Downturn not due to economy but evaporation of govt: Shourie

Shourie said another focus area should be to have a dialogue with the judiciary.

BJP leader Arun Shourie Friday said the current investor climate in India can be attributed to the fact that the government has evaporated.

The downturn has nothing to do with the economy,it has to do with the evaporation of a government; and every minister became the government,every investigating age-ncy became the government, Shourie said at a lecture on government deficit organised by the Observer Research Foundation,an independent think tank,in Mumbai.

Narendra Modi uses an interesting analogy to describe bad governance,he says its like diabetes,once it enters the body,it invites all other diseases. Today,you can reverse the current economic sentiments,but what you require is a strong Prime Minister,a PM who is there,and you need a strong PMs office, he said.

The former disinvestment minister said to get the economy moving,a list of things that can be done without legislation should be drawn out because Parliament is not functional; and it will not be allowed to function even after the election. For instance,if Narendra Modi comes to power,the Congress and Samajwadi Party wont allow it to function. So,whoever comes,should make a list of things that can be done in every sector without legislation. The quality of persons in Parliament is such that they do not have the competency to assess issues from the national perspective. Today,the government is already in a quasi-presidential system. In fact,you tell me a state in which the cabinet matters,only the CM matters and sometimes even CMs dont, said Shourie.

He said one should ignore the opposition party,be it Congress or BJP and make the CMs partners in governing India. Many CMs,including the CM of Maharashtra,run states bigger than most European countries. But they have to troupe to the Planning Commission for annual plan discussion,why cant the latter come to them?

Shourie said another focus area should be to have a dialogue with the judiciary. I have not met a judge who has been to a factory and even their casual remark can stop factories. We must bring them into the real world. In infrastructure,damage has been done by few ministers and by few enthusiastic judges. You cannot have across the board rulings which stops everything. In cases like reservation,environment,they are carried away by rhetoric or by the case at hand.