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Journalism of Courage
The BJP and the Left need our special congratulations for their new and absurd alliance. Sworn enemies, they suddenly find themselves on the same side of the fence in their opposition to the oil price hike. With world oil prices touching 59 per barrel, most people would agree that oil prices must rise in India. After all the country is not 8212; as far as we know 8212; located on a different planet. Besides, if the Left and the BJP were themselves in power at the Centre, it is unlikely that they would have had any choice but to hike oil prices. So what is all this posturing about? Perhaps acting with irresponsibility is one of the delights of being in the Opposition 8212; or in supporting the government from the outside. You then have the luxury of traipsing around the country and decrying price hikes as governmental folly.
There is another delicious irony that seems to have escaped these two political entities. The CPI was part of the I.K. Gujral government when it took the decision to dismantle the administered price mechanism APM. Two CPI ministers, Indrajit Gupta and Chaturanan Mishra, were part of that Cabinet decision to do so. And that government, let us not forget, was being supported by the CPM from the outside. Coming to the BJP, was it not the NDA government that had decided to revise petrol prices every fortnight, in keeping with its commitment to dismantle the APM? To any rational person this suggests then that these political entities are not, in principle, opposed to the movement of domestic oil prices in sync with global trends; that their hi-jinks today are inspired more by political expediency, than anything else. Why let the UPA government get away with it? Why not squeeze this lemon for what it8217;s worth?
