New Delhi: The CPI (M) on Thursday questioned
why Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was not willing to appear
before a Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G spectrum
allocation scandal when he was ready to face the Public
Accounts Committee.
"If the Prime Minister is willing to appear before the
PAC, then why not before a JPC. Both the PAC and the JPC are,
after all, joint parliamentary committees. The former,
however, is confined to examine, by definition, the accounts
only," senior party leader Sitaram Yechury said.
Noting that Singh expressed his willingness to appear
before PAC only after the "unprecedented `wasted` winter
session" of Parliament ended sine die, he said, "If this very
same statement was made in Parliament at the very outset of
the winter session, may be things would have been different".
No major business could be transacted throughout the
session due to the government`s "obdurate refusal" to accept
opposition demand for a JPC into the 2G scam, leading to
disruptions.
"This UPA-II government is displaying a callous lack
of concern on this score, raising strong and legitimate
suspicions of its complicity in permitting such a massive loot
of our resources," Yechury said in an editorial in the CPI(M)
organ `People`s Democracy`.
He said what was required in this context was to
evolve a set of new regulations, and if necessary laws, to
"ensure that such massive manipulations of our system
permitting colossal loots are prevented in the future. This
would be the central agenda of the JPC".
He said it was only after the JPC recommendations on
the Harshad Mehta stock market scam that regulations to
strengthen financial sector operations came into effect.
Wishing the readers of `People`s Democracy` a happy
new year, Yechury said "unfortunately, these greetings come
with our deep sympathies with the people who are groaning
under the relentless economic burdens being mounted on them".
Asking them to launch "more mightier struggles in
2011", he said, "Speaking about scams, 2010 has been a
landmark year in independent India`s history".
Observing that "the mother of all scams - the 2G
spectrum scam" came along with those linked to illegal mining,
land allocations, IPL tourney, Commonwealth Games and Adarsh
housing society, he said, "These lakhs of crores of rupees
that are being looted through such large-scale corruption are
depriving our people of a better livelihood standard.
"If the government could collect these legitimate
revenues rather than allowing them to be siphoned off and
spend them on social sector schemes, that would have
positively contributed to enhancing the livelihood levels of
our people - the aam admi", Yechury added.
PTI
