gandhi knows no limits, just as the servility of the Congressmen before her knows no bounds.

The “Great Renunciator”, whom her sycophants placed in the hallowed league of Gautama Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi for her act of “giving up power”, has become the Super Prime Minister in the UPA government.

NAC is an affront to parliamentary system of governance: The Prime Minister has not cared to explain why his government needs a separate advisory council, when it already has the Planning Commission with precisely the same mandate. Besides, each ministry is free to appoint its own advisors. In fact, the various ministries in the UPA government have created a record of sorts by setting up as many as 52 committees for study and tendering advice. Over and above these, the Prime Minister has set up his own Advisory Councils on Trade, Industry and Economy. Hence, it is obvious that the real purpose of the NAC is not to tender advice to the government; rather it is a thinly disguised arrangement for someone who the world had been told had “sacrificed power”, to exercise enormous power in the UPA government.

Exercise power Smt. Sonia Gandhi does, but with one basic difference. It is power without responsibility and accountability – not even to the Parliament of India. The Supreme Leader is thus protected from answering a single question in the supreme body of India’s democracy. The NDA demands that the Prime Minister either disband the National Advisory Council, or make its chairperson accountable to Parliament and, additionally, make NAC’s work open to scrutiny by Parliamentary committees, who should have the right to summon NAC chairperson and members before them.

A Prime Minister who is not in command of his government: Our parliamentary system of governance recognizes the Prime Minister as the supreme head of the executive wing, whose authority straddles both political and administrative domains. The Prime Minister of India is not the CEO of India Inc, stripped of political powers that are exercised by some other person. This unconstitutional arrangement has imposed on the country a Prime Minister who is not the leader of his own party, who is not in command of his own government, who has to report to his boss at every important step.

Projection of NAC chairperson in official advertisements: The NDA demands that projection of the NAC chairperson in official advertisements should be immediately stopped.

Gagging the voice of the Opposition: The Opposition is another important institution of parliamentary democracy that has been the target of systematic assault by the UPA government. From day one after coming to power, this government, under the direct orders of Smt. Sonia Gandhi, decided to destroy the institution of the Opposition in Parliament. For all the 365 days that this government has been in office, the picture inside Parliament is that it is the NDA Opposition which was under attack by the Treasury benches, rather than the other way round. It is instructive to remember that, the last time a government displayed similar intolerance towards the opposition, it went on to impose the draconian Emergency Rule in 1975.

Principle of the Cabinet’s collective responsibility flouted: The concept of the collective responsibility of the Council of Ministers has been effectively destroyed in the last one year. Senior ministers of the government have freely abused and contradicted each other in public. The unseemly war of words in public between Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav and Shri Ram Vilas Paswan during the Bihar elections is still fresh in our minds.

Dynastic takeover of names of schemes and places: This government has freely changed the names of schemes and places to satisfy the insatiable hunger of the “royal family” of the Congress party to name everything and every place after the names of the members of that family. The following is a partial list of schemes and places named after only one of the members of the ‘royal family’:

    *  Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana
    *  Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission
    *  Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship for SC and ST Students
    *  Rajiv Gandhi Shramik Kalyan Yojana
    *  Rajiv Gandhi Rehabilitation Package for Tsunami Affected Areas
    *  Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan (where the Civil Aviation Ministry is located)
    *  Rajiv Chowk in New Delhi
    *  Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awards
    * Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad
    * Rajiv Gandhi Abhyudaya Yojana (Andhra Pradesh)
    * Rajiv Gandhi Education City (Haryana)
    * Rajiv Gandhi Vidyarthi Suraksha Yojana (Maharashtra)
    * Rajiv Gandhi Rural Housing Corporation (Karnataka)
    * Rajiv Gandhi Awas Yojana (Himachal Pradesh)
    * Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (Kerala
    * Rajiv Gandhi Breakfast Scheme (Pondicherry)

Criminalisation of Governance: For the first time, in the history of our democracy, persons with well-known criminal records were appointed as ministers of Government of India. These ministers even today face charges as serious as murder, rape, dacoity and extortion in various courts of law. Shri Lalu Prasad and some others are charged with serious corruption charges. Shri Lalu Prasad specially has not only been chargesheeted by the CBI in case after case, but charges have also been framed against him in many cases by courts of law after full hearing. Can a person charged under section 420 of the IPC be trusted with the treasury of the railways? The Prime Minister is once again a helpless spectator.

