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Journalism of Courage
George Fernandes has long been a red rag to the Congress bull. His acrimony towards the Congress president 8212; often expressed in very raw and distasteful language 8212; is well-known and well-documented. The desire to bait Fernandes is therefore a very strong impulse in the Congress psyche. This was certainly the case when the party was in Opposition, and when it conducted a spectacular if over-stretched parliamentary boycott of George Fernandes as Union defence minister.
Unfortunately, the 8216;Bait Fernandes8217; campaign continues even when the party is in power. The Union government8217;s extraordinary action of filing a revised petition in the Supreme Court, making Fernandes the subject of further CBI scrutiny over the Kargil war purchases 8212; after its own defence ministry had given him a clean chit 8212; is of a piece with its general targeting of the man. It is fairly clear that the charge of financial impropriety over the purchase of ammunition for T-72 tanks, aluminium caskets and assorted items of clothing that had been acquired by the Armed Forces during the Kargil war, has no great credibility. By setting the CBI on him, the Manmohan Singh government appears to be driven by party considerations. However, precisely because of this, it does not work.
