Author: Shankkar Aiyar
Publication: The New Indian Express
Date: February 24, 2011
URL: http://expressbuzz.com/opinion/op-ed/coalition-the-new-fig-leaf/251068.html
Introduction: Yes, coalitions call for compromises.
But surely you can't blame coalition politics for the CWG scam, confusion
on tackling Maoism or for food price inflation. The UPA lacks political will
Edmund Burke said "All that is necessary
for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing". Apparently sometimes,
says Manmohan Singh, good men can do nothing. Because "some compromises
have to be made in managing a coalition government". Or else "we
should be ready for elections every six months". The context of coalition
must weigh heavily on the Prime Minister. The word coalition surfaced 17 times
in his interaction with editors last week. It surfaces frequently - in a speech
to the CWC, in response to the Rajya Sabha members and even in the interview
to McKinsey Quarterly.
The articulation each time is persuasive.
You are expected to accept the inefficiencies of coalition as fait accompli.
Or else! Coalition and therefore inefficient governments it seems by design
is a default option facing the nation. Given the arithmetic of parliament
coalitions are a necessary, even virtuous alternative to chaos. Surely this
cannot be the alibi for all the ills haunting India, the counter to the arraignment
of the United Progressive Alliance.
Nothing proves a rule better than an exception.
Before the 26/11 attacks India was easily the softest sucker state as terrorists
bombed cities at will. Shivraj Patil's reign at North Block was disastrous,
four years of unblemished incompetence. Enter Palaniappan Chidambaram. Using
his sharp tongue and intellect he whipped a somnolent ministry into action
and inspired confidence in a billion people. Do we blame the disastrous handling
of terror attacks till 26/11 on coalitions or the incompetence of Shivraj
Patil? And what do we ascribe to the return in confidence but to the political
will and leadership of P Chidambaram. It was a coalition between 2004 and
2008 and it has been a coalition since.
And yet the very same Chidambaram, who came
out all guns blazing to tackle the internal threat of Maoist insurgency across
200 districts, finds himself shackled by his own party. As I write this column,
the government of Orissa is going through the domestic version of the "Kandahar
swap" to free the collector of Malkangiri. So is the confusion in dealing
with Maoism the consequence of "coalition compromises"? Or is it
the result of woolly headed romanticism nurtured by a section of the Congressmen
who see gun-toting thugs masquerading as innocent vigilantes. Or is it - cynically
speaking - the result of a misplaced calculus that estimates the strategy
will yield a full majority in 2014. And who were the strongest opponents of
the "reclaim India" strategy if they were not Congressmen!
Truth is in ministry after ministry, department
after department there is listlessness, a sense of drift that has little to
do with coalition politics and everything to do with lack of ideas, commitment
and leadership on how to tackle the burning issues from food price inflation
to promoting investment to enable job creation to raise incomes, consumption
and growth. And mind you, this is the first government in the history of independent
India with nine former chief ministers in the cabinet. And what do we have
to show for all that experience?
Consider food price inflation now raging for
five years. Everyone and their cousins have by now blamed Agriculture Minister
Sharad Pawar for food price inflation. But is he the lone villain? Isn't inflation
management the responsibility of CCPA and CCEA? And how many Congressmen are
there on the CCEA? Or take the much messed up public distribution system.
In 2005, the Planning Commission informed the government that barely 27 paise
of every rupee meant for the poor reaches the beneficiary. So what have we
done about it? Chidambaram told an audience at Davos that nearly 50 per cent
of the money allocated for roads does not get spent on roads. Is this a secret
that the UPA cabinet was not aware of and could not act on?
Last month the government set up a GoM to
deal with corruption. Among the ideas they discussed was the first chapter
(Master Key to Good Governance) of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission.
Good? The ARC has submitted 15 chapters - the first one - in June 2006 and
its last in April 2009. What about other chapters of ARC II? It is being considered
by another GoM. Last week the cabinet committee on political affairs were
forced to spend time, thanks to a PIL, on the recommendations of the Ranganath
Mishra Commission on affirmative action for Muslims and Christians. Good?
The recommendations were submitted in September 2007.
Yesterday India was informed that there is
acute shortage of coal, the country will import over 150 tonnes of coal and
rising coal prices which have shot up to $129 per tonne would push power generation
cost by 70 paise per kwhr. So why is the country with one of the largest coal
reserves facing this crisis? Because production of 660 million tonnes of coal
is on hold trapped in the ideological debate between the high command, power,
coal and environment ministry who are all Congressmen. Last week, Mukesh Ambani-led
RIL divested 30 per cent of its stakes in gas fields to BP and lured $ 9.1
bn as FDI. What does RIL plan to do? It will invest in overseas fields. Is
anyone wondering why large Indian corporates are not investing in India? Fact
is investors have had it with the whimsical "go", "no go"
GoM routine. So who is to blame?
Coalition compromises?
The attempt to blame coalition politics for
the scam-a-day track record of UPA II would have been hilarious if it had
not been so tragic for the polity. Let us assume that the 2G scam was the
consequence of one man's machinations and that the entire cabinet was innocent
and blissfully unaware of his chicanery. What about the S-band scandal? In
this country where test reports of howitzers are traded openly how in God's
secular name was a deal of this magnitude unknown to those who should have
known! What about the other scams - CWG in Delhi or Adarsh in Mumbai?
A coalition is a crutch to come to power,
for greater common good. It cannot be turned into an alibi for non-performance,
for allowing thugs to hijack a regime and convert it into an extortion centre.
In 1991 Manmohan Singh used the challenge of economic bankruptcy to unshackle
India from licence raj. The outrage against the UPA is also an opportunity,
to dismantle the licensed scam raj and deliver India from political bankruptcy
- Shankkar Aiyar specialises on the interface
of politics and economics
