Congress Needs to Get its Act Together for the Nation

Passing the buck and hiding behind a clean image is all what our PM has been able to do for sometime. The uncertainty on the real power center and decision maker in this country means that no one knows who is really responsible- is it Sonia Gandhi, the UPA chairperson or Mr.Manmohan Singh? Do they really have the freedom or are they in any position to take real decisions due to the so called 'coalition dharma'. Or is it simply a comfortable smoke screen for them to hide behind, with coalition partners being made scapegoats for long term political gains for the Congress?

Mamata Banerjee is a law unto herself as she is more focused in gaining West Bengal, so much so that Mr.E.Ahmed requested a move from the railway ministry citing difficulties in working with the minister. DMK too has been stubborn, but that game will be played in the TN assembly elections and A.Raja's resignation came about simply because it had to happen under the sheer weight of 1.76lakh crores which still threatens the government and even Parliament. NCP is stubborn as ever with Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel doing abysmally and yet only receiving an upgrade from MoS to cabinet rank. The recent cabinet reshuffle can be called nothing of 'spineless'.

Government needs to act decisively in the interest of the nation and put faith in the people who have already shown their intelligence by rewarding the performance UPA-1, NDA in Bihar. But this government's performance will surely invite the people's wrath. If the government act disregarding 'coalition dharma' and heed to real dharma, which is governing for the people by bringing to book the corrupt and guilty, ensure accountability and deliver performance by simply making the right calls on Food Security, MGNREGs, RTI etc it will surely be able to secure the people's trust. They simply have to implement these ideas that are already taking shape but they are unwilling to implement them citing lack of funds which, when read together with 1.76lakh crore from 2G scam, makes a mockery of democracy and governance itself.

There are a couple of factors the congress must consider-
1) Under-performance of the government will lead to Congress, the leader of the UPA and hence morally responsible for all its actions
2)However clean the image of the top brass and the PM, since he leads the Cabinet, will be responsible for the cabinet's actions.

This will mean the people will vent their frustration on the congress rather their allies. This will mean a parliament in limbo in case of an election which must eventually happen with the congress having much lesser seats and smaller regional parties calling the shots perhaps. An administrative paralysis when the nation is at a cross road and staring at several important decision to make will surely stunt our growth.

That the BJP led NDA won't be able to bring in the numbers is a forgone conclusion and this means we might even see a Mayawati or Mamata or Karunanidhi becoming king-maker or even something more.

The Manmohan Singh lead government and Sonia Gandhi lead Congress must act against erring ministers, corrupt officials and lose their stubborn attitude. It needs to take the effort to come clean on corruption scandals, bring to light all the black money stashed abroad even if the means exposing those in the highest echelons of power. It needs to take steps to address the burning issues of the 'aam admi'-inflation, infrastructure development and preventing exploitation of the poor and landless and tribals. Multibillion dollar defence deals and FDI in retail and UNSC permanent seat will do nothing in that direction. They need to understand that bending our back to international treaties that means we cannot disclose the black money stashed abroad or laws that mean no returns for our farmers will only bring more shame to government. All this depends on one critical factor- the top brass actually wanting to bring the guilty to book and that they are not involved on this. A clean image for one person will surely not save the government.