This is an article to raise a very serious and contentious issue : Is our current Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh capable of leading our country? Most of the people dejected him by saying a puppet of Sonia Gandhi even before he had become the PM of India , but as UPA government approaches it’s completion of second year in the Government his various acts of commissions and omissions (mostly omissions) compels me to raise the stature of his being a mere puppet of Sonia to a complete moron.
What made me outburst into anger was a recent visit to my Sikh friend’s house where I happened to meet his cousin brother who had come from France , there he told me his and his community’s piteous saga over the recent happenings. I was told how the storm broke over their head when the Act banning religious symbols in public places was put into effect , how the police tried to stop a religious congregation , how innocent Sikhs were taken into custody , how school and college boys were asked to open their turban in front of their class. There was also a mention of some of the horrendous acts such as a boy beaten up badly with sticks and rods by a group of French boys in a park on the refusal to open his turban , no action was taken against those boys as religious symbols are banned in public place. In an another shameful act the wife of a turbaned Sikh was compelled to shed her clothes if she had to prevent her husband from the insult (of the turban being thrown off from his head as he was held tightly by group of armed men). He also told about his sufferings at the hands of French Authorities and people and the insult which he has to carry with himself of being a Sikh . While he told me his story his eyes became wet but was not able to hide his anger towards the Indian authorities and PM(who happens to be a Sikh).
He said that he had hoped for better Indian support this time after the UPA had came to power as they received decent (if not great) support from the Vajpayee government but all of that proved to be an illusion , not a single word has been spoken by either PM or any representative of Government of India condemning the actions of French Government in strongest possible manner. On the contrary there has been a continuous pressure from eminent and powerful Muslim nations like Saudi Arabia , Egypt , Jordan , Indonesia , Malaysia , Pakistan etc. against the decision of France , on the other hand Muslims also continue to receive support from their ethnic population residing in Germany , USA , UK.
He rather emphasized that Sikhs being very small in number(few thousands as compared to 4-5 million Muslims in France itself) desperately needs backing of a nation as powerful as India and if the an open condemnation comes from PM himself then there will not be anything bigger than that.
I was also explained that the new act pertains only towards restricting the people from displaying their religion by wearing anything additional to their basic attire in public places , but for Sikhs Turban is part of their daily attire , there is a need for small changes which can easily be done if they are provided with necessary support to raise the pitch of their voice. Sadly Manmohan and UPA both have failed on this front. What made him more angry was that PM has not even uttered a single word over this issue publicly since he attained his post in 2004.
Despite all this his last words were that he and his community will continue to fight for their rights.
This all makes me wonder that aren’t we capable enough to pressurize a country where a community is being made a subject to unnecessary torture by a foolish act of their Government.
Agreed , that we cant interfere in country’s internal matter but ultimately it’s the people of our land who are facing problems don’t we have a responsibility to at least raise our voice on world stage in their favor , when we can go to the extent of sending our Army in Bangladesh and Sri-Lanka interfering in their internal matter hence loosing hundreds of thousands of our soldiers , can’t we even hold a high level meeting on this issue??
Coming back to Manmohan Singh I believe that his efforts are pathetic not only over this issue but towards various Sikh grievances which had been left unheard since the time of it’s happening , the latest one being 84 riots - where of course no justice was expected- in which various Sikh organizations estimated at least condemnation of Rajiv Gandhi’s words “When a big tree falls the earth is bound to shake” (the most shameful words ever said by an Indian PM) hence justifying riots.
The so called apology which he sought came after long happenings of events when he saw the situation getting out of control. Even the recent package of 700Cr. Could mollify a few.
Moreover not a single commission has been constituted over the controversial “Operation Bluestar” particularly over the issue that why army had launched attacks on 3rd June on the Temple when thousands of pilgrims had come to commemorate the martyrdom ceremony of their Guru despite it had taken positions around the temple well before a month and why the people were not stopped to enter the temple by the Army when the action was on cards.
The silence of this man on all these issues tells us that in spite of being great economist he lacks the basic leadership skills , one can easily see dejection amongst the same Sikhs regarding him who celebrated his selection as PM by distributing sweets , with a hope that their grievances will now be listened.
The concern which I would like to place here is that despite being a member of Sikh community he had turned a deaf ear to them , then what we can expect from him as an Indian. If he is not able to mollify or in better words has not shown concern for his own 24 million community , is he the right choice to lead 1100 million Indian community. He lacks statesmanship and self-respect , the recent happening at JNU where this gentleman went to make speech was not even given chance by the students to speak as they raised black flags and slogans against him but instead of leaving stage he shamelessly continued with his speech after stopping for 5min. I wonder if the same would have been done by Indira Gandhi or Pandit Nehru or say Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Finally I like to ask MS members is he a right choice , he might be a great economist but I must admit a very very poor leader.My conclusion is that Manmohan Singh is a puppet(of Sonia Gandhi) , uncaring( about the feelings of Indians) and voiceless person that makes him a complete moron.