PM should have spoken earlier on Coalgate FIR to silence BJP

There has to be something special about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s foreign trips. On his way back to the country and thousands of feet above the ground on board PM’s special aircraft, he suddenly turns loquacious. He takes questions from journalists head-on, even political ones, which is something he avoids studiously once back on Indian soil. On Thursday he opened up on a number of issues, including the coal block allocation to Hindalco, the trail of which leads right to the prime minister’s office. [caption id=“attachment_1193081” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] PTI[/caption] “I am not above the law of the land. If there is anything the CBI or, for that matter anybody, wants to ask me, I have nothing to hide,” he said. It was coming. His office has been uncharacteristically assertive in response to the FIR lodged by CBI against industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former coal secretary PC Parakh over the allocation of coal blocks to Hindalco in Odisha, saying the allocation was entirely “appropriate and based on the merits of the case”. Possibly, in this particular case, he knows he is in the clear. Even former CAG Vinod Rai, whose report lifted the veil off the massive irregularities in coal allocations and pegged the presumptive loss to the exchequer from it at Rs 1,86 lakh crore, has maintained that allocation was appropriate. However, the Prime Minister’s response could have come earlier. But sense of timing while responding to allegations, baseless and otherwise, is hardly one of the stronger traits of Manmohan Singh. Ever since the CBI’s FIR, everyone, particularly the opposition BJP and the media, has been demanding that the ‘competent authority’ (read PM) who cleared the allocation should be in the dock too for ‘criminal conspiracy’. There has been unsavoury speculation that the CBI is making Birla and Parakh scapegoats to let the ‘kingpin’ off. He could have averted this and the subsequent damage to his image by speaking up. “I have nothing to hide”, is Manmohan’s usual response to all the allegations against him. He is known to be a man of great personal integrity. So what stops him opening up more often? It would easily take the sting off the opposition attack. Is he forced to stay silent because someone else has to be protected? Or does he realise that in some cases his decisions are untenable? The Prime Minister’s silence leaves many questions hanging. His remark today would have minor political implications. It will silence the opposition BJP, which had been vocal about the Hindalco matter, till they find some other issue to take him on with. His image was crucial to the UPA’s victory in 2009; the BJP wants to cause maximum damage to that to win over the urban voters.