Misuse of Governors: The institution of Governors of States has been treated in an equally cavalier way. The manner in which some of the Governors appointed by the NDA government were removed and new Governors were appointed in their place showed that the UPA government, showed that the ruling alliance has scant regard for the constitutional office of Governor. The Home Minister impudently stated in Parliament that governors appointed by the NDA government were removed “because they did not subscribe to the ideology” of the new government. The actions of the Governors Goa, Jharkhand and Bihar have shown that their ideology is to carry out the political diktat of the Congress President.

Bihar Governor’s objectionable conduct: The NDA takes exception to the style of functioning and several utterances of the Governor of Bihar, Shri Buta Singh. His critical statements about the efforts of political parties to form a popular government in the state and thus to bring the President’s Rule to an end are not only unbecoming for a Governor, but they also appear to be politically motivated. In Patna, people are saying in disgust that “it is not Rasthtrapati Raj but Rabripati Raj in Bihar”.

This is best illustrated by the fact that on the very day (May 20) that Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, addressing a conference of district magistrates in Delhi, was bemoaning about the lack of “tenure security” for IAS/IPS officers, the Governor of Bihar gave marching orders to two DMs of Sewan and Gopalganj. Their crime? They had refused to allow two key supporters of Shri Lalu Yadav, Mohammad Shahabuddin and Sadhu Yadav, both of whom are dreaded mafia dons, to conduct their unlawful and criminal activities in their districts.

Congress conspiracies in Goa & Jharkhand: All through the Goa and episodes, the Prime Minister has remained a helpless spectator, often in the dark about the goings on.

UPA government’s campaign to toxify the education system: The NDA views with much concern the attempts by the UPA government to widen the majority-minority divide in the country’s education system. Its latest decision to reserve 50% seats for Muslims in Aligarh Muslim University is blatantly communal. The NDA is all for effective governmental and societal action to promote education among the minorities. However, this worthy objective cannot be achieved by the HRD ministry’s ill-conceived decisions, which are intended only to garner the minorities’ votes for the Congress in elections. The Congress leadership appears to be completely indifferent to the long-term effects of such divisive politics.

Playing politics with Commissions of Enquiry: Commissions of Enquiry have been an accepted mode of getting at the truth in our democracy. The Congress party has always treated Commissions of Enquiry, which have not served its political purpose, with scant respect.

Congress afraid of truth coming out in Tehelka and ‘Coffingate’ matters: Strangely, the reason given by the government for rejecting the Phukan Commission report was that the “Commission’s report is incomplete”. It is impossible to think of a more dishonest explanation. The report was incomplete solely because the government wound up the Commission, without giving it an opportunity to complete its work.

The same is the case with the Congress party’s approach to the truth about the so-called “Coffingate” scandal. In almost every campaign speech of hers during elections to the 14th Lok Sabha, Smt. Sonia Gandhi had charged the then Defense Minister and NDA Convener Shri George Fernandes with “making money in the purchase of coffins for our martyrs”. However, this charge was shown to be completely baseless in the affidavit that the Defense Ministry filed before the Supreme Court. These two episodes – the rejection of the Phukan Commission report and the two contradictory affidavits by the Defense Ministry -- clearly showed that it is Smt. Gandhi who calls the shots in the UPA government.

A weak PM yields to Lalu Prasad Yadav’s misdeeds and muscle-flexing: The fact that Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is not in command of his government is demonstrated by his total failure to rein in Railway Minister Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Left’s baneful role: The second extra-constitutional center of power in this Government is the Left. The Left claims to be a party to the CMP but it supports the government only from the outside. It has, therefore, no responsibility or accountability for the acts of omission and commission of the UPA government. Constant muscle-flexing by the Communists has completely undermined the ability of the government to take bold decisions, especially in the economic field. The victim of all this, of course, is the country’s economic growth and the welfare of the aam aadmi.

Politicisation of CAG reports: Scores of reports of the C&AG are gathering dust in CPI(M)-ruled West Bengal. They have not even been placed before the State Assembly for years. But, clearly the Left parties follow one principle in West Bengal and an entirely opposite principle in Delhi.

Centre-State relations - Back to the bad old days: The UPA government has proved within a year of its existence that it does not believe in federalism. This Government has openly indulged in discriminatory treatment against non-Congress, non-UPA state governments, especially governments run by the NDA.

Jammu & Kashmir: The internal security of the country has never been under greater threat than at present. The Central government is guilty of complacency and laxity.

North-East: The situation in the North-East continues to deteriorate. The Naga peace talks are in doldrums. The ULFA has raised its ugly head again. Assam is in the throes of non-governance and instability.

Menace of Naxalism: The people of this country will not easily forget the spectacle of the fully armed Naxalites marching through the streets of Hyderabad on a day when the Union Home Minister was holding a meeting there with the Chief Ministers of Naxalite-affected states. This shortsighted and opportunistic policy has given the Naxalites time to regroup, arm themselves with modern weapons and expand their base. The Government of India has been particularly inept in dealing with this menace.

