Agencies/New Delhi

Embattled Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday appealed to the media, increasingly critical of his scandal-hit government, not to launch a “witch-hunt” while investigating corruption.

Singh’s call came as his Congress-led government struggles to restore order in parliament where opposition parties have stalled business in a row over allegedly illegal allocation of coal mining rights.

“The spirit of inquiry must not morph into a campaign of calumny,” Singh, 81, said while launching a state-built media centre in the capital.

“A witch-hunt is no substitute for investigative journalism,” the prime minister said and urged media groups to rise above “personal prejudices.”

The prime minister said “credibility is the media’s currency and is integral to its contract with the reader or viewer.”

“In a vibrant democracy such as ours, which revels in free inquiry and quest for answers, this (media industry) is a significant calling. But there is need for caution while executing this responsibility.”

He said the media has to exercise a sense of responsibility for social harmony and public order, and referred to the violence and exodus last year of thousands of people from the northeastern states back to their homes in the wake of morphed images and mass text messages spreading misinformation.

“A mature and wise handling of this phenomenon is essential if we are to avoid the tragedy last year that befell many innocent souls who became victims of an online propaganda campaign and were then driven across the country to save their lives in their home states,” the prime minister said.

Singh said the media and civil society were an essential part of democracy and nation building. And with India placed at a “decisive stage” in taking its “rightful place in the comity of nations,” he exuded confidence that neither sector would “be found wanting in this collective effort to consolidate India as a plural, inclusive and progressive society.”

The prime minister reiterated the government’s commitment to “fostering a free, pluralistic and independent media” and to provide people knowledge and information “so as to equip them to respond to social, economic and technological challenges.”

Singh’s shaky government, which hopes to win a third consecutive term in elections that must be held by next May, has been weakened by a string of corruption scandals involving cabinet ministers and top officials.

The controversies include the awarding of mobile telephone spectrum at below-market prices and huge cost-overruns during the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.

Singh’s comments came as leading news magazine India Today in its latest edition accused his government of failing to deliver at a time when the economy has slowed sharply, inflation is stubbornly high and the currency has tumbled against the dollar.

“He is today the meekest head of a moribund government that has already abdicated its responsibilities,” the magazine said in lead story.

One TV station has begun lampooning the economist-turned premier and his finance minister, broadcasting animated cartoons of the two chasing a giant rupee coin downhill.

The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party plan to attack the Congress Party-led government over the scandals during the next election campaign.

Singh’s government was reduced to a minority last September when a key ally withdrew support from the ruling coalition to protest changes aimed at liberalising India’s still mainly closed economy.