With FDI in pocket government loses ruse for inaction
By The New Indian Express
07th December 2012 11:39 PM
Despite overwhelming political opinion against foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, the United Progressive Alliance government has managed to defeat the motions against the move by the BJP and the Left in Parliament. The tone and tenor of the debate in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha made it clear that the majority of parliamentarians had strong reservations about the government’s policy. Yet the Congress political managers were able to manage majority by ‘influencing’ Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party and Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party to ensure that their voting in both the houses was at variance with their avowed political conviction. Displaying classic examples of political opportunism, the SP abstained from voting in both the houses while the BSP voted for the government in Rajya Sabha.
The dubious victory may have ensured the survival of the government, but it can by no stretch of imagination be termed as an endorsement of its policies. If anything, the inner contradiction between the stated political beliefs of some parties and their behaviour in the House has underlined the fault lines in coalition politics during the run up to next parliamentary elections due in 2014.
In their celebratory exuberance, the leaders of the Congress that leads the UPA will do well to remember that this ‘technical’ victory has robbed them of any further excuse for inaction on many pending issues. They must now goad the government for action on other issues bedevilling the economy. There is now no excuse for delaying action on infrastructure and paralysed power projects. Investments worth a whopping Rs 10 lakh-crore have been stalled in the past many years due to a complete policy inertia and lack of regulatory, primarily forest, approvals. Yet the government has been unable to clear the proposal for setting up a National Investment Board to clear these mega projects because of turf wars between ministries headed by the Congress leaders themselves.
Post a Comment
Recent Activity
- For team Rahul, it’s good politics that will yield rich dividends for poor Indians
- BJP's post-Karnataka gloom: Neither united nor untainted
- Hit by chit fund scam Mamata faces biggest challenge in 2 years
- 'Kiran visited Delhi 76 times since he became CM'
- Bangalore scores low on medical tourism
- Sleepless nights, no baths for Sreesanth
- ‘Lack of anthropologists hits welfare policymaking’
- India's bleeding insurgencies: Lessons from Latin America
- Rs 8K-crore plan for upgrading ICVs of Army
- Key relationships
- Man arrested for attempt to attack TV host Ranjini Haridas
- Jiju Janardhanan’s house in Kannur wears deserted look
- The toxic truth about ripe mangoes
- NEET 2013: CBSE gaffe leaves students in a fix
- Shift me from ‘Anda’ cell, pleads Sanjay Dutt
- Indefinite strike leaves city parched; mineral water bottles fly off shop shelves
Comments(3)
So now that UPA you got all you want through brutal force, using money power, and CBI do something. You survived by paying Amar Singh in UPA1, by brutally passing the Nuclear treaty bill, by cajoling, using CBI passing the FDI bill. Now, why is that the so called CLEAN PM Manmohan could not muster the same majority to pass the Lokpal Bill? The same Manmohan uses CBI and appoints a tainted person as its chief. The same Manmohan appoints a corrupt bureaucrat Thomas to CVC and Supreme Court has to step in. The same Manmohan has attacked Ramdev Baba, put Anna in Jail and put a cartoonist in jail for publishing anti govt cartoon. But, when it comes to putting all the scamsters and Robert Vadra in jail Manmohan cannot do it. Nor he can pass a simple Lokpal bill. Jai Ho.
Posted by John Abraham