UPA hits a new low on its blunderous path
By S. Sethuraman
Rights and wrongs can come later. Nearing half its term, UPA-II has been heaping upon itself a series of governance failures topped by an array of corrupt deals under its watch, directly accountable for most of them, and the one-sided policies and posturings have bordered on arrogance, however much at the head Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has the reputation of both humility and integrity.
The abject surrender to the social activist, Anna Hazare, on his terms – firstly, arresting him rashly, citing the rule book, and then within 24 hours pleading with him to come out of Tihar jail and do his planned 15-day fast on Ram Lila grounds, ( which was being got ready for the national spectacle) has few parallels in post-independence history. The fast-paced crackdown in Delhi only served to revive bad memories of the 1975 emergency enforced by the same party which now heads UPA.
This caving-in can be brazened out by spokesmen as Government’s responsiveness to the mood across the country which, it painfully, if alarmingly, realized, stands up solidly behind Mr Hazare, again a situation of grave import for the survival of the Government which has lost credibility in a great many areas. It already remains perplexed in decision-making on reform policies it had committed itself, though some of them without serious thought to social implications thereof.
Both on political and economic fronts, UPA-II has miserably failed to grapple with problems as they arose, solely relying on economic growth as the talisman for all ills while at the same time holding forth that it has no “magic wand” to combat inflation or corruption. The way inflation has ravaged the bulk of the population over three years was sidestepped by a Government with this growth obsession which consolingly it calls “inclusive growth”.
Millions, rural and urban, have struggled to cope with highest-ever food prices which turned into generalised inflation close to double digit since 2010. Government latches on marginal declines now and then and discreet silence follows when there is reversal. The Finance Minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee no doubt expresses “concern” now and then and asserts “all steps are being taken” but with no effect so far. And he himself confessed there is no magic wand to bring down prices.
The Prime Minister, in his Independence Day speech from the Red Fort, assured that solution to tackling inflation would be given “top priority”. In other respects, we heard all that he has said year after year since 2004 which only underlined the gulf between precept and practice in vital areas of welfare and development. Legislation guaranteeing rights cannot become ends by themselves unless they get implemented effectively and fully.
A sense of urgency is warranted in dealing with inflation which has already begun to impact on normal growth of the economy. The Prime Minister attributed part of the problem to global commodity prices, which is relatively a more recent phenomenon and cannot impact on India with its plenty of food stocks, some of which Government now want to export. Volatile oil prices, however, affect the price level but the fuel and power index has not shown significant variations unlike the primary articles, especially food and minerals, and manufactured goods where rising costs are dumped on consumers.
It is on the base of widespread discontent over Government’s inability for long to bring down inflation that Mr Hazare was able to mount his crusade against corruption evoking instant response across the length and breadth of the country – young and old – students, professionals, working women, lawyers, intellectuals and artists – for a determined campaign, the outcome of which could become crucial for the future of this Government itself.
The strongest and loudest voices from civil society organisations have been raised against corruption and black money, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s directions and some strictures against the Government in several cases of fraud it is hearing for some time. UPA-II is now placed in a predicament where it is called upon to take actions which look credible for their effectiveness. The phase of painting the social activist in dark terms, freely indulged in by Congress spokesmen, or attributing his campaign to “foreign interference” (a line to which even the Prime Minister seemed to have succumbed in his statement to Parliament) is now over.
Government had lost valuable time in the interregnum after the first fast of Mr Hazare, to put across the country the rationale of its own approach to fighting corruption with all the means and instruments at its disposal and forcefully bringing out the constitutional limitations for civil society to prescribe legislation, a prerogative which cannot be sought to be taken away from an elected Parliament. The expectations that the Prime Minister’s ceremonial address from the Red Fort on August 15 would provide inspiring guidance for the people, including gestures to meet demands for an effective Lok Pal to the extent possible, did not materialize.
A stiffening of Government’s position was reflected in the Prime Minister’s statement in Parliament on August 17, a day after the arrest of Mr Hazare which was justified on the ground that peaceful protests could only be allowed under conditions to be accepted. Secondly according to the Prime Minister, those who did not agree with Government policies should await the next election. Rights of protests cannot be circumscribed by authorities while they are not barred from taking action if and when people break the law or create disorder.
Nor is it a valid proposition that people should await five-yearly elections to voice their feeling and allow a Government to go about in its own ways. At the same time, a winning party or coalition cannot claim electoral outcome in its favour as conferring upon it an unlimited mandate with which it can determine policies as it liked even if in cases public interests would be in jeopardy. In the 2009 election, the Congress significantly improving its strength, though lacking absolute majority, assumed an air of triumph and not long afterwards, complacency set in.
This Government assumes that an 8 to 9 per cent growth of the economy should be the sole criterion to judge its performance – whether growth produced jobs or raised incomes and spread some degree of equity or not. UPA viewed itself as having produced a “marvel” which the world recgonised. But equally, India has attracted unwelcome global attention to the countrywide stir against Government over corruption, which of course is not peculiar to this country, but the fact of an upheaval in India, regarded as a genuine democracy, is not to be missed in times of “Arab Spring” or other forms of unrest sweeping across several regions of the world.
Where do we go next? The Prime Minister’s statement that “we are determined to provide a Government that is transparent, accountable and responsive at all times and determined to fight corruption” could become the starting point of a qualitatively different phase for UPA’s tenure. For this, it should give up the old mindset and must work out with the Hazare camp in attempt to accommodate to the utmost possible extent the other viewpoint.
Secondly, Ministers must get more attuned to ground reality and ensure that Government tries to meet to the extent possible the aspirations and expectations of the new generation. Also, the opposition led by BJP having overplayed its cards must, for its part, settle down to its role as a responsible partner in working a democratic system. (IPA Service)