07-09-2006, 02:35 AM
http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?m...t&counter_img=1
<b> Failure in full strength</b>
Swapan Dasgupta |
<b>It has taken the Indian middle classes just over 25 months to formally terminate their honeymoon with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the UPA Government. </b>The point of endurance had been unacceptably stretched during the kerfuffle over reservations in April and May but the flak had largely been directed at Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh. This month, the Rubicon has been crossed.
First, there was the Government's complete inability to cope with spiralling prices of daily necessities. The attempt by the Congress to be too clever by half and distance itself from its own Government also came a cropper. Few, if anyone, bought the ingenuous argument that consumers were paying more for dal, sugar and tomatoes because the previous Government erred some four years ago.
Second, the UPA's benign neglect of investment in infrastructure is beginning to manifest itself in bottlenecks and disruption. North India has been plagued by power cuts and business in Mumbai has been disrupted by the failure of successive Governments to upgrade the sewers.
Never mind fulfilling the Prime Minister's promise of replicating Shanghai, it is now doubtful whether India will be able to successfully host the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Meanwhile, Rs 40,000 crore is being poured into the cesspool of corruption under the guise of rural employment because someone wants to appear Lady Bountiful.
Third, the explosion of private agendas is making governance incoherent. If Arjun Singh's quota game wasn't bad enough, the past fortnight has witnessed a reckless Health Minister trying to govern through flights of whimsy. Coalitions have in-built uncertainties but by now every bit player has chosen to do his own thing. The PMK wants the AIIMS Director out; the DMK won't countenance a Cabinet resolution on a small divestment of Nyeveli Lignite Corporation; the I&B Minister is proceeding with legislation that will make Indian media as "free" as China's; and the Commerce Minister would rather he wasn't ridiculed by global media for putting football over WTO parleys.
Even foreign policy, hitherto the Centre's prerogative, appears to have been outsourced. The CPI(M) is cutting its deals with Nepali Maoists, with tacit approval of a section of the Government. The DMK is pressing for a U-turn in India's Sri Lanka policy - a move with catastrophic consequences. The Muslim lobby has coerced the Government into, yet again, endorsing the fanatics and suicide bombers in West Asia, over the one country that has been a consistent friend. And the National Security Adviser is busy playing the Kerala card in the UN and making India a laughing stock in the race for the Secretary-General's post.
Finally, the country seems in no mood to digest all those stories about serial unhappiness at Race Course Road. We heard that the PM was "unhappy" with Natwar Singh but he, nevertheless, issued him a clean chit on the Volcker Report. He was "unhappy" that his HRD Minister started another quota war but he hasn't moved his little finger to check the future onrush of divisive legislation. And now he is said to be "unhappy" and "anguished" that the DMK, backed by the Communists, has made a monkey of all plans to raise resources without imposing crippling new taxes. So severe was his distress that whereas M Karunanidhi asked for status quo on Neyveli Lignite, the Prime Minister ended up putting all divestment on hold.
With this phenomenal explosion of unhappiness, is it any wonder that every blackmailer is convinced there is a percentage in keeping Manmohan permanently aggrieved?
In less than a month, India has witnessed a subtle but important transformation. From a weak Congress-led coalition, the country has moved into a Third Front Government headed by the Congress. Those who missed out on the chance of experiencing Charan Singh, Chandra Shekhar, Deve Gowda, and I K Gujral or, for that matter, Muhammad Shah Rangila, have their opportunity to relive history.
<b> Failure in full strength</b>
Swapan Dasgupta |
<b>It has taken the Indian middle classes just over 25 months to formally terminate their honeymoon with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the UPA Government. </b>The point of endurance had been unacceptably stretched during the kerfuffle over reservations in April and May but the flak had largely been directed at Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh. This month, the Rubicon has been crossed.
First, there was the Government's complete inability to cope with spiralling prices of daily necessities. The attempt by the Congress to be too clever by half and distance itself from its own Government also came a cropper. Few, if anyone, bought the ingenuous argument that consumers were paying more for dal, sugar and tomatoes because the previous Government erred some four years ago.
Second, the UPA's benign neglect of investment in infrastructure is beginning to manifest itself in bottlenecks and disruption. North India has been plagued by power cuts and business in Mumbai has been disrupted by the failure of successive Governments to upgrade the sewers.
Never mind fulfilling the Prime Minister's promise of replicating Shanghai, it is now doubtful whether India will be able to successfully host the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Meanwhile, Rs 40,000 crore is being poured into the cesspool of corruption under the guise of rural employment because someone wants to appear Lady Bountiful.
Third, the explosion of private agendas is making governance incoherent. If Arjun Singh's quota game wasn't bad enough, the past fortnight has witnessed a reckless Health Minister trying to govern through flights of whimsy. Coalitions have in-built uncertainties but by now every bit player has chosen to do his own thing. The PMK wants the AIIMS Director out; the DMK won't countenance a Cabinet resolution on a small divestment of Nyeveli Lignite Corporation; the I&B Minister is proceeding with legislation that will make Indian media as "free" as China's; and the Commerce Minister would rather he wasn't ridiculed by global media for putting football over WTO parleys.
Even foreign policy, hitherto the Centre's prerogative, appears to have been outsourced. The CPI(M) is cutting its deals with Nepali Maoists, with tacit approval of a section of the Government. The DMK is pressing for a U-turn in India's Sri Lanka policy - a move with catastrophic consequences. The Muslim lobby has coerced the Government into, yet again, endorsing the fanatics and suicide bombers in West Asia, over the one country that has been a consistent friend. And the National Security Adviser is busy playing the Kerala card in the UN and making India a laughing stock in the race for the Secretary-General's post.
Finally, the country seems in no mood to digest all those stories about serial unhappiness at Race Course Road. We heard that the PM was "unhappy" with Natwar Singh but he, nevertheless, issued him a clean chit on the Volcker Report. He was "unhappy" that his HRD Minister started another quota war but he hasn't moved his little finger to check the future onrush of divisive legislation. And now he is said to be "unhappy" and "anguished" that the DMK, backed by the Communists, has made a monkey of all plans to raise resources without imposing crippling new taxes. So severe was his distress that whereas M Karunanidhi asked for status quo on Neyveli Lignite, the Prime Minister ended up putting all divestment on hold.
With this phenomenal explosion of unhappiness, is it any wonder that every blackmailer is convinced there is a percentage in keeping Manmohan permanently aggrieved?
In less than a month, India has witnessed a subtle but important transformation. From a weak Congress-led coalition, the country has moved into a Third Front Government headed by the Congress. Those who missed out on the chance of experiencing Charan Singh, Chandra Shekhar, Deve Gowda, and I K Gujral or, for that matter, Muhammad Shah Rangila, have their opportunity to relive history.