VIEWPOINT
AMITABH SHUKLA
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
staked his Government for the first time in July 2008 when the Left withdrew
support on the nuclear deal with the United
States . Three years down the line, no one
for sure knows how many nuclear power plants are coming, whether they will be
set-up at all given the protests everywhere and what happened to the lofty
arguments put forward by the spokespersons of the government and the Congress
party in favour of nuclear energy.
Now fast forward the time by a
little over four years. In 2012, the Trinamool Congress, obviously a valued
ally of the UPA, withdrew support on the issue of Foreign Direct Investment in
multi-brand retail, hike in the prices of diesel and putting a cap on the
number of subsidised LPG cylinders. The Prime Minister and his Government may
not be required to seek a vote of confidence, like it did in 2008, even after
the withdrawal of support as the numbers still favour the UPA with the
continued support of Samajwadi Party and the BSP.
But what is worrying is the way
UPA behaved, like a salesman, first to hawk the nuclear deal and then to sell
FDI and diesel price hike to the people. In the last three years, not a single
Mega Watt has been added to the nuclear power capability. Now after the
political positioning of the TMC and the hardening stand of the UPA, people are
questioning whether the so called renewed thrust on liberalisation — what PM
Manmohan Singh has promised — would be actually followed in letter and spirit.
People don’t believe it will. Once bitten, twice shy. The economy has gone from
bad to worse despite an economist PM and no liberalisation was followed ever
since 2004 and it is indeed difficult to accept that government would do in the
rest 19 months of its tenure what it couldn’t do in almost 8 and a half years.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde
would like to believe that people have a short memory. Mr Shinde you may be
right when you say that people do not remember who scored how many runs in the
cricket match played three weeks ago or the script writer of a movie released a
month ago. But politics is not a quiz show like ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’. Do not
underestimate the people and question their memory. They do not have so short
memories that they would forget the acts of omission and commission of the
Government, its follies, shortcomings and attempts to take them for granted.
The managers of the government
and spokespersons recently put forward the theory that Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi are on the same page on economic
reforms. The question which should be asked is whether they were ever on a
different page on any of the issues which the Government handled in the last
over eight years of UPA rule in its two avatars. There was no difference at all
between the organisation and the Government and the myth that there were
differences was propagated simply to send conflicting signals to the people.
You can’t be in the Government and also pretend to oppose it. That is plain and
simple.
Remember the Batla House
encounter. Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh talked about
irregularities in the encounter and questioned the theory of the police and the
Home Minister. Obviously, he could have taken on the Government only with the
backing of the top bosses of the party and that means Sonia Gandhi and Rahul
Gandhi. Then Digvijay took on the government on the tackling of the naxal issue
and also arrest of Muslim youths from Azamgarh. Had Digvijay done all that
without the backing of the Congress leadership, he would have been out of the
party long ago. But he still remains a General Secretary in-charge of Uttar
Pradesh and enjoys the support of his top bosses. It is a different matter that
all this strategy failed to translate into votes in the Assembly polls as
people saw the bluff.
The diplomatic fiasco of
Sharm-al- Sheikh in Egypt
in July 2009 is another pointer. The mention of Balochistan in the Joint
Statement of July 16 between India
and Pakistan
raised the political temperature in the country and forced the Opposition to
stall the proceedings in Parliament. Congress acted as an Opposition and
remained tight-lipped for a quite a while just to take the wind out of the
Opposition attack. All was forgotten, the moment PM came back and spoke.
Obviously, the PM and Congress
President were on the same page throughout. The PM never denounced the joint
statement yet the party merely played along, exposing the myth being propagated
that the government and the party are separate and were on a different page for
a while.
Except Sonia Gandhi and Rahul,
almost anyone who matters in the party, is in the Government, occupying a
ministerial position. Those who hardly matter remain in the organisation. There
are only three leaders worth mentioning who remain in the party and that too
due to compulsions. Janardan Dwivedi wanted to become the HRD Minister in 2009.
He couldn’t, so he remains a General Secretary. Digvijay Singh had taken what
he calls a political sanyas for 10 years after being routed in the Madhya
Pradesh Assembly elections in 2003. He remains another General Secretary,
continuously trying to position himself as a “Left” leaning Congressman. Ahmed
Patel enjoys more powers in the position he is in right now than he would have
enjoyed in the government. So he remains the political secretary of the
Congress President. Is there any other important figure in the organisation
left out of the Government?
So the Government keeps floating
test balloons at regular intervals, waits for the reaction and allows its own
party to distance itself from the decision for a while till people forget it.
When there is fierce Opposition to a decision like putting a cap on the number
of subsidised LPG cylinders per year, the party asks states ruled by the
Congress to increase the cap. When people oppose diesel price hike, Government
thinks of a way out so that a rupee or two is decreased from the increased
component.
So when I read a news item that
on bringing in reforms, PM and Sonia are on the same page, I wondered when they
were not. When I read about unanimity between the party and government on FDI,
again I started thinking of even a single instance when it was not. Congress
and the Government should remember that it is too old a game of the 1960s,
1970s and 1980s. Come out with innovations in 2012. The old political trick
won’t work the way it did 30 and 40 years ago. (September 24, 2012)
Beautiful piece. full of thought and reason:)
ReplyDeletethought provoking sir...:)
ReplyDeleteGreat piece sir. Well argued and insightful. And very well-written.
ReplyDelete