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Bihar governor A. R. Kidwai's public complaint against the high-profile Director
of the Central Bureau of Investigation, Joginder Singh is well-founded. Singh has
made it his business to go to the Press before doing his duty. He seeks publicity
day in and day out. And thus opens himself to accusations that the apex.
investigative agency under him has become an instrument of political witchhunt.
Kidwai was doubtless miffed by the speculation about his likely response to the
CBI request for prosecuting Laloo Yadav. The question was premature since he was
yet to get the CBI request. No doubt, Singh shot off his mouth without being ready
with the chargesheet against the Bihar Chief Minister. In normal circumstances,
the head of the CBI would not be expected to interact with the media almost on a
daily basis. But given the public interest in fodder and other scams it would not
be entirely out of place for the CBI to seek to satisfy the curiosity of the
Press. However that task can be better done by the Press Officer of the agency
instead of its Director doing duty before the TV cameras daily. A written
statement occasionally issued by the CBI to inform the people about the latest
development in high-profile investigations would be the best way out of the
present ad hoc arrangement under which anyone with a camera can get the Director
to mouth some inanities. The truth is that the bumbling Singh has harmed the CBI's
case by speaking out of turn almost daily. In the fodder seam, he invited the
wrath of the entire United Front over his head by forewarning about the coming
chargesheet against Yadav. If he wasn't pursuing some hidden agenda of his own,
he would have desisted from going to the Press and instead filed the application
for permission to prosecute Yadav with the Governor in the normal course. It was
not for him to shout from the house tops that he was ready to prosecuate the Bihar
Chief Minister and President of the Janata Dal. There is no sight of the
chargesheet a fortnight after his threat. Again, he meets the Prime Minister and
announces to the clutch of waiting newsmen that Gujral had given him the go-ahead
to do the needful in the fodder seam. This when the seam was never mentioned in
their all-too-brief meeting. Gujral was embarrassed enough to issue a
clarification the next morning.
The truth is that no other CBI Director has loved the TV cameras so much as Singh
does. And this when he conies across as a nitwit on the small screen that he is
in real life. If this sounds harsh, please try talking to Singh for all of five
minutes. Here is a man who can shock you with his simpleton act. Time the
Government framed a policy to keep this Simple Simon of the CBI strictly off the
Press. This is not a plea to let the crooks like Laloo Yadav off the hook. Nay,
precisely because we want Yadav and his tribe of thugs brought to book, we do not
want a bumbling CBI Director to give them an excuse to cry foul. Singh's
inanities on the nightly television news must cease immediately.
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