Wednesday, August 29, 2012

“The Prime Minister has been stoically silent till now”

In the absence of any specific contectual factors of the UPA-I, the present government seems to be taking a completely neo-liberal approach. by nilotpal basu

The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, by no count, can be called garrulous. And, these days he has gone even quieter. To say the least, this is surprising. Prime Minister in our country, as most of our constitutional experts contend – is ‘more equal’ than all his Cabinet colleagues who all enjoy equal powers in a system of collective responsibility. Therefore, the almost deafeningly stoic silence that the Prime Minister appears to be maintaining since the beginning of the second avatar of the UPA government is strange.

This is all the more so, since today he is in his own words - ‘free and liberated’. The ‘enslaving’ presence of the Left is no longer around to disrupt his ‘peace of mind’ and derail the process of neo-liberal globalization which has characterized his policy preference! Then why is he not articulating the direction of the government with a firmness that the people and his circumstances expected him to show.

In fact, the anniversary of the UPA-II government which was to be highlighted by a free flowing media conference of the Prime Minister raised a lot of anticipation. But subsequently, as even most of the mainstream media, who never tires in showering accolades on him, has generally come to conclude that it was largely a ‘non-event’. In a way, the performance of the Prime Minister in the event was symptomatic of his government’s performance – lacklustre.

What is it that has changed? The first UPA government – even critics admit had been more ‘vibrant’. With the Left parties around, the tenure marked intense policy debates. And, obviously, the performance of the government in the end did win support of the people to the point of resulting in reelection. There can be, and very legitimately at that, a debate on the reasons for such an outcome of the elections. But, nevertheless, what is undisputable is that it succeeded in sustaining some popular support. Therefore, one is inclined to go into the specific factors which distinguishes the UPA-II from its earlier predecessor, to find out the present state of affairs. The present government has also, during the last election, campaigned on the main electoral platform of ensuring the wellbeing of the aam aadmi. But where the circumstances are different-sharply brings out two specific points of departure. Unlike the first UPA, the second is not guided by a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) – not to speak of the clear mandate against the life and livelihood of the aam aadmi being threatened by the paradigm which was contained in the ‘shining India’ approach – and reflected in the CMP. The second issue pertains to the absence of the Left which relentlessly articulated the need to implement the pro-people provisions of the CMP. The Left also raised opposition to the attempts by the government to effect liberalization of the financial sector and opening up of sectors which involved employment generation like retail to FDI.


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