Why Dr Manmohan Singh is wrong

On the eve of India’s 64th independence day, Anna Hazare appealed to the people of India to join the peaceful protest against corruption and demand a strong Lokpal Bill which will reduce corruption from the Indian society. His speech became the biggest news of the day and overshadowed Dr Manmohan Singh’s address to the nation. In the last one week he has said time and again that he has no magic wand against corruption, Parliament has the sole right to make laws and protests will affect India’s image and economic growth. The fact he had no power over his corrupt colleagues is clear to the entire nation. He failed to garner support from fellow Parliamentarians. All the opposition parties critised Anna Hazare’s arrest. The main opposition party has targeted him on grounds of corruption in Common Wealth Games and 2G spectrum allocation even before Anna Hazare started his fast in April. The credibility of his government lowered further because of the active smear campaign launched by his party colleagues. The new charges against his government are arrogance, murder of democracy and brute force. Since use of police force and “I will not submit to the fancies of activists” attitude proved counterproductive, he tried to lean on the economic pillar. Indeed, he is widely respected in India and abroad as a good economist. He has also been hailed as the man who abolished license raj, liberalized India and put the Indian economy on a higher growth trajectory. However, the common man has dismissed his theories on the resilience of Indian economy in the face of global imbalances. Most of the protesters refuse to accept his argument that global factors are responsible for high inflation and are critical of Government’s supply side management. No one in India except the policy makers is convinced about India’s economic progress. Most of the urban residents are critical of the government’s indifference towards agrarian distress. Therefore, his third line of defence also fails. Dr Singh is absolutely wrong because protest against corruption is not anti-growth, on the contrary, corruption is the greatest obstacle to economic and social development. It undermines development by distorting the rule of law and weakening the institutional foundation on which economic growth depends. Corruption in the Common Wealth Games severely dented India’s image and most of the Indians felt humiliated when foreign players opted out of the games. Moreover, the ills of corruption are particularly severe on the poor because they are most reliant on the provision of public services and are least capable of paying the extra costs associated with bribery, fraud and misappropriation of economic privileges. He needs to understand that Indians are no more content with political freedom and economic prosperity of the select few. They demand accountability from the government which they have elected not blows of police lathis. Although many of the protesters do not know of the nuances of the Lokpal Bill and how it is expected to reduce corruption, they have united against the governance deficit in his government. Instead of trying to kill the movement with a heavy hand, he should admit the follies of his government and try to regain the confidence of Indian society as “Mr Clean”. At the moment he unfortunately does not have many friends outside his cabinet.