The Clock's Turning Back

Has the future of India ever looked as bleak as it does right now? Parliament in a state of riotous assembly, governance paralysed, and every retrogressive idea and fringe group rearing its head. We are not looking at stasis now, we are looking at a possible turning back of the clock as far as the economy is concerned, and the consequences are frightening.

So stand up, dear Congressmen, and take a bow. And could we have Dr Manmohan Singh in the front row please? And will Mr Pranab Mukherjee and Mr Narasimha Rao (yes, Narasimha Rao, who has been convicted in a court of law for corruption) please stop jostling for space? Now sirs, all of you know that the way the nda government was proceeding on the economic front was broadly correct, right? All of you know that if you ever came back to power, you would have to do the exact things that Mr Vajpayee and Mr Sinha and Mr Shourie are trying to do, right? You also admit privately that you have neither the ability nor the inclination to bring the government down and force an election. For you, this whole defencegate business is just another cynical gig, just as Balco is for your great economic visionary Ajit Jogi.

You now plan to delay, if not derail, the passing of every legislation that India needs to take economic reforms forward, knowing fully well that if you ever came back to power, you would present the same bills in Parliament. You will oppose every necessary disinvestment by the government, knowing fully well that if you ever came back to power, etc etc. This, after you have already made sure with your Balco atrocities that any private company will think six times before agreeing to bid for any psu (and any Indian psu put on the block now will anyway fetch a lower price because of the inherent Jogi-esque risks attached to it). In short, you intend to make sure that the economy suffers, and the people suffer.

Of course, as Opposition, you must force the government to disinfect the defence establishment and purge high-echelon corruption, but turning that into a specious hostility towards all governance is an outrage. Of course, the politics of the matter demand strident action, but why should the business of governance be barracked and halted while you press for what the people of India have no disagreement about? We know we have no choice but to suffer Laloo Prasad Yadav and Jayalalitha expounding on moral authority and condemning corruption in government, but surely the political pressure that is essential can be delinked from the tamasha of the irresponsible?

It makes good political sense too. For this is not Bofors, dear sirs. When Bofors broke, the people of India saw an alternative in the clean righteous figure of V.P. Singh (whether that was right or wrong is a different issue). Today, we see no such figure around. None of you in the Opposition have any moral stature in the eyes of the people. All of you have been in governments, all of you are as tainted as anyone in the present regime. And the people of India can identify the capricious histrionics of a cynical Opposition as easily as the dishonest fumblings of those in power. Many years ago, when the Ayodhya agitation was its height, I saw a slogan on the back of a Delhi autorickshaw, a statement so pithy, simple and truthful that I have never forgotten it. It said (I translate from Hindi): "Build a mandir if you want, build a masjid if you want, but please do build a stand for autorickshaws." Brutalise the government if you want, scrub out the system if you want, but please do let the business of governance and economic management go on undisturbed.