Statement by Shri L.K. Advani
Leader of the Opposition

The process of electing the next President of India has begun. Tomorrow is the last date for filing nominations. July 4 is the last date for withdrawal of nominations. I would like to make yet another appeal to the leaders of the UPA to avail this last opportunity to withdraw the nomination of Smt. Pratibha Patil and replace her with any other suitable candidate of their choice. In the past few days, the print and electronic media have carried a spate of highly incriminating revelations about Smt. Patil and close members of her family. The list of scandals and controversies with which her name is associated keeps growing by the day.

Each of these is a serious revelation that tars the reputation of any person in public life, whose norms of probity demand that he or she comes clean. But taken together, these revelations are of such grave nature that they completely and incontestably render the person unfit to occupy the highest Constitutional office in the country.

I am therefore saddened by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s defense of Smt. Patil and calling all the media revelations “mud-slinging” by the opposition. He should know that none of these is cooked-up by the opposition. All these ante-date her selection as the UPA’s candidate and can be sourced to verifiable records of the RBI, other government agencies and memoranda submitted by the people affected by the scandals.

I would like to ask the Prime Minister: “You have been the Governor of the RBI. Would you have turned a blind eye to the loot of the Pratibha Mahila Sahakari Bank by the promoter’s family, none of whose members is punished so far? You have been the Finance Minister of India. Would you have brushed aside the loan default of crores of rupees by a sugar factory, which hardly produced any sugar but gobbled up people’s money? You are now the Prime Minister of India. Would you be unconcerned by the anguished cry of the widow of a murdered Congress leader, if the person accused of being the conspirator were someone other than the brother of Smt. Patil? Frankly, Dr. Manmohan Singhji, I did not expect this of you. Everybody knows that you do not wield real power in the Government of India. But many are today disappointed that you have lent the prime ministerial voice to defend the indefensible.”

“Indeed, if all the facts about all the scandals and controversies are placed before members of your own Council of Ministers, and if they were to give their true personal opinion, I am sure that most of them would favour withdrawal of Smt. Patil’s nomination even at this late stage. I appeal to you, therefore, to once again consult your ministerial colleagues and leaders of the allies of your party and nominate any other suitable person for the Presidential election.”

Dr. Manmohan Singh, as also all the leaders of the constituent parties of the UPA, should realize that an attitude of arrogance and inflexibility at this crucial moment could prove costly for India’s democracy. Privately, most leaders of the Congress and its allies have been already admitting that “a terrible mistake has been committed”. The Prime Minister and his senior colleagues, and all the other responsible leaders of the UPA, should summon the courage to rise above partisan considerations and correct the mistake when there is still time to do so.

(Shyam Jaju)
Office Incharge