The Canadian Parvasi - Issue 94

The International News Weekly Edit
06
May 17, 2019 | Toronto
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Breaking Free
Confronting tough economic
challenges, next government
must demonstrate boldness
and vision
The din of a bitterly contested election has
relegated economic news to the background.
This reprieve won’t last. The budget – due in a
few weeks when the next government is sworn
in – will be prepared against worsening economic
indicators. High frequency indicators show
the economy has lost momentum. Retail sales
of motor vehicles contracted by 8% in April, a
sign of weak consumer demand. This signal is
reinforced by slowing momentum in sale of consumer
goods.
A positive takeaway on the economic front
for NDA was a perceptible drop in the rate of
consumer inflation, helped by a fall in the price
of oil and food. The next government may have
a tougher time as the geopolitical situation in
west Asia is deteriorating fast. It’s shown up in
the form of a firm trend in oil price which today
is around $70 a barrel. Independently, food prices
have begun to rise again. In April, rate of food
inflation at the wholesale level increased for the
fourth straight month to touch 7.37%.
In the face of big economic challenges, what
is bound to flop is a business as usual approach
by the next government. Incremental changes
will not lift sentiments. Something must be done
to ignite animal spirits in the economy, which
India hasn’t seen for close to a decade. The next
government should change the mood at one go
with a move which transforms the optics. Air
India should be privatised forthwith, as a signal
of the government’s intent to sell public assets.
Unlike the last unsuccessful attempt, no onerous
conditions should be linked to its sale.
Along with it, regulations which inhibit
competition and investment in aviation and
other sectors should be removed.
This will not just lift the mood, it will also
provide the government with additional resources
to provide public goods in the form of
infrastructure.
Better infrastructure is the key to enhancing
export competitiveness at a time of escalating
trade tensions between the US and China. India
will benefit hugely if it can position itself as an
attractive investment destination for companies
looking to relocate production from China.
Slashing red tape and simplifying complex GST
rules will also help.
The next government must demonstrate the
vision and courage to break free from the statist
dogma which has held India down. TNN
Obsessing On The Nehru-Gandhis
If invoking them positively is kosher, then
criticising their legacy has to be legitimate too
Vaibhav Purandare
A recent visit to the Nehru
Memorial Museum in
New Delhi made me think of
how, after the death of India’s
first Prime Minister, his successor
Lal Bahadur Shastri
wasn’t allowed to move into
the PM’s official residence –
Teen Murti Bhavan – owing
to Indira Gandhi’s insistence
that the house be converted
into a memorial for her father.
Teen Murti Bhavan, a
verdant 30-acre property
where peacocks still roam
and mynas make their music,
had been the residence
of the commander-in-chief of
the Indian armed forces during
British rule, and Jawaharlal
Nehru had moved
there only in August 1948,
for the first time occupying
a space far grander than the
bungalows other ministers
in his government had (he
had lived in one of those bungalows
until then).
The past has a strange
way of impinging on the
present. This 1964 incident
instantly drew me back into
the hubbub of the Lok Sabha
poll campaign, bringing to
mind Rahul Gandhi’s comment
about the armed forces
not being the PM’s “personal
property”.
The truth is that with Rahul
as a contender for power,
the past has a bearing certainly
on the present, but on
India’s future too. Rahul was
chosen to contest the Amethi
Lok Sabha seat in 2004
because he was a member of
the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty,
and he was later appointed
Congress general secretary,
vice-president and president
on the same grounds, becoming
the fifth member of the
clan to occupy the party’s top
post. If he’s making a claim
to power today, it’s again on
account of his being the son,
grandson and great-grandson
of former PMs.
If lineage and the record
of that lineage is a person’s
calling card and family experience
the sparkling point
on his CV, then surely, in
that same pack will be found
by his political rivals other
cards which would help
them pose a challenge to the
dynasty-led party.
And if Congress’s assertions
are about Nehru’s
vision, Indira’s will and Rajiv’s
ushering of India into
the computer era, an opponent’s
offensive would be
centred around their flaws
and foibles. Moreover, if the
family’s been in power, directly
or indirectly (counting
the terms of Congress
PMs like PV Narasimha
Rao and Manmohan Singh
and non-Congress ones like
Chandrashekhar, HD Deve
Gowda and IK Gujral) for
over 50 years out of 72, an
audit is both inevitable and
imperative.
That’s why those who
are strenuously objecting to
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s, and BJP’s, attacks
on the Nehru-Gandhis are
either missing the point or
attempting to give credence
to the dynasty’s misconceptions
and denials.
The Nehru-Gandhis and
the so-called ‘left-liberal’
social-political-intellectual
elite they’ve patronised are
more than approving of a
discussion on the dynasty’s
legacy so long as it doesn’t
get inconvenient. When Rahul
and Priyanka Gandhi
Vadra talk of their forebears’
contribution to India and
their sacrifices, their admirers
want more of it. When the
Marxists, who’ve had a neat
and successful pact with the
Congress establishment on
the capture of institutions
and creation of national narratives,
hold forth on the
Nehruvian order and how it
nourished institutions, the
inheritors are delighted.
The ‘cultural synthesis’
of the Marxists and the ruling
establishment saw to
it that the Nehru-Gandhis
virtually monopolised
free India’s consciousness.
Textbooks were written
to maximise their role in
building India, while that of
other eminent Indians was
minimised; roads, places,
landmarks and institutions
named after members of
the dynasty further amplified
this image; and things
reached a point where the
dynasts were described, in
strictly feudal terms ironic
for those who swore by socialism,
as India’s First Family.
Revolutionaries, reformists
and other Congress
stalwarts of the freedom
movement like Patel were
made to appear smaller, and
if Mahatma Gandhi still remained
symbolically tall, it
was because invoking his
name – and surname – was
hugely advantageous.
Now, neither Rahul nor
Priyanka can be blamed as
individuals for where they
were born. But they haven’t
had issues with people’s
“obsession” with their family
if the result is abundant
acclaim and applause, and
there’s no denying the dynasty
acquired, in time, a
reputation for rewarding
sycophancy and punishing
non-conformists like Narasimha
Rao.
They themselves aren’t
known for linguistic restraint
either. In his first
speech as Congress president,
Rahul referred to VD
Savarkar as someone who
kowtowed to the British,
and he’s kept up this criticism;
Congress on Twitter
labelled Savarkar a “traitor”.
Rahul’s freedom to offer
his interpretation of history
is complete. But then
how is it such a monstrosity
if, the moment Rahul talks
of India entering an era of
dictatorship, someone reminds
him of an era of constitutional
dictatorship? Or
if the minute he talks of an
individual assuming far too
much centrality in decisionmaking,
DK Barooah’s “Indira
is India, India is Indira”
comment is pulled out?
Or if, whenever Rahul
mentions poverty, he’s told
about a slogan raised nearly
50 years ago which had
promised to end “garibi”?
If national security’s an issue
and 1971 a year to talk
about, then 1962 can’t be too
far behind; and if Hindu-
Muslim tensions are up for
discussion, then rivals can
hardly be expected to help
Congress skirt issues like
Shah Bano, the ban on ‘Satanic
Verses’ and reopening
of the Babri Masjid’s locks.
The same goes for a slur
like “traitor”, thrown about
carelessly by both sides.
The level of discourse
must indeed be debated, and
criticism of crude remarks
is only fair. What isn’t is the
righteous indignation all
around. Regardless of the
outcome of these elections,
there’s every reason for the
Nehru-Gandhi dynasty to
have been a subject of debate
during the campaign.
Source Credit: This article
was first published in The Times
of India.
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