Author: Editorial
Publication: The Statesman
Date: March 5, 2005
Responsibility without power unacceptable
A puzzling aspect of the imbroglio
surrounding the shows, of strength and duplicity, in Jharkhand is the near
absence from the scene of a man we call and would like to believe is our
Prime Minister. Where, pray, does Manmohan Singh stand? After all, in the
Westminster model of democracy we chose to give ourselves, it is the Prime
Minister who must accept credit and blame for the triumphs and failures
of the system. Quite apart from the questions that are within the province
of the Congress' party apparatus, there are serious and Constitutional
issues that are the preserve of the government of the day. It is not for
the party to decide if the Governor acted in haste or worse, or whether
he thus deserves censure or recall. It is for the government to make this
call, and for Singh to assume he has no role to play in a political situation
is unacceptable. There are already murmurs within the Congress party that
the Prime Minister is able to hold on to his Mr Clean image because there
are others around to do the dirty work. For the Prime Minister to have
responsibility without power is as unacceptable as it is for Sonia Gandhi
to wield power without responsibility. Who the Congress chooses as its
leader is its own business, but when that decision impacts on how Constitutional
decisions are taken it becomes the nation's business.
Suggestions that the party is in
damage-control mode to ensure that Sonia survives unscathed are similarly
insulting. It has to be recognised that while the Congress may have perfected
the art of setting up extra-constitutional authorities to run its governments,
such machinations can form no part of its contract with the people. Sonia
is doing today what Sanjay Gandhi did during the emergency and what Rajiv
Gandhi did in the years after his brother's death and before his mother's
assassination. The Congress has spent enough time in wilderness to know
this is a proposition unacceptable to the people. It is not nearly enough
to say that Sonia relinquished the Prime Ministership; that, as she was
at pains to point out at the time, was the call of her own conscience.
The flip side cannot be that having spurned office she now be allowed free
run of the government. As the Americans say, she must either fish or cut
bait. And if she is unwilling to accept the responsibility, the onus is
on Singh to be, and act as, the Prime Minister.
