Hauled from the Comments: An Open Letter to Manmohan Singh

My post, A few home truths for Indians, did not go down too well with some. They don’t like my pointing out the fact that the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty has been India’s primary curse, and one commenter apparently believes in shooting the messenger when he disagrees with the message. But it is a small price to pay for my continued education. (In recognition of the fact that I use this blog for my own education, I categorized that post as “My Continuing Education on the Web.”) I’d like to share with you one comment that clearly advanced my education.
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Manmohan Singh is really and truly a despicably dishonest man

Mohan Murti writing in Business Line of May 31 asks “Is the nation in a coma?” I think so. The nation’s leaders are dishonest, corrupt, venal, and criminal. Yet the citizens don’t seem to know or care. The most telling fact is that Dr Manmohan Singh, the prime minister of the country, is an astonishingly dishonest person. But he enjoys a reputation of being clean. Dr Singh presides over a collection of the most heinously dishonest bunch of criminals ever to have walked the earth and yet there is no outrage among the citizens. Continue reading “Manmohan Singh is really and truly a despicably dishonest man”

Only the Bad and the Ugly

Arun Jaitley, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, in an interview he gave to rediff.com said that “it was evident that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has the capacity to damage institutions to remain in power.” Not a very nice thing to say. But then, when talking of not nice people, one cannot say very nice things. Actually, Jaitley understates — perhaps deliberately — how despicably Mr Singh has behaved. Mr Singh has clearly overused his capacity to do damage. Continue reading “Only the Bad and the Ugly”

Manmohan Singh is a Despicably Dishonest Man

Dr Manmohan Singh -- Pitiable
“Give a man a reputation as an early riser, and he can sleep until noon.” Mark Twain’s pithy remark is illustrated most forcefully in the case of Mr Manmohan Singh and his integrity. In his case, give the man a reputation as an honest person, and he can rob the country blind with impunity. Continue reading “Manmohan Singh is a Despicably Dishonest Man”

Congress, Nepotism and Corruption

Congress, Nepotism and Corruption: The Eternal Rotten Braid

The three — corruption, nepotism and the Congress party — form India’s most enduring triumvirate. It is hard to think of one without thinking of the others because they characterize India’s politics and political landscape like nothing else conceivably can. The Congress party is the fiefdom of one family — being part of that confers the inalienable right to be the boss. Nepotism gains a whole new meaning in the hands of the Congress. Chronic, acute and pervasive corruption at the highest levels of governance India could only have been engineered by the political party which has held the reins of power for practically all of India’s existence since 1947. So it was with incredulous wonder that I read two news items yesterday.
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B Raman: “Counter-terrorism & Appeasement”

Mr. B Raman, in his South Asia Analysis Group paper of 20th August — “Counter-terrorism & Appeasement” — writes:

* There have been four acts of mass casualty terrorism since 1981. All the four were carried out when the Congress (I) was in power in New Delhi.

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The Biggest Puzzle

Are there no depths that the Congress party led UPA government will not plumb to protect the criminally corrupt? When exactly will the Indian public wake up to the realization that the pervasive corruption that hollows out the Indian state is the sole achievement of the Congress party over its decades of misrule — practically all of India’s existence as an independent country in modern times? If even the unspeakable misgovernance by Mr Manmohan Singh does not enrage the Indians, what on earth will it take — a thousand thermonuclear devices?
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The Advantage of Not Having to Shave

The primary advantage of not having to shave your mug is that you don’t have to face yourself in the mirror every day. Unless of course if one is totally shameless or is already barefaced (as in a barefaced liar.) I am just saying.
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Just deserts: India Deserves the Congress

In an opinion piece in the Financial Times of April 15th (hat tip: Sudipta), Razeen Sally writes that “the Congress deserves to lose the elections”. Right up front, Sally wrote about “the do-nothing, zero-reform record of Manmohan Singh, prime minister, and his government.”

I have an excerpt from the piece below the fold. I agree with the particulars that Sally (who is director of the European Centre for International Political Economy) mentions supporting the argument that Manmohan Singh is a singular disaster but I cannot agree with the title of the piece. Continue reading “Just deserts: India Deserves the Congress”