Manmohan Singh

New Delhi, March 23: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today warned the Opposition not to take the “dangerous path” of destabilising the government on the basis of what one embassy official says about something, as was the case in the WikiLeaks controversy.

Expressing “sadness” that some parties had chosen to get excited by such issues instead of discussing the enormous challenges confronting the country, Singh said: “Tomorrow, if another official of a foreign embassy takes into his head to create a feeling of strife and distress among the political parties in our country, all that he has to do is to plant a diplomatic message, and also ensure that somehow it leaks.”

The Prime Minister said: “I think the nation, the country and this august Parliament should reflect as to what we are doing to our country. It is not in a spirit of any partisan upmanship I say this, but as someone who is worried about the aftermath, the after effect of this development on the future management of our country.”

He also reiterated that his government had committed no wrong during the trust vote of 2008 and criticised the BJP for selectively quoting from the Kishore Chandra Deo Committee report to prove their charges. Defending his statement that there was insufficient evidence to draw a conclusion of bribery, he recalled that then Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had also said the report did not establish the charge.

Quoting from Somnath’s observations, he said: “Finding of the committee is that material on record does not conclusively prove that the money contained in the bag which was eventually displayed in the House was actually sent by the persons who were alleged to have sent it for the purpose of winning over the MPs to vote in favour of the motion of confidence. The same thing emerges when we study the report of the committee in totality. It is no use quoting sections which suit one’s convenience or which support one’s argument.”

The BJP was clueless what to do after the Prime Minister’s reply and chose to walk out in protest but only after a few minutes when Singh had already left the House. The Prime Minister received full support from Congress members who rebutted the Opposition’s arguments on bribery and the veracity and importance of WikiLeaks.

Telecom minister Kapil Sibal accused the BJP of denigrating the Prime Minister’s office in its desperation to seek political advantage at every stage. He cited a report by Tehelka.com that came out this morning to establish that the BJP’s top leaders had masterminded the cash-for-vote sting operation in collusion with a television channel. He said: “Sushma (Swaraj) wanted to know who did it. It was done at your behest and the person who got it done is the leader of the other House.”

Sibal confronted Sushma for selectively quoting WikiLeaks owner Julian Assange to prove that the cables were authentic. He said: “Assange also said that the contents may or may not be authentic.” He also accused her of misleading the House by saying that cash was seen at a minister’s house, which was not mentioned in WikiLeaks. He asked her if WikiLeaks was reliable, then would the BJP accept what it says about Modi, that he is an insular and distrustful person and ruled through fear and intimidation?

Sushma built her arguments by giving enormous credence to WikiLeaks and went to the extent of quoting Assange to prove that the Prime Minister was misleading Parliament. She said Singh was wrong in saying that the cables were “speculative, unverified and unverifiable” as the one related to cash-for-vote was based on events, not conversations. She said a US official had seen cash at a minister’s residence whereas WikiLeaks mentions a Rajya Sabha member.