The story of Thomas the CVC:

March 13/2011: The story of Thomas the CVC has paled into the night now. Emerging from the ashes of that conflagration is the new battle. A battle of cross blaming and escaping. An obvious effort to save one’s skin at any cost.

The Prime Minister Mr Manmohan Singh has now said that the folly of taking aboard Thomas as CVC happened solely because the then Minister in the PMO , Mr Prithviraj Chavan (who, in the meanwhile, has become the Chief Minister of Maharashtra) did not mention in his note that the Kerala State Vigilance Department was carrying out regular investigations against the alleged corrupt activities of Thomas when he was the Food Secretary of that state.

In the true blue style of pass-the-buck, Chavan rose to the occasion and immediately issued a statement that the mistake was not his. It happened because Kerala state government had not indicated anything about any proceedings against the senior officer whom the Union government wanted to install as the chief of all anti corruption activities of the government. Thereby, Chavan not only removed the yoke from his shoulders and denied any responsibility for such a grievously damaging step, he also indirectly sent a message that the PM does not really know what happens right under his nose.

To be left behind, leave alone remaining silent, is a gross act on the part of any politician. The Chief Minister of Kerala, Mr Achyutanandan, could not be kept a mute spectator when his former allies, the Congress, heaped rubbish on him.  So he too joined in and produced startling proof that claimed the Union government was informed about Thomas’ past by the Kerala state government way back in 2008.If that be true, then the matter becomes wholly hilarious.

Some days ago, the Prime Minister, Mr Manmohan Singh, speaking in Parliament had said that the whole Thomas episode was an ‘error of judgement’. Let us, for a moment, completely trust Mr Singh. In this backdrop, let us stretch our imagination and create a scenario. Suppose, just suppose, some drunken Chinese Red Army soldiers facing our Jawans at Arunachal and braving the bitter cold, start firing on the Indian lines. This is not a farfetched situation. Such incidents do keep occurring at regular intervals. As a standard operating procedure, the field commander immediately sends border status position to his immediate senior Commander who in turn passes on the information to the Army Chief and the concerned officer at the Defence Ministry. The Ministry, in its turn, informs the Defence Minister (hailing from Kerala), the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the PMO. While the MEA is drafting a strong letter condemning the attack to be handed over to the Chinese Ambassador at his home in Chanakyapuri  (the Ambassador is meanwhile busy inaugurating an art exhibition at Vasant Vihar), things are getting hot at the PMO. Officers rush and files fly. The Prime Minister walks into his office and huddles up with Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Nirupama Rao who assure him that the moment he decides to stand up to the Chinese and show the world that he (Manmohan) is no weak kneed administrator, the Americans will send the 37th US Fleet from Bay of Pigs to the Indian Ocean and will unequivocally inform everyone about their concern at the huge damage to the island of Honshu in Japan from the recent earthquake. Taken in by these strong words from none else but Nirupama, who had the good fortune so recently of breathing the same breath that Prez Obama had exhaled, Manmohan abruptly calls the Press and in his characteristically mild tone says India has had enough. A point of no return has come. As the PM, he has advised the President, the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces, to declare war against the People’s Republic of China. The media gives this message massive publicity. The whole world is aware of India’s aggressive stance. China puts all Red Army units on alert and recalls all on leave. Looking at the Feng Shui directions and this being the Year Of The Idiot , Mr Wu claims his country has already achieved victory. All nations, barring Taiwan, support China. Indian soldiers turn deserters by the thousands and the show turns dismal. Ms Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi demand China should surrender. They cite the instance when they had demanded that prices must come down and that really did happen. Hoping the same would work with China, Rahul, for once, opens his own mouth and talks without reading. Indians are stupefied. CPM says they will renew their support to the UPA if Mother-Son duo do not pressurize China to surrender and all.

All of a sudden, everyone comes to senses. Nirupama and Montek have run away. Manmohan, a beleaguered man, daintily stands up and addresses the media for the second time in a day. He claims the fault was all his. That it was an ‘error of judgement’ and that there were no documents provided by the Arunachal government to show that the Red Army could actually defeat the Indian Army. Although the declaration of hostilities was done by him, it was actually due to ‘compulsions of coalition politics’. Sonia sends Pranab to calm Manmohan while Chidambaram asks his friendly journalists to tell everyone that he is ready to be PM.

Onset of the second decade of the 21st century. Indian leaders are yet to mature. Maturity comes not only by trying to show humility by accepting a fault. That is done with arrogance. Like saying, ok, have this one on me. Instead maturity comes by learning from past mistakes and if you do not have the ability to look back, be humble and listen to people. All people. Not just retired or serving bureaucrats and so called economists propounding the theory of market forces, but the real people who sustain the system.