The BJPs bind

The BJP,the party that first floated these ideas when it was in power,has not disowned them as emphatically as it did FDI in retail. Party president Nitin Gadkari said it is a matter of what the fine print says,others in the party have brought up the Congresss past opposition to FDI in insurance during the NDA years,and alleged this was a matter of foreign pressure and the UPAs attempt to change the subject from corruption. Clearly,the BJP is in a bind. Should it continue thwarting every UPA initiative,good or bad? Or should it hew to some sense of itself as a force of reform? It may now quibble over the divergences with the standing committee on finance headed by BJP leader Yashwant Sinha,which had recommended a limit of 26 per cent for FDI in insurance. The governments bill has taken that limit to 49 per cent. The point is,the pension and insurance bills are largely structured along the lines recommended by the standing committee,and the BJPs broad agreement with this legislation is a matter of record.

Having announced these moves at long last,the UPA must now call upon all its arts of floor management and persuasion. Before the parliamentary session,it should make a comprehensive case for the reforms. While the ideological objections of certain parties cannot be wished away,the UPAs pitch should,at the very least,make it difficult for the BJP to object. The BJP,meanwhile,must ask itself what it really stands for,if it objects to every act of reform,defying its own established economic orientation. It has echoed the Left,rather than articulating a credible centre-right position. Either way,it should be prepared to make an argument in the House,rather than drowning out parliamentary debate as it did in the monsoon session. Now that the Hindutva agenda has receded,if it does not have a cogent economic philosophy,it stands for nothing but a contentless anti-Congress impulse.