In an absorbingly layered debate,this week,Parliament has debated issues related to price rise. There were the predictable barbs to make a political point,provoking Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to revisit his childhood adversities while taking exception to the charge of official insensitivity to the common persons troubles. But the back and forth in the two Houses yielded a clarity on how political parties see inflation that was not exactly evident a week ago. A week of charge and rebuff had given the impression of an opposition determined on little more than a number count to scare the government,and of a government reluctant to be held to account. In the course of this week,both rectified that impression considerably. The opposition,with the array of speakers reflecting their ideological diversity,brought to the discussion nuance and a clear understanding of what the government is up against. And the government,through the closing remarks of the finance minister,reached out to the opposition for steps needed to make economic management more robust. Saying that inflationary pressures can only be tackled by cooperation between states and the Centre,Mukherjee sought cooperation in simplifying tax administration by introducing the goods and services tax. There is no silver bullet in the governments arsenal,was the underlying,and honest,message. With high growth comes the challenge of inflationary pressures. The debate concluded,as had been pre-determined,with a resolution asking the government to take further effective action to contain the effect of inflation. Fragments of a roadmap may be had from the interventions and the spirit of the resolution will be tested by how political parties in government and in opposition proceed. But the discussion begs some questions. It clearly was well within the ability of the treasury and opposition benches to rise to the occasion and articulate issues behind the hollow-sounding slogans and assurances on,in this instance,price rise. If Congress speakers managed to respond with care to these issues,the problem had first been skilfully and humanely laid out by opposition MPs. This is the give and take of parliamentary chatter that we should expect as a matter of daily occurrence when Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are in session,should we not? Must there be strenuous negotiations to begin each debate? Why would parliamentarians like Sushma Swaraj,Arun Jaitley and Mukherjee,to name but just three,hush their competence in discharging their duties to hold the government to account (or to give the governments account) in responsible debate? Especially now when a dangerous anti-politician wind blows too often.
