Congress Undemocratic Ideology - 4

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Op-ed in Pioneer on Sonia Gandhi taking charge in UPA-II

OPED | Friday, May 21, 2010 | Email | Print |





Sonia takes charge of policy



Kalyani Shankar



With UPA completing the first year of its second term in office, real authority has clearly shifted away from the Prime Minister to the Congress president



In May 2005, one year after he took over, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave himself six out of 10 marks for his Government’s performance. How would he rate his second innings? How does the country rate his one year in office? Before judging the UPA 2.0’s performance, one has to bear in mind the circumstances under which the Congress came to power in 2004 and 2009. The UPA 1.0 was formed when the Congress was weak. It was Congress president Sonia Gandhi who took the initiative for building up a coalition. When the time came to occupy the throne, she declined to become the Prime Minister, choosing Mr Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister.



The Sonia-Singh duo shared power and worked in tandem during the UPA 1.0 but the remote control was in Ms Gandhi’s hands. It was the Congress president who managed the allies and kept the coalition going even after the Left parties parted ways. While everyone expected her son Rahul Gandhi to take over after 2009 elections, both mother and son pitched for Mr Singh once again.



The composition of the UPA 2.0 is slightly different from the UPA 1.0. It was minus Left parties and plus Trinamool Congress. The NC also joined the coalition. The DMK continued while the JMM was out. One important thing was that the Congress performed better crossing the 200 mark.



It may be too soon to judge the performance of the UPA 2.0 as its mandate is for five years but, by and large, it has not done badly. Credit should be given for getting the Women’s Reservation Bill passed in Rajya Sabha as also the Right to Education Bill. Introduction of the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill also needs mention. The Food Security Bill is the next important pro-poor legislation. Some measures for economic reforms have been taken up. The handling of Maoists is a serious concern. On the economic front, price rise and inflation are two serious problems and the Government is not very successful in containing them.



The perception is that the Prime Minister is not in command over his Cabinet colleagues or in checking corruption. Cohesiveness is lacking in the Cabinet with Ministers speaking in different voices on various issues. There is a kind of drifting away from the pro-poor programmes.



The Congress has to improve its relationship with allies. The stability with which the UPA 2.0 came to power has eroded somewhat with the Government struggling to mobilise the numbers to pass the Bills. There is no trust between the Congress and its allies — the NCP, the Trinamool, and the DMK. The allies complain they are not consulted. Strangely enough, a common minimum programme, which was the bible of the UPA 1.0, does not exist now.



There is a perceptible change in the Congress-Government relationship with the party asserting itself over the Government. The UPA 2.0 Cabinet bore the stamp of 10 Janpath. This was evident in the case of Mr Shashi Tharoor, Mr Jairam Ramesh and Mr A Raja.



The Congress president has also asserted herself on certain issues. The party is concerned that the Government was not doing enough on pro-poor programmes. It distanced itself from the India-Pakistan joint statement at Sharm el-Sheikh. On the Women’s Reservation Bill, it was evident that it was Ms Gandhi who overruled the Prime Minister and got it passed in Rajya Sabha. While the Prime Minister is in favour of diluting the Right to Information Act, it is Ms Gandhi who is not in favour of any amendments. Mr Singh is cautious about the Food Security Bill, which will cost about Rs 40,000 crore but Ms Gandhi is very keen to bring it. Even the caste Census bears the stamp of Ms Gandhi while the Government is reluctant. Above all, the revival of the National Advisory Council which functions as a super-body under the chairmanship of Ms Gandhi shows that she wants to run the party and the Government from the front and not through remote control any more.