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Journalism of Courage
The Congress-led UPA government is at that point in its life when firm trends, good and bad, can be identified and their effects on political fortunes reasonably speculated on. The trend that should worry the government and the party the most is that of a weak executive and political authority. Cabinet ministers have repeatedly gone off at a policy tangent and given the impression no one can control them. Saifuddin Soz took back his first statement that work on the Narmada dam must stop. But that he made it at all shows from where he got the encouragement 8212; from Arjun Singh who sought to present a fait accompli on quota extension; from Mani Shankar Aiyar who wanted to establish that the Indo-Iran pipeline plan need not be bothered with strategic nuances; from Natwar Singh who had given himself the clean chit on the government8217;s behalf on Volcker.
These ministers also threatened, sometimes implicitly sometimes publicly, that their biggest loyalties lay outside the government and the party. Natwar Singh had said he was proud to be a friend of global communism and regretted its demise. Aiyar8217;s removal from oil was supposed to have been triggered by his search for a 8220;strategically independent energy policy8221;. Arjun Singh is apparently speaking up for castes denied their rightful place among India8217;s academic elite. Soz was trying to sensitise government policy on Narmada oustees. At least the others are Congressmen arguably jockeying for positions within the party. Soz could well be looking at job prospects in a non-Congress, non-BJP government.
