Troubled waters

In early 2009,just before the last general election,the international oil price was close to 40 a barrel. It has more than doubled since; Brent crude oil is trading at well over 100 a barrel currently. In any case the government is overstretched,dealing with the fiscal aftereffects of firefighting during the global financial crisis. It cannot afford to for ever subsidise oil consumers as world prices change. The recent increase in the price of diesel and LPG is a small step towards greater rationalisation. For any kind of sustainable financing to be possible,Indias consumers have to be able to make choices based on prices that are close to the real economic costs.

Yet our political response to this timid,half-hearted change is deeply disappointing and irresponsible. Instead of looking forward to what system will allow India to cut its fiscal deficit,and ensure that consumers have access to sensibly priced,unadulterated oil products,the opposition and some parts of the ruling coalition,even have chosen to use this small step as a stick with which to beat the government. Nobody doubts that the duty of an opposition party is to provide principled scrutiny of government decisions. But is this principled? The BJP,which led street protests against this rise,attempted to reform petroleum pricing,too,when in government. Has it abandoned those principles now?

The people,as consumers and voters,need sensible politics and policy from their parties. The time for populist mobilisation is past,and those who indulge in them have found their electoral utility to be sharply limited. An aspirational voter should be able to judge which party appears to be able to deliver good governance when in power and it will not be that party which has been irresponsible when in opposition. There is much about our confused and outdated fuel pricing system that deserves criticism,and much that is wrong with how the UPA has been handling it. To hold the government up to scrutiny,however,requires more than the simplistic politics that has been on display this weekend.