UF govt looks very irrelevant

Many, including some in the BJP, will argue that the party acted irresponsibly since it is the job of all parties to ensure that the business of government does not get thwarted by `petty politics’. According to these worthies, inter-party co-operation is all the more important now that the nation is clearly in the era of coalition politics. They would also argue that, by thwarting the insurance legislation which it supported in the Parliament sub-committee, the BJP has dealt a big blow to the country’s image as a serious reformer. While I still retain my grave doubts over the BJP’s economic policies, and am a votary of opening up the insurance sector, I would reserve my judgement. For though there has been a serious setback, this can be rectified once the bill is reintroduced, with or without taking into account the BJP’s amendments. After all, while cancelling the Enron power project did undoubtedly constitute a blow to India’s credibility, a far bigger blow has been dealt by the Government’s inability to get private power projects off the ground. The inability to sort out the problem of licensing agreements in the case of basic telecoms has hit the country far more than, say, telecom company US West deciding to walk out a few years ago. The list is endless.

Nor do I believe that it is the duty of all parties to co-operate and ensure that important pieces of legislation get passed. If that was indeed the case, then you might as well have a national government, where everything is done by consensus. Besides, what has the UF really achieved in its stint in power? Inner-party wranglings ensured that, a few months ago, the women’s bill had to be referred to a select committee. Opposition from the Left ensured that, for example, little action has been taken on closing down sick PSUs. Just a few days ago, the Prime Minister was reported as having said that attempts would be made to revive IDPL the unit is sick and several reports have unequivocally stated that it cannot be revived in its current form. Similar delay is taking place over closing down the NTC mills. Opposition within the ranks of the UF also ensured that recommendations of the Disinvestment Commission were ignored.

Opposition from the Left also saw Gujral abandon his plan to allow foreign airlines in the domestic sector. The point is not whether this is desirable, but that Gujral dare not come up with a new policy.

Finance Minister Chidambaram, in fact, is believed to have told friends that the problem of raising prices of diesel and kerosene was not that the Left was opposed to it, but that other constituents of the Front (increasingly, the Affront!) didn’t take a firm stand on the issue. In other words, they were afraid that this would hurt their electoral prospects, and so decided to take shelter under the Left’s charge. What of the Front’s other recent achievements? One, it completely reversed the provisions of the Delhi Rent Bill, and tried to blame the volte face on the Delhi BJP government under, at that time, Madan Lal Khurana. It seriously contemplated the possibility of passing an ordinance which would increase the role of the executive in selecting judges, but was forced to withdraw when it found no support. It brought in an ordinance to regularise the out-of-turn allotment of government houses after the Court had ruled against it, and just the day before the occupants of these houses were to be evicted. The UF continued to dilly-dally on Laloo, the issue of the RJD ministers, and then allowed Rabri Devi to make a complete mockery of the system. The sheer sophistry of the arguments put forward by senior UF leaders make the BJP’s economic doublespeak look mild in comparison.

Under the circumstances, it seems difficult to find fault with the BJP’s efforts to underscore the fatal flaw in the country’s governance. Of course, it is of little comfort that the BJP itself is so full of contradictions, that even if fresh elections are called for, and it manages to come to power, there is no guarantee that it’ll fare much better or that it’ll take any of the economic or other decisions that the UF is afraid of taking. That, however, is a bridge we’ll have to cross when we come to it.