Caesar?s wife Pompeia Sulla made a spectacular entry into the vocabulary of Delhi?s power elite, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh likening himself to her, to be above suspicion and demonstrate the highest qualities of public morality and rectitude. Unfortunately, the fine print in this, as in everything that happened after Singh?s speech, amounts to what is called a ?zero-sum game? in management parlance.
Pompeia Sulla was accused and later acquitted of adultery by a Roman court, but was divorced by Caesar nevertheless, because he felt that ?Caesar?s wife must be above suspicion.? In Manmohan Singh?s case, too, while he gallantly offered to appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to depose before it on the 2G spectrum scam, despite there being no precedent for it, the Opposition appeared unimpressed and frankly uninterested in the offer. If Pompeia couldn?t save her marriage despite being acquitted by a court of law, could Manmohan Singh be allowed to save the reputation of his government?
The Congress seems to have chanced upon an unlikely hero to get out of the 2G jam, former human resource development minister Murli Manohar Joshi. The party seems to have found hitherto hidden virtues in Joshi as he doggedly pursues the PAC?s investigation into the spectrum scam in the face of his own party?s opposition. If Joshi was the hardliner earlier for his Hindutva stance, he was now a ?respected leader of the BJP? who could be depended upon to carry out a fair probe.
This prompted senior BJP leader SS Ahluwalia to exclaim in exasperation that Joshi was well advised to go back into history. ?The Congress attacked him when he was the minister, and called him a ?ponga pandit? for introducing astrology in the UGC curriculum,? he said.
The question being asked by everyone is just why Joshi appears so eager to do his job as PAC chairman. The last eight meetings of the PAC have all been on the 2G scam, which is not the only matter before the committee. Is it a nostalgia for regaining his 15 minutes of fame, or an opportunity cock a snook at his party that seems to have all but marginalised him?
The most prescient comment in all this is from a senior Congress leader, a lover of the classics. ?Perhaps Manmohan Singh could have gone back to William Shakespeare and Mark Antony rather than Edward Gibbons to hunt for Roman metaphors. After all, Sonia Gandhi ?thrice did refuse the crown? of India, and we can claim to be honourable men on the basis of that,? he said. Here is a bit of zen philosophy to top that: ?What is the sound of one hand clapping??
nistula.hebbar@expressindia.com