Author : Suresh Unnithan

He may not be  corrupt, but no more a Mr. Clean as was perceived by many. In Less than two years from the date Mr. Manmohan Singh assumed his second term as Prime Minister of the country his image, both as an administrator and political leader has taken repeated beatings, thanks to his response on crucial concerns like corruption or the infamous  Balochistan like bungles. The latest in the series is the miserable isolation of the official Indian delegation in the Geneva Convention on Persistent Pollutants.This Geneva episode has not only eroded the already depleted image of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but has given a handle for the opposition to depict him and his party  anti-people.

Though, in Kerala, the politically innocent Congress leaders like Omman Chandi has tried in vain to cover up the folly of the central government in the endosulfan episode and at least advocate for a miniscule portion of the credit of the global ban of the deadly pesticide, V S Achuthanandan, the Chief Minister of Kerala emerged the undisputed victor in the endosulfan episode. Reports from Geneva indicated Achuthanandan, though thousands of miles away from the venue of the global summit were the star of the event. His fasting demanding a blanket ban on endosulfan was well deliberated in there in Geneva with deserving seriousness and congratulated the chief minister’s efforts.

Here the congress led UPA government at the centre was reduced to the role of a villain and the CPM lead Kerala state government seen a hero.

The victims of the ill effects of the dreaded pesticide and the general public fail to understand while majority of the participants stood in favour of a blanket global ban on the use of endosulfan why the Indian delegates were reportedly trying to lobby against the ban.

The use of endosulfan has endangered human life in Kasargode in Kerala and nearby areas in Karnataka. Couple of hundreds have lost their lives and more than 10,000 have been severly affected by the excessive use of this pesticide in Kerala and neighbouring Karnataka   This discredited move of the Indian delegation has angered Senior leaders from his own Congress party like V M Sudheeran. Mr. Sudheeran  has in no uncertain terms criticized the Indian deligation and said in public that the pro-Endosulfan stand adopted by Indian delegates at the Conference of Parties to Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in Geneva, had brought” serious disgrace” to the nation’s image.

The senior Congress leader has also lauded the Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan’s move to draw the attention of other Chief Ministers in the country on the need to arrive at a consensus on a ban of the pesticide. Mr. Sudheeran  also publicly urged Achuthanandan to take the lead in convening a national conference of the Chief Ministers, Ministers, officials, agricultural scientists, and local activists on Endosulfan issue.

The single episode that has considerably depleted Mr. Singh’s image is the 2 G Spectrum scam. Even when the evidence for the then Telecom minister A Raja’s direct involvement in the 1.76 lakh crore corruptions came out in public Mr Singh was trying to give a clean chit to him. He was proving to be a weak kneed prime minister who could be succumbs to pressure on crucial issues, similarly, the CWG scam.

A Raja, a (former) member of his cabinet, and  Suresh Kalmadi, the high profile Congress leader from Maharashtra are under CBI detention on corruption charges. By the time these arrests were affected the image of both the prime minister and the UPA government was considerably dented.

The ambiguous approach Mr. Singh adopted in the CVC appointment also has been silently censured within his party and UPA leadership. Finally the apex court had to pass observations against the appointment of a “tainted” officer as the head of the Vigilance Commission, which is considered to be the watchdog of the nation.

He also has embarrassed the nation and the UPA government alike during a media interaction couple of months back. The plan was to impress upon the scribes his efforts to make “India shines”. But the media management proved to be a fiasco.

Talking to the media the prime minister said “An impression has gone round that we are a scam-driven country and nothing good is happening in our country, that we are weakening the self-confidence of the people of India. I do not think that is in the interest of anyone in our country….This sort of atmosphere is not good. It saps our own self-confidence. It also spoils the image of India,”

Reacting to this correspondent of an international news agency who was covering the press meet commented on a social networking site “Blaming media is often the action of a cornered leader. India’s PM has just done that by criticising coverage of the corruption scandals,”

Not just his rivals, but the ruling UPA has been criticizing that Mr. Singh is proving himself a weak prime minister on all crucial junctures. His authority is weakened by the fact that he is not actually the head of the ruling coalition – that mantle is held by the Sonia Gandhi. And by all indication Mrs. Gandhi and her party is slowly started realizing that Mr. Singh as prime minister would hamper their chance to retain power at the centre after 2014. The Prime Minister’s public apology to the party’s arch rival and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on the Income Tax issue has further proved their point.