It is not unusual to
see a quiet and submissive Dr. Manmohan Singh dealing with fellow MP’s in the
parliament. However after his today’s avatar in the Rajya Sabha, what has now
led to twitter trends, is the question- what did he had for lunch? Truly today
we saw the otherwise media shy and quiet Dr. Singh roaring high in the
parliament and not just me but the entire nation was delighted to see that. The
Prime Minister was his usual tepid self when he addressed the Lok Sabha at
noon, regurgitating for the umpteenth time how ‘the fundamentals’ of the
economy were strong, never mind the reality that the just about every
fundamental of the economy whether the fiscal deficit, current account deficit,
growth or inflation are awry. The economist Prime Minister tried to reassure
investors that reforms (and the minor matter of project clearances) were
underway, and that GDP would begin to pick up from the second quarter of
2013-14.
However it was post
lunch that the Prime Minister abandoned his quiet economist avatar and chose to
don the role of the political combatant. Perhaps because of heckling from BJP
MPs, Singh stood up to defend himself more aggressively than at any time in the
recent past. He chided the BJP when he pointed out that no other Parliament in
the world treated a Prime Minister with such contempt, calling him names (PM chor hai). Singh criticised the BJP for not allowing Parliament to
function, pointing out how that had eroded the confidence of investors. He
insisted that despite insinuations from the Opposition, he commanded respect in
the council of ministers. He even pointed out how he was highly regarded as an
economic thinker in international forums like the G-20. In short, he was
reaffirming his credentials of leadership, while continuing to insist that the
economy was not going downhill.
Honestly, if you have
had the misfortune to watch how the two houses of the Indian parliament
function, you’ll want to give yourself one good kick you know where. The Indian
parliament stands for everything that is wrong with human behaviour. People
screaming, people shouting, people talking to themselves, ten people saying ten
different things as the Speaker looks on, desperation writ large on his/her
face. A normal day in the parliament is what apocalypse might look like in the
present day. So when Singh questioned, “Have you ever seen a country where the
PM is not allowed to speak,” he hit the nail right on its head. The business of
the Parliament is not to call each other names like middle school boys fighting
over who gets to captain the football team. Forget respect, if you don’t let
the head of the government speak, how is a ‘discussion’ supposed to take place?
In fact, if the agenda of a group of people is to arrive to a solution through
debate, the first requisite of the same is letting everyone speak without
interruption.
For an outsider, not
aware of the down-and-dirty brand of Indian politicking, the Parliament shows
India as a country led by two groups of people. Out of which the principal Opposition oled by
the BJP hardly lets the parliament function. The Prime Minister keeping
his attack sharp also said, “Building of a consensus is the responsibility of
the government and the primary Opposition.” The function of an institution like
the Parliament is not only to say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to policies, it’s function is
to facilitate governance, critique the same and hence make it more efficient.
There’s a lot more in the political playing ground to play nasty tug-of-wars
for votes, over.
Given the fact that it
was coming from Manmohan Singh, it was a terrific performance. In his Lok
Sabha speech, Singh signaled three reforms that were necessary to address the
structural problems in the economy: reduction of subsidies, cutting
bureaucratic red-tape and implementing the Goods and Service Tax (GST). He
demanded the Opposition’s cooperation in tackling these “not so low hanging
fruits”. Clearly there is a need of consensus building at the moment but the
fact remains that it is at the government’s perusal to take administrative
decisions and ensure that the economy doesn’t go for a toss. In the absence of
a concrete mechanism nobody is going to take him seriously. But history bears
testimony to the fact that time and again he has saved India from an economic
doom and the fact remains that his skills as an economist are applauded
worldwide.
For all sorts of
bouquets and brickbats feel free to leave a comment below or mail me at
author.vish94@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment