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Journalism of Courage
However invaluable the consensual method may be, it has its own limitations. This has been underscored by the inability of the United Front Government to evolve a consensus on increasing the price of petroleum products to bridge the ever-burgeoning oil pool deficit. When there is no consensus even within the United Front, how can the Congress be expected to come to the rescue of the government? Small wonder, Congress president Sitaram Kesri and his colleagues Jitendra Prasad and Pranab Mukherjee did not give a firm opinion on the issue when they met Prime Minister I.K. Gujral on Thursday.
Obviously, the Congress would not like to be a party to a decision that may not be to the liking of the common man. It is precisely the same consideration that weighs with most of the UF constituents, who seem to be haunted by the spectre of an early election. In fact, if they are given a chance, they would like to blame the Congress for the inevitable price rise that an upward revision in the price of petroleum products would cause.
Already, some of the UF constituents portray the previous Congress Government as the villain of the piece for it was during its time that the deficit went virtually out of control. Little do they recognise that their own record has been far from confidence-inspiring.
The United Front cannot escape responsibility for allowing the Left parties, notably the CPIM, to convert the oil price issue, which is essentially economic, into a political one.
The government fell into the trap when the then Deve Gowda Ministry backtracked on its decision to increase the administered price of some petroleum products. It was, perhaps, the first time that the government reviewed such prices after they were announced. This seems to have emboldened the Leftists who have been preventing the government from taking any meaningful step on tackling the oil pool deficit problem.
Even as the UF constituents and the supporting parties dither on the issue, the deficit is increasing by Rs 30 crore per day. At this rate, the deficit will cross Rs 24,000 crore by the end of the current fiscal year. Needless to say, if the deficit is allowed to grow so alarmingly, it will have disastrous consequences for the economy.
In simple terms, the reason for the growing deficit is the difference in the prices at which petroleum products are procured and sold. In other words, the only solution for the problem is to end the subsidy on certain products.It is futile to expect the Left to concur with any idea to minimise, if not end, the subsidy. But then it is also a fact that the Left or, for that matter the Congress, has no other option but to support the move if an increase in the price of oil is presented as a fait accompli.
What this implies is that the government should not fight shy of pursuing its strategy to curtail the deficit. Given the impossibility of a consensus on the issue, there is no other alternative but to take a unilateral decision and go ahead with it. After all, populism cannot be the sole criterion for taking decisions by a government, even if it is led by a plethora of parties.
