By: Srinivasa Ramanujan
s_ramanujan@vsnl.net
June 24, 2004

There is always a tussle between linguistic puritans and journalistic zealots in a newspaper as to who should prevail on issues concerning the content. It is the usual contention of those who specialize in journalese that if the language is the only important criterion, it is better to hire English professors as editors than having journalists at the helm. More or less, a similar situation is emerging at the Centre with a coalition of 15 parties headed by a distinguished economist. No doubt, Dr Manmohan Singh is a great soul, an illustrious scholar sporting a disarming smile all the time and he was the one who pulled out the Indian economy from a catastrophic trend. You can’t imagine a critic for him even among the Sangh Parivar. But he is like an English professor heading a newspaper. Dr Singh is too gentle and noble for political quagmire. He is too straightforward to be a politician. Certainly, he has got all the capacity to take the economy forward. But will he able to do? There are too many remotes operating to pull him in different directions.

First of all, will Madam Gandhi allow him a free hand? Though she might have ‘abdicated’ her throne, there are no indications that she is going to keep away from important decisions of the government. Well, as President of the Congress party she is entitled to give policy directions to the Government. Being a ‘Rajmata’ can she prevent courtiers coming to her. When Karunanidhi was aggrieved over the portfolios, where was the grievance cell? It was 10, Janpath. The so-called Prime Minister’s prerogative which we often trumpet is a myth. But for Sonia’s intervention, will Dr Singh take the entire lot from Bihar facing criminal charges including corruption, murder, dacoity, Foreign Exchange violation etc. Further, the Common Minimum Programme is sitting like an albatross on the neck of Dr Singh and the concept and screenplay of the CMP is that of the Left. There are bound to be areas of conflict since the Left is yet to get out of its 19th century mindset when it comes to liberalization of the economy. The market is not happy, the business and industry are having nightmares. The divestment ministry has been disbanded. There are promises to revive sick units. PSUs are not to be touched.

The Corporate sector is very much upset and worried over what it considers as Mandal II referring to a provision in the CMP for reservation in the private sector for SCs and STs. The CII president is of the view that the concept of reservation without reference to merit could have a distorting effect on the private sector. A leading economic journalist pointed out that the CMP is nothing but populism with a bankrupt face rather than reform with a human face. The bottomline is that if the Left continues to exert pressure on Dr Singh, there is bound to be a face-off between the India Inc and the Central govt. Since there is lot of expectation from Dr Singh in the economic sector, he has to respect the spirit and sentiments of the India Inc and that is where the rift will begin. Mind you, the Left’s 64-member support is crucial for the survival of the govt. Whom will Sonia placate. Certainly, the Left because she has to keep the show going till his progeny is ready to carry on the Nehru-Gandhi family mantle. Who cares if the Indian economy goes bust?

Ironically, the Left criticized the NDA for trying to drive a wedge between Sonia and Dr Singh by projecting Sonia as parallel power center. Yes, NDA was at fault. They should not have said ‘parallel power centre’ since there are multiple power centers. Left is one power center, Laloo is another, Karunanidhi is going to have his pound of flesh. Dr Singh will be able to manage the economy. Can he assuage the egos of these highly egoistic politicians and manage them politically and resolve the contradictions? Does he have the political acumen to lead the party to victory at the next elections whenever it is held? It will be left to Sonia to do that job, that is, either to retain 145 seats or increase it by a dozen or so. Naturally, she is and will continue to be the power center. Again, to draw a parallel from Newspaper functioning, Dr Singh will be the present day editor with no freedom while the proprietress Sonia will have all the powers and the clout.

Srinivasa Ramanujan