Manmohan Ji, You’re running out of time

Dear Manmohan Singh Ji,

First of all accept my heartiest congratulations on the completion of the second turn of your Congress led UPA government. But these kind words contain a sinking feeling with them. After the mis-governance of NDA and their mission of communalization, the Indian voters had shown immense belief in you and your party because of your clean image. It also cannot be forgotten that you became the Prime Minister because Madam wanted you to. The Congress President wanted a person as PM who couldn’t have challenged her authority. The whole country knows that it was not your academic qualification, which is certainly praise worthy, which was the main basis for Mrs Gandhi to nominate you as a PM. Your political inefficiency was also one of the reasons behind Madam selecting you for the top job.

Mr. Prime minister, I am sorry to say that your second term has taken the shine out of a very few achievements you had in your first term. Let me tell you that, a large section of the country isn’t happy with you and your policies which have clearly been anti-people and anti-poor. Though, most of the members of your party often keep reiterating that the Congress is the lesser evil which the masses should prefer over the BJP and its communal politics, the steep rise in the prices of the commodities paints a different picture in the masses’ eye. The massive drubbing which your party got in the UP elections is a warning about the way various issues are being handled by your cabinet. In UP, the Muslims voted against your party in groups just because they know it very well that apart from BJP, your party too has been using them as a vote bank for many years. They were ditched by your party when it came to the development of their community. The large scale demonization of ‘’Azamgarh’’ as being the terror hub after the so called ‘’ encounter’’ of the Batla house made the voters of UP angry towards you and your government. The highly condemnable witch hunt of the Muslims has forced them to think about an alternative to your government. The unreasoned arrests of people like Ahmad Kazmi and Faseeh Mahmoud have brought to the fore many a question about the way your government is working under outside pressure.

“Your disability to speak against the injustices carried out in the name of fighting terror is something which has certainly brought down the faith of a particular community in you and your government. The arrests of nearabout a dozen Muslim youths from Darbhanga have brought the people of Darbhanga on the roads because of your government’s faulty methods to fight terror.”

Corruption under your supervision has got a new name and the Rajas and Kalmadis were made scapegoats and put behind bars. Indeed there were many other people who were involved in those cases of corruption but the long arm of law couldn’t reach them. All these cases of corruption gave Anna Hazare and his gang of Sangh supported anti- corruption crusaders a point to raise their voice against you and your government so much that now they have started to ask for an independent probe against you on corruption charges. Indeed, till now you have been an honest person but the way you have given chances to Anna and his gang by keeping silent on many issues is something which should have been avoided.

The way youths from a particular community are being hounded and arrested on false terror charges is something which has been bringing a bad name for you and your government. Your disability to speak against the injustices carried out in the name of fighting terror is something which has certainly brought down the faith of a particular community in you and your government. The arrests of nearabout a dozen Muslim youths from Darbhanga have brought the people of Darbhanga on the roads because of your government’s faulty methods to fight terror. The most recent arrest of Faseeh Mahmoud from Saudi Arabia by a joint operation of Indian and Saudi plain clothes intelligence officials is becoming a matter of humiliation for you and your ruling dispensation. Last year, only nine youths who were arrested by the Congress government of Rajasthan on false charges after the Jaipur blast  were acquitted by the courts in Rajasthan. Mr. Manmohan singh, who will pay for the ordeal which they went through while being in police custody? the daily tortures in which they were abused by the policemen? Who will pay for the humiliation bestowed upon people like Amir and Kazmi, while being in the Police custody? If not you, then who?

Last but not the least, the way your government has been increasing the price of the items of daily use is something which is taking the ‘’aam aadmi’ away from you and your government. It’s true that for many, your so called secular alliance is a lesser evil as compared to the communal brand of BJP, but it’s high time you and your party high command stops taking the common man for granted as if they have no way out. It’s high time for you to get into action. You must make the common man, a farmer from Vidarbha have faith in you and your government if you want to rule from the centre for a third consecutive term. You must make your friend Montek Singh Ahluwalia understand that the parameter to decide the poverty level in India can never be INR 22.50.

Mr. Manmohan Singh, act before it’s too late.

Syed used to work with the Hindustan Times, Delhi till 2010 December and then he took a sabbatical for academic purposes which continues till date. Currently pursuing his masters in Peace and conflict studies with Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, Syed has studied journalism from Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi.

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