The decision by India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to suspend Foreign Minister Natwar Singh from office is a wise one. There are allegations that he received kickbacks in the Iraqi oil-for-food scam which an independent inquiry will investigate. Congress, of all Indian parties, cannot afford to be seen as being soft on sleaze. Corruption is sadly endemic in Indian political life. But Congress has been particularly tainted in the past by allegations of corruption. Public anger at the level of sleaze was one of the reasons why voters threw it out of office and turned increasingly to the BJP. Now that it is back in power, the party must be seen as pristine clean. The electorate will forgive it for past misdemeanors (it is not just Natwar who has been accused by the UN report into the food-for-oil scam but the party as well) — but not if the present leadership tries to ignore them or cover them up.
The only caveat is that Prime Minister Singh should have acted immediately the UN report was published. That was almost two weeks ago. By not doing so until now, the BJP has been able to seize the initiative; it looks in part as if the government is acting solely because the BJP forced it to.
On the other hand, the call by the BJP for Natwar to be sacked is grossly unfair. An allegation does not amount to or establish guilt. No one should be regarded as guilty until proven to be so. That is a travesty of justice — and it is not the way the law in India operates. There, as elsewhere, a man is innocent until proven guilty.
There is too great a willingness these days to believe someone guilty simply because he or she has been accused. BJP leader L.K. Advani is playing on that — which is to his shame. Has he forgotten the Tehelka tapes scandal revealing arms bribery when he was in government and how it forced the resignation of Defense Minister George Fernandes? Or that the prime minister and BJP leader at the time, Atal Behari Vajpayee, then brought Fernandes back into the Cabinet without waiting for an inquiry to find him innocent? Presumably not; he is just hoping everyone else has. But this is the same L.K. Advani who four years ago, with no shame whatsoever, brazenly justified Fernandes’ return by insisting that the incriminating Tehalka tapes had not “damaged any minister.” So much for consistency or integrity.
No one, however, can accuse Manmohan of double standards. Once allegations had been made, the case had to be investigated, and more importantly, be seen to be investigated. He has taken precisely the right course by suspending Natwar (which is what has effectively happened in removing him from office but keeping him in the Cabinet). He could not do less because there is no way that the foreign minister could function while the accusation hangs over him. But to do more, thus pre-emtping the investigation and giving credence to the accusations, would have been unjust. He, unlike the government of which L.K. Advani was a member, is playing it by the book.
