Life Is Elsewhere

Life has come full circle for Yashwant Sinha. The man who became FM because the RSS and the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch scuppered the chances of the PM’s hot favourite Jaswant Singh in ’98, had to bow out last week in favour of the very same man.

Ironically, the RSS opposed Jaswant because he was pro-reforms and pro-West! But Sinha’s five budgets proved that whatever his ratings, he also stuck steadfastly to the reforms menu. Says Arvind Panagariya: "Sinha had a successful innings, though not matching Manmohan Singh’s." Adds a senior government economist: "He has a creditable record. He put a lot of thorny issues like government downsizing, ssi reservation and exit policy on the table." Against his UTI mess and poor revenue record, we must also see the low interest rates and inflation and record forex reserves.

Sinha’s biggest problem was he unnerved the middle class, already sore with liberalisation eating into their protected bastions—job security and subsidised public services. His failure to get his colleagues, including the PM, on board with him on his toughest proposals also stuck. As a result, he had to roll back some of them, which worsened his image inside and outside the party. Inside the party, where he’s always been an outsider, his rejection of the "swadeshi" line angered even his few supporters.

Sinha never really took to the market, which was equally uncomfortable with him. The market fell by 43 points after his first budget on June 1, ’98, to 3642 and ended almost stagnant at 3562 on February 28 this year. Uncomfortable with its mood swings, Sinha should find external affairs an easier job to handle.