How Modi will not do a Manmohan by breaking silence on scams
A lot is being said and written about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's studied silence on the controversies dogging Union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje for their association with former Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Lalit Modi and also the Vyapam scam involving Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The PM is being compared with his predecessor Manmohan Singh and is being accused of defending the three by his reticence.
However, contrary to this perception, Modi has adopted a clever strategy of not doing a Manmohan Singh. The former PM is generally remembered for not speaking even on the most contentious issues. But he spoke perhaps just once and that was to defend the then law minister Ashwani Kumar who had "vetted" the CBI's status report on coal block allocations before it was presented to the Supreme Court.
Despite vehement protests from the BJP over the revelation, Singh had stoutly defended Kumar saying there was no question of his resigning. Singh faced a major embarrassment when the CBI admitted before the Supreme Court that it had indeed shared its status report with the political executive. Finally, the former PM, albeit reluctantly, asked Kumar to put down his papers.
Singh had also dragged his feet in the serious corruption charge leveled against then railway minister Pawan Bansal. He had defended Bansal to the hilt and till the end. It was only when the CBI arrested Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla on getting clinching evidence against him in the railway bribery scam and the pressure exerted by Congress president Sonia Gandhi that Singh took his resignation.
Modi has taken a leaf out of Ashwani Kumar and Pawan Bansal cases and decided not to speak out of turn. A new document is surfacing against Swaraj and Raje in Lalitgate every now and then. The last word has not yet been heard in the Vyapam scam too. Defending Swaraj, Raje and Chouhan at this juncture can be risky. Hence, Modi has rightly decided not to commit a political hara-kiri by defending the indefensible now and face a huge embarrassment in case some clinching evidence crops up against them at a later stage.
Even politically, seeking the resignation of any or all the three under opposition pressure does not suit the Modi government or the BJP. It would be admission of guilt if the government buckles under pressure. This would be counter-productive for the BJP in the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar. The Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal-Janata Dal (United) alliance would go to town tom-toming their victory and painting the BJP as a corrupt party.
Most important of all, Modi does not want to demand resignation from the three, who were never his ardent supporters, and be seen as being vindictive. Coincidentally, all the three - Swaraj, Raje and Chouhan - were considered close to BJP patriarch LK Advani and had opposed Modi's elevation as the party's prime ministerial candidate in the September of 2013. Besides, having a weakened Swaraj, Raje and Chouhan suits the PM.
Hence, it is in the fitness of things that Modi bides his time and allows law to take its own course before uttering something on these controversial issues which may later become an albatross around his neck.