Monday, June 27, 2011

MR.PRIME MINISTER: TIME TO THUMP THE TABLE

B.RAMAN


Mr.Prime Minister,


The time to thump the table has come.


The time to say: Here I am. Here I will be. The Prime Minister of India.


The time to tell the people of India: I have received your message. I understand your anguish over the state of India. I share your concerns over corruption. I realise that it has become the single dominating issue governing the thought process of the nation. Of what use eight plus growth rate, of what use my unblemished reputation as a man of integrity, if I am perceived by large sections of the people as heading a Government of the corrupt, by the corrupt and for the corrupt. I am determined to see that your anguish is mitigated and that your concerns are addressed in the short time that is still left for me to serve as the Prime Minister of this great nation. If I cannot do that due to circumstances beyond my control, I will quit without a moment’s hesitation. Heavens won’t fall if I cease to be the Prime Minister of India. I would rather be an ordinary citizen of this great country than be its effete Prime Minister unable to do what he wants to do, unable to do what he ought to do.


The time to tell your colleagues in your Cabinet: I am the Prime Minister so long as I sit in this chair. I shall remain the Prime Minister. I will be heard. I will be respected. I will be obeyed. My instructions will be adhered to. Those not willing to do so, better quit the Cabinet. If they don’t, I would not hesitate to drop them from the Cabinet.


The time to tell Mrs.Sonia Gandhi, the President of the Congress (I): I may have been nominated by you to sit in this chair. So long as I sit in this chair, I am the Prime Minister of India and not you. All governmental authority will flow from me and not from you. My voice and my authority will count --- and count decisively—in all policy matters affecting national interests. My first obligation as the Prime Minister is to the people of India. I will listen to their voice and let that voice have its due role in influencing policy-making. There cannot be two centres of authority. The country cannot afford to have a Prime Minister who is seen by the people as no Prime Minister. Hereafter, I will either be the effective Prime Minister of India or you look for someone else with whom you feel comfortable and who will carry out your wishes. If I quit, the worst that can happen to me is that I will be reduced to a non-person as it happened to Narasimha Rao. So be it. I will rather go down in history as a non-person, but who was respected by his people rather than as a Prime Minister who was laughed at by his people.


The time to tell your colleagues in the Congress (I):Better stop your campaign to weaken my authority as the Prime Minister of India and to project Rahul Gandhi as born to be the Prime Minister of India. I do not see my job only as to keep the chair warm for Rahul Gandhi. I see my job as meant to address the needs and concerns of the people of India. So long as I sit in this chair, I will do what the people of this country expect me to do in the interest of the nation and not what you expect me to do in the interest of Rahul Gandhi. If you are not prepared to accept this, advise Mrs.Sonia Gandhi to nominate another Prime Minister.


Mr.Prime Minister,


The time to assert yourself has come.


The time to put all your detractors in your Cabinet and your party in their place has come.


The time to protect the integrity and honour of the institution of the Prime Minister of India has come.


The nation looks up to you to act boldly and to lead the people of India instead of being perceived merely as driftwood.


Act, Mr. Prime Minister, act. The people of this country will be behind you.

( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com . Twitter @SORBONNE75 )

4 comments:

ambi said...

why mms! this is what congress n madamji wants. he ll be replaced by the worst. we want the govt to resign n let there be elections again. any how this govt has lost our trust. let them say whatever, we r not going to come in their trap this time around. we know congress has no intention for positive things. they r just bidding their time. some rogue elements in the congress must be removed from the primary membership of the party to show us that congress is serious. n we know that congress wont do that. we ll not be fooled this time around.

Unknown said...

Congress is so arrogant today because it knows that the opposition is in no position to form a majority government even if elections were held today.

BJP (the next largest party) is barely in existence in the major states of UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Orissa, J&K, W. Bengal, North East, etc etc. In some states, it is represented by its NDA allies, who are unpredictable and unreliable, at best. On top of that L.K.Advani has not yet decided a successor and there is infighting between Sushma Swaraj and Arun jaitley. I suspect Advani even wants another shot at the PM's chair. Under such circumstances I forsee a hung parliament in the next elections, similar to the 1990s when 4-5 'phaltu' PMs came and went, once every few months. This time round it could be, Nitish Kumar, Jayalalitha, Mamata, etc etc...whoever bargains the hardest.

Anyway, the people will be so frustrated with the election results and the theatrics after that, they will demand another election and elect to power Rahul Gandhi, just because Congress can atleast give a stable government for 5 years....even if it loots and rapes India for those 5 years.

BJP should get its house in order, stop infighting, decide on a chain of command, decide on election manifesto and begin campaigning real hard. Other wise its chances are 'Nyet'.

Esoteric said...

While your request to MMS is earnest and valid,but its notable you've not made any request to Sonia Gandhi.Why ask the PM to act when he is unable to and not ask the person at the root of the inability?

I agree with Ambi that the whole lot has to go..as Ive mentioned earliar in a few months.They will.

Bhaskat Chatterjee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.