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The Congress president Sonia Gandhi delineated a four-point anti-corruption plan for implementation by the Centre at last December’s AICC plenary session, party cadres had hoped that the fog of scandals and scams, which had engulfed the UPA government, would lift in the new year. But the subsequent months proved to be even more trying for the already beleaguered ruling coalition, as it was unable to convince the public, at large, about its resolve to tackle corruption. And as 2011 draws to a close, there can be no denying that the Congress-led UPA government looks as helpless and directionless as it did at the beginning of the year. In a desperate attempt to refurbish its sagging image and shake off the charge of policy paralysis, the government wanted the year to end on a victorious note when it took the bold decision to allow foreign investment in retail trade. But the move boomeranged, and the government was forced to backtrack in the face of stiff opposition from its own allies. As a result, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s authority stood diminished while the UPA government’s credibility was further dented, as it presented an unhappy picture of a hopelessly divided house. The overall economic climate — rising inflation, plummeting growth rate, weakening rupee, an industrial slowdown and a drop in foreign investments — has further contributed to the UPA government’s woes, which appear to be endless. As it is, the 2G-Spectrum scam, the Commonwealth Games mess and the Adarsh Housing Society controversy continued to haunt the government through the year. Even as it was struggling to dispel this public perception, the government’s problems were further compounded with the arrival of the anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare, whose unrelenting movement for a strong Lokpal Bill captured the nation’s imagination and won him an unimaginable fan following. The Congress’ isolation was complete when opposition parties rallied behind Anna Hazare and endorsed his proposals on the Lokpal Bill, happy to concede their political space to the social activist. It is not that the government did not follow up on its promise to initiate concrete steps on tackling corruption. It did bring in a slew of measures. These included doing away with discretionary powers of ministers, setting up of fast-track special CBI courts, laying down a three-month timeframe for sanctioning prosecution, strengthening the Central Vigilance Commission and a Bill to make procurement by government agencies more transparent. At the same time, the government worked feverishly on the Lokpal Bill, the Judicial Accountability Bill and the Whistleblowers Bill to present a comprehensive anti-graft legislative framework. It also conceded to the Opposition’s demand for the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the 2G-Spectrum allocation. At the same time, the CBI worked equally hard on following up on the 2G-Spectrum scam. It was based on the CBI’s investigations that former telecom minister A. Raja and Kanimozhi, DMK chief M. Karunanidhi’s daughter, were put behind bars, which would, otherwise, have been unheard of, as the UPA government depends on the DMK for its survival. And yet, the government failed to convince the people that it was serious about combating corruption. Instead, the overwhelming perception was that all this had been made possible because of the active intervention by the Supreme Court. The government did not exactly cover itself in glory by its shoddy handling of the Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev movements. As surging crowds joined Anna’s anti-corruption crusade, a panic-stricken government conceded the activist’s demand for a joint drafting committee on the Lokpal Bill. When talks broke down and Anna decided to undertake another indefinite fast, it launched an unnecessary attack against him and later arrested him. Roundly lambasted for using repressive methods to deny a citizen his fundamental right to protest, the government will find it difficult to live down this folly for years to come. In another flip-flop, the government subsequently surrendered to the social activist. In case of Baba Ramdev, the government deputed four senior ministers to negotiate with him, and when their talks floundered, it ordered a midnight crackdown on the yoga guru and his followers. The leadership and governance deficit has been all-too-visible, as senior ministers have been working at cross-purposes, while a resurgent Opposition has made it impossible for the government to function in Parliament. Disruptions are the order of the day, and even when Parliament does function, Bills are routinely stalled on some pretext or the other, while the standing committees headed by opposition leaders are in no hurry to submit their reports on time, holding up the government’s legislative agenda. While the Opposition can be faulted for being obstructionist, the government also needs to make a special effort to reach out to it, as it needs the Opposition’s cooperation in the passage of key Bills, especially since the UPA does not have majority in the Rajya Sabha. Not to forget the long-pending demand for a separate state of Telengana, which has also cast a long shadow over the government. The developments in the government have not left the Congress party untouched. The government has to deal with the fallout of the scams and scandals, which besieged the UPA, the Congress party, and faces the prospect of Anna campaigning against it in next year’s Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand. These elections are critical for the Congress, as it desperately needs some reassurance that it will be able to compensate for its losses in the South. It registered a humiliating defeat in the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry polls, and managed a wafer-thin majority in Kerala, while late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister’s son Jaganmohan Reddy, who floated his own party, remains a source of worry. The Congress has not been able to pin down any of the BJP governments in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh where it is in the Opposition because of bitter internal feuds.
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Salman Khurshid was given the charge of the Law Ministry to enable the government to push ahead with legislative measures without being on the backfoot by the Supreme Court. The former Law Minister Veerappa Moily faced flak for allowing the government to be pushed into a corner and failure to defend the policies of the government.
his impeachment motion was to taken up in the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha had approved the impeachment motion against him.
