I said in my last post that the rot starts at the top. Look at our beloved Prime Minister. He presides over a Council of Ministers where the whole nation except him knows that the Telecom Minister has presided over a scam that has cost the nation Rs 1,40,000 crore (nearly $30 billion). His government kicked off an inquiry into the erstwhile CM of Jharkhand (Koda) last year, and then which Koda threatened to spill the beans on everyone, the inquiry stalled. In a couple years in power, Koda is estimated to have siphoned off a few thousand crore. The Commonwealth Games is only the latest in the series.
In this context, it is worth reading Atanu Dey’s post from a few months ago: Manmohan Singh is a despicably dishonest person. Just because I am not personally corrupt does not mean that I am not dishonest. If around me, I know that everyone is corrupt and I consciously choose to do nothing about it, how I can be termed honest? Our Prime Minister has a choice. He has staked his life on integrity. Yet, when the time has come, he has chosen to look the other way to stay in power. Rationalising that I can do more good by working with dishonest men around me instead of stepping down and leading a campaign against them is not what people with integrity do. That is what people with no conscience do.
