‘Consensus building must come from govt’

Jaitley on corruption

Initially,a lot of us (wrongly) thought that liberalisation,delicensing,and removal of control will dilute the need for a government and,therefore,what happened was that some departments of the Government of India became irrelevant. Corruption in those areas substantially came down. But it (the government’s pro-active role) shifted to land,mining,to private sector education,liquor,tenders. This entailed a dozen different permissions related to land,from environment down to the municipal permission,land-use permissions…and so these sectors have become a complete cesspool of corruption.

On probity in public life

I have wondered why is it that people with a sullied image are able to do well in politics. Have we been able to make this in terms of public awareness a very key issue? When some of us want to practice ethical politics,do we get extra rating because of that? There has to be a sustained campaign. Recent campaigns may have some impact but we still have some distance to travel.

On the recent anti-politician mood in the country

I’m both in agreement and worried about it. Agreement because why is it that the image of an ugly politician sticks? It’s not that you in the media have painted us ugly; it is also because,from within the fraternity,people have actively contributed to making it ugly,and that image gets carried. It dilutes the entire credibility of politics. There may be exaggerations but the atmosphere for it is created within politics. The silver lining in this is that,in the last few years,most CMs who have been re-elected have been,by and large,those who have governed well and also have a relatively clean image. It’s the first time I have seen an incentive.

On cooperation between the Government and Opposition

How does the Opposition cooperate with a government,which has decided to do nothing? You are expecting me to support a government which has decided to be indecisive. We have supported and saved bills. I am not going to support law in vacuum. There is no consensus within the UPA and the Congress,even ideologically. Obviously,we can see that within the government and alliance there is a problem. So a question arises: what do you do as an Opposition? We can have a legitimate difference on one or two issues. But on areas of consensus,you find a complete paralysis. Your standard for judging us and them should not be different. During NDA rule,if the cabinet committee on disinvestment had got postponed by a week,Rahul Bajaj would be on TV. Today,I keep searching for him. When you have a government with a do-nothing approach,the question is not being put to them. Sunil Mittal is not writing an open letter to the PM. The reason for this stalemate is not us. The responsibility or the consensus building has to come from the government. At least,it has to have an environment where you can have a dialogue. Unfortunately,what appears to have happened is that this government comprises two kinds of ministers — the arrogant or the sulking. So,even a dialogue is not possible.

On the BJP’S tolerance of politicians such as Babu Singh Kushwaha and BS Yeddyurappa

I can tell you that I have looked after three elections in Bihar,even at a time when there was mafia domination. I have realised that our ability to digest them is very limited. Whenever you have a problem of any such association,our first problems start emerging from within and we try and apply correctives from within. I don’t want to give names or examples. I can tell you,by and large in most states,our ability to digest such leaders is very little and even when the media starts hitting us,compared to others,we are extremely vulnerable.

On pursuing populist programmes if voted to power

The privilege of those not involved in electoral politics to take firm stands on certain issues is far more than ours. We are constrained by concerns of electoral politics and to say that I will stand up against populism,I will not be able to. I am not going to assure you that I will be able to persuade all my colleagues to do that. I’m not going to make that sort of commitment.

On the Lokpal logjam

The whole debate on Lokpal got diverted not over what kind of authority or powers it would have but just because somebody said it must have constitutional status.

On Federalism

The Centre has not had the best record on Federalism. In every non-Congress state,the governors have held up,on an average,half-a-dozen legislations; assent is not being given. Compare this to LK Advani,he never appointed a governor without the CM’s consent. Here,you have a situation where highways have been designed to bypass certain states.

On the Indian cricket team’s defeats in Australia

I think some of us have been over-critical. I have been watching the BCCI very closely for over a decade and I still believe that it is a better sports management institute. It has got good systems in place,better than other sports bodies in the world. It has established good institutions better than what government would do. You can do badly in a series. for various reasons. I can tell you it’s not that people are feeling that we are tigers at home and not outside. Australian tours have conventionally been difficult for us. The challenge after these two tours is how to get our players,at least new-age players,tuned to the kind of bowling in these countries. You have clearly seen them susceptible to a certain kind of bowling.

On Mumbai and managing Indian cities

I have been coming to Mumbai ever since I was a child. I have seen a decline and also some improvement. I have seen several cities in India expand radically in the last few years. Somehow,smaller ones have done exceedingly well. Some good ideas have been inadequately implemented in Mumbai. When I read about those schemes and legislations on paper,I thought it was a wonderful scheme and perhaps the prospect of implementing it,in terms of improving the city,would be great. But then,unfortunately,that became an industry which went into highly questionable hands. I thought the speed has been slow and somewhat inadequate. These are areas in which Mumbai can improve. The quality of municipal governance has to improve. I don’t think we have been able to feed into that system the best possible available people from among the city. You still don’t have the mayor having the kind of power that the mayor of London would have.

On the BJP missing Pramod Mahajan in Mumbai

This is a conception that people have. He was a dynamic person. But let me tell you,politics abhors vacuum. In politics,you never write obituaries. It never accepts a void,you will have people emerge from the vacuum. Whether the polity has the ability to accept the best talent itself is a new area of debate.

Transcribed by Swatee Kher