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Journalism of Courage
Parliament will mull FDI in pension and insurance,and the BJP must decide its economic philosophy
The UPAs second round of better-late-than-never economic reforms,including FDI in pension and insurance,will now be tested in Parliament. This will be a fraught operation for the government,given that even those the Congress considers teammates,like the DMK and the SP,have signalled distance,on FDI in retail,for instance and others like the Left parties and the TMC,are consistently and bitterly opposed to the very idea of inviting foreign capital in these sectors. Ironically,the only like-minded party on these matters is the principal opposition party,which now seems frozen in its pose of refusal and negativity.
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.