Deceiving the nation on the issue of Bangladeshi infiltration: The NDA strongly condemns the UPA government’s myopic and selfish approach towards the grave problem of ‘Demographic Invasion’ of Bangladeshi infiltrators, giving no thought to the long-term harm that this can do to India’s security, unity and integrity. Assam Chief Minister Shri Tarun Gogoi has described Governor Shri Ajai Singh's report on illegal migrants as being “totally baseless”. Earlier Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had challenged the figures presented in Parliament by his own minister of state for home affairs, Shri Sri Prakash Jaiswal.

Betrayal of Aam Aadmi: The Congress party contested the elections by promising to protect the interests of the Aam Aadmi. That promise now lies in tatters. The Aam Aadmi is reeling under unprecedented price rise.

Betrayal of Unemployed Youth: The Common Minimum Programme of the UPA government had promised to “immediately enact a National Employment Guarantee Act” to provide “100 days of guaranteed employment to at least one able-bodied person in every rural, urban poor and lower middle-class household”. The Act is nowhere in sight even after the government has completed one year in office.

Betrayal of Kisans: It is the plight of the kisans under the UPA rule which is a matter of great concern. More than 2,000 farmers have committed suicide in various parts of the country and especially in Andhra Pradesh, since the UPA government came to power. The NDA charges the UPA government with showing utter insensitivity towards this shocking phenomenon of farmers’ suicides and demands a White Paper on the subject.

The hoax of ‘Bharat Nirman’ initiative: Recently, the Prime Minister has announced the launch of what is billed as a new mega-development initiative for rural India. Called ‘Bharat Nirman’, it is advertised to have an outlay of Rs. 1,73,000 crore over the next four years. The truth is that, there is hardly anything new in the ‘Bharat Nirman’ initiative. It is nothing but a repackaging of the various ambitious projects and pathbreaking initiatives of the Vajpayee government.

Tax burden increases: In his budget speech the Finance Minister assured everyone that he was reducing taxes while in reality he was increasing them. The average tax payer, therefore, is baffled. Women tax-payers, senior citizens, salaried employees, corporates are all up in arms against this deceit. The cash withdrawal tax and the fringe benefit tax are the products of a foolish and conceited mind.

Neglect of infrastructure development: Infrastructure development has clearly slowed down. The National Highway Development Programme is in utter neglect. So is the National Rail Vikas Yojana, which too was launched by the Vajpayee government. No worthwhile infrastructure project has been started in the last one year.

Govt sabotaging Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana: The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana launched by the Vajpayee government is the largest rural roads construction programme since Independence. Its implementation considerably slowed down.

River-linking project abandoned: The ambitious scheme of inter-linking of rivers, like all other worthwhile schemes started by the NDA government, has been treated as a step child by this Government and has suffered for want of attention.

Dark prospects over power sector reforms: The power supply situation in the country continues to deteriorate while this Government debates the amendment of the Electricity Act.

Railways development at a standstill: The Railway Minister has played havoc with the long term interests of the railways. He has hardly any time for the ministry, busy as he is all the time with his ill-conceived politics.

Probe needed in Boeing deal: The manner in which this Government has gone about acquiring aircraft for Air India has raised many eye-brows in India and abroad. The procedure adopted has been far from transparent.

Lack of firmness in dealing with Pakistan: In foreign policy, while the Government has followed the many initiatives taken by the NDA government, it has also made a number of mistakes. In its negotiations with Pakistan it has believed more in giving than taking.

Anti-India stance of Bangladesh government: The Government has been equally inept in dealing with Bangladesh. Infiltration and illegal immigration from Bangladesh goes on unchecked. The ISI of Pakistan finds Bangladesh a happy haven for its activities. The Government of India has failed to deal with the situation with determination.

Amazing flip-flop over Nepal: It is the UPA government’s policy towards Nepal, however, which leaves us completely baffled. It is a tale of unprecedented flip-flop. There is thus complete absence of coordination between the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Defence. Nobody knows who is in charge of the policy towards Nepal.

India and UN Security Council Reforms: On the question of India’s permanent membership of the UN Security Council, the Government has been sending similar contradictory signals. It made a statement in Parliament that there was no question of accepting permanent membership without veto power. Thereafter, the Government of India appears to have changed its stand and seems to be preparing for a compromise on this issue. Nobody is taken into confidence. Such serious international issues are dealt with in a casual manner.

All in all, it has been a wasted year – A Year of Non-Performance & Misgovernance.