Why this coyness?

What parties don8217;t say is almost as important as what they say. Today the Congress finds itself in a quandary. There is the BJP going all out to claim credit for the current spurt in growth, while the Congress itself continues to be needlessly coy about having actually parented India Shining. After all, much of the good news from the economy is a result of the NDA government extending the reform programme initiated by previous Congress governments, especially that of Narasimha Rao.

The Congress8217;s reluctance to do this may, in part, be attributed to the ideological rift within the party on economic policies, but it could also be a reflection of the unwillingness of the current Congress leadership to give too much credit to the Narasimha Rao-Manmohan Singh team. There is nothing new about this streak of denial in the Congress. When Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee decided to conduct nuclear tests in May 1998 and declare India a nuclear weapons power, a misguided Congress leadership criticised Vajpayee for his 8220;hawkish8221; policy rather than take credit for the role played by Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi in enabling India8217;s nuclear status.

It8217;s time then for the Congress to review its position on economic reforms. Rather than claim that there is no 8220;feel good8221; feeling in the economy today, the party would be better advised to credit itself for having pushed policies that have today enabled India to become a stronger economy and an important global power. The point that Congress ought to be making is that there are a few good things that the NDA has done in its six years in power and that some of these its own government had, in fact, initiated. This will enable a welcome consensus on economic policies in the campaign itself. The party seems to have forgotten that the only time the Indian economy notched upwards of 7 per cent growth for three years in a row was when it was last in government!