By Kamal Katyan
By Kamal Katyan
Morocco World News
New Delhi, September 5, 2012
The coal mining scam or Coalgate scam (as coined by the media for this corruption scandal) proved lethal for ManMohan Singh led Government of India who is already plagued with a number of scams.
As per the comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) the Government had allocated the nation’s coal deposits to private and state run entities in an irregular and arbitrary manner instead of publicly auctioning them off to the highest bidder, resulting in a loss of approximately US $ 34 billion to the exchequer during the period 2004-2009.
As per some media reports, the figure could be as high as around US $ 192 billion. This scam sees wide protests from the opposition.
The opposition led by main opposition party Bhartiya Janta party (BJP) did not allow the government even to run the parliament and both the house of the parliament had to adjourn without any work under the wide protests of opposition who are demanding the resignation of ManMohan Singh.
It is the common perception of the people of India that though the Prime Minister ManMohan Singh himself is an honest person but he is leading the most corrupt government in the history of India.
A large number of his ministers are accused of scandals/scams. He is considered as a weak prime minister, and for a large numbers of people in India he is a powerless PM and the government is actually run by Ms. Sonia Gandhi, the chairperson of the ruling party.
This scam ultimately proved fatal for the government.
The Washington Post calls PM Manmohan Singh a “tragic figure.” The US daily, in an article published today, quotes critics to say that the PM “is in danger of going down in history as a failure.”S
