Disinvesting Common Sense

The UPA Government has put the Neyveli Lignite Corporation disinvestments to the back burner thanks to the relentless campaign by the DMK and the Left. This marks another episode of the UPA claiming to be a reforms oriented government but not delivering any such promises. Increasingly, the UPA’s policies and implementation have been plagued by internal wrangling with the usual suspects the Left stalling most initiatives. However, what is emerging as a new trend in this Government is the antagonism towards the government by the largest constituent of the UPA – the Congress itself.

Disinvestment has been a bone of contention for the UPA since its inception. After successful stint in the NDA, the Disinvestment Ministry was done away with in the current set-up. At the time there was talk of how reforms would take a back seat if the government did not off-load some of its holdings in PSU’s like NALCO, BHEL, Maruti and Neyveli. The Government faces heat on both fronts. On the one hand, under intense pressure from Sonia Gandhi, the National Rural Guarantee Scheme was launched with much fanfare. This scheme requires a huge corpus of funds to make this scheme remotely implementable. On the hand, the Left has decided that no disinvestment of PSU’s and the Navratnas is agreeable on any terms. So while the government was banking on raising funds by disinvesting for its ‘aam admi’ schemes, its calculations have come to naught with each UPA constituent pulling itself in a diametrically opposite direction. Further, the Prime Minister continues to lose stature, both as an individual and as the head of the government, with his power and influencing continuously diminishing. Practically, every move that is untenable politically, but required economically, is fired from the PM’s shoulder. The price hike in fossil fuels and the price rise in food grains have been squarely blamed on the prime minister. Even though, it is common knowledge that a price hike in petrol and diesel was unavoidable. Similarly, the price rise in food grains is not the doing of the PM, but the UPA constituents have been gunning for him to bring it into check. So it seems that each UPA ally is relying on the government to take a pragmatic decision only to oppose it later in order to appease a particular vote-bank.

The prime minister also has to rein in his cabinet ministers. It seems that most are on their own individual trajectories with no concern for the good doctor. Arjun Singh has been vehemently pursuing the quota bill, Health minister Ramdoss is dictatorially running the biggest medical institution in the country, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar seems more interested in cricket balls and wickets than the farmer and his sickle and the list goes on.

It seems that the UPA allies have given up on this government and are now looking at general elections at some point of time in this government’s tenure. In such a scenario, they are preparing to collect the vote banks and appeal to those that will get them back to power in the eventuality of this government imploding. This explains, why the Congress is opposing its own government and expressing ‘concern’ over the UPA’s policies on the aam admi. With the UP elections around the corner they don’t to be seen as the establishment that increased both fuel and food prices. The Left is continuously working on a third alternative which it wishes to lead with like minded allies, hence, it is constantly opposing policies that have potential to damage its vote bank. And now with the DMK opposing disinvestment, after having supported the policy in the NDA, the complete divergence of policies has come to the fore. In all of this, the common sense to help the common man, whom every political party in the country claims to be working for, has taken a firm backseat.