Government in a mess of Congress' own making: Advani

Bharatiya Janata Party patriarch Lal Krishna Advani on Monday said that the United Progressive Alliance government was in an unenviable mess 'of the Congress' own making'.

In his valedictory address to the BJP national executive in Delhi last Saturday Advani had dubbed the government as 'being in a suicidal mode'.

In his latest blog, he has said that the UPA is behaving like lemmings, a Scandinavian rodent-like animal.

"Without rhyme or reason, large number of lemmings start marching towards the sea. Some swim and survive. Most die. These mass suicides of lemmings have long intrigued biologists."

Pointing out that he wrote back in 1980 that 'my own (Janata) Party seems to be in the grips of a lemmings complex' just before breaking away to form the BJP, he said: "One can say the same thing about the UPA government today."

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In the tail piece, he writes that he saw (Law Minister) Salman Khurshid virtually jumping with joy on TV, shouting "All IZ WELL" -- the punchline of a recent popular movie, after the Congress president foisted a 2G truce on the two senior-most ministers.

A mediaman told him that a voice from the media was heard asking: "Salman saheb, can you name the THREE IDIOTS?"

Advani also reiterated his anguish over his partymen in Tihar Jails in the 2008 cash-for-vote scam in the scam.

"It is indeed shocking to find that the ruling party these days is exerting its utmost to protect corrupt ministers but has no qualms putting whistle blowers behind bars."

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Advani wrote that he went to Tihar with Rajya Sabha Opposition leader Arun Jaitley to meet his jailed partymen and tell them that they had rendered 'a signal service to Democracy' by blowing the whistle on the Congress bribing the MPs to cross-vote to enable the UPA government win a vote of confidence even after the Left Front had parted company with them over the India-US nuclear deal.

Referring to the Law Commission's December 2001 report on enactment of laws to protect the whistle blowers, he said the Manmohan Singh government piloted a Bill on the recommended lines in 2010 and it is now being considered by a Standing Committee of Parliament.

"The Bill has not become law as yet. But the Cabinet having approved of it, the government should feel committed to its core principle," he said.

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Advani also commented on the Transparency International's latest Corruption Perception Index for 2010 based on survey of corruption in various countries, pointing out that India scored 3.3 and ranked a lowly 87th out of 178 countries.

He noted that the index assigns scores to countries on a scale of zero to ten, with zero indicating very high levels of corruption, and ten showing very low levels. Three countries -- Denmark, Singapore and New Zealand -- have scored 9.3 and thus tied for first place in 2010's List of 178 countries.

While Pakistan scoring 2.3, is 143rd in the List. Afghanistan, Burma and Somalia are the last three in ranking -- 176, 177 and 178.

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