It's ironic: even though Govindacharya has stoutly denied that he ever said (or even thought) that BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a mukhauta (mask), the party desperately needs a mukhauta if it hopes to convince investors, and even its own potential allies, of its policies.The reason is simple. With several of its allies, all of whom are aspiring for important ministerial berths such as finance and commerce, doing their best to frighten investors, the BJP needs to present an industry-friendly face to investors hence the desperate need for a mukhauta. Apart from his own political compulsions, surely it will be difficult for, say, Telugu Desam leader Chandrababu Naidu to support a party which appears clearly anti-reforms and anti-multinational. For, Naidu has openly embraced reforms and multinationals for the development of his own home state.George Fernandes, better known as Mr Pepsi (what else would you call the man who bested Coke in the country two decades ago?), has, for example, renewed histirade against multinationals in the food processing industry such as Coke, Pepsi and Kellogg. And even while he was forced to tone down his statement the very next day after he made it, his retraction held out certain ominous threats.While other regional partners haven't come out with their demands as yet - there is talk of Jayalalitha wanting Subramaniam Swamy to be made the BJP's finance minister we're certain to see a lot more demands being vocalised over the next few critical days of government formation. Even the RSS and other bodies affiliated to it, such as the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, are certain to up the pressure against further liberalisation. The Indian Express, for example, has reported recently that while the RSS has toned down its demand for protecting local industry (`swadeshi'), it now appears that they will ask the BJP to go slow on disinvesting and privatising public sector units. Other BJP leaders have already gone on record to say that they reject the draft ninth plan and that, ifthey come to power, they will review it thoroughly. Most reasonable people, however, know that much of this is simply posturing, and is unlikely to find a place in the BJP's eventual economic policies, if it comes to power. After all, the BJP is the party that gave the final clearance to the Enron power project in Maharashtra when it was in power at the centre for 13 days being in power in Maharashtra, they realised, above all, the importance of the project to the state. During this brief phase also, the BJP's industry minister was an industrialist from Maharashtra surely a good indication that the party would not follow anti-industry policies.And when some loose talk emerged, prior to the release of the party's economic manifesto, about it being in favour of putting a lock-in period on investments by foreign institutional investors (FIIs), the BJP leadership was quick to scotch these rumours. Party president L.K. Advani, in fact, asked party spokesperson Sushma Swaraj to issue a firm denial at theearliest. With close to a fourth of our forex reserves coming from FIIs, clearly the BJP wasn't going to take a chance on upsetting them.And for all the bluster of leaders like Murli Manohar Joshi on the unfair policies of the World Trade Organisation, the BJP's very own economic manifesto has also been remarkably restrained, indeed responsible, on the matter. It has talked of how the party will fight for the rights of industry and of farmers. And then comes the rider: `. but the objective will be to protect the national economy and the national interest like all nations do and not indulge in economic isolationism.'Interestingly, even when the BJP was in power at the centre for 13 days the last time around, their stand on the WTO was quite the opposite of what leaders like Joshi proclaimed. I remember asking friends in the BJP as to what policy they would adopt on issues like `intellectual property rights'. I was told that the BJP would try and negotiate a better deal. But no further negotiations arepossible, I persisted. No problem, my BJP friends assured me, we'll pass the necessary legislation and tell people that we have no option since the Congress has got us into this bad deal!Talk to other leaders such as Jaswant Singh and Sushma Swaraj, and you also get the feeling that the BJP is not seeking to over-turn existing policies. It will eventually settle for a little fine-tuning of existing policies, and here too, a lot of lip service will substitute for genuine action. The problem, however, is that investors, especially those overseas, don't understand this particular Indian `duality' and tend to get skittish when they hear such talk. And, like it or not, the country is largely dependent on such investors apart from billions of dollars of investments in the stock market, they alone have the kind of funds required for developing of infrastructure on the scale required. If only to satisfy the needs of these investors, the BJP desperately needs to get a mukhauta to convince investors that itspolicies will benefit the economy. Given the vital importance that the finance minister's job has come to acquire over the past few years, the mukhauta will be the man chosen for this post. What investors are waiting to see is whether the party will choose the right (and new) mukhauta, or go in for a well-worn one.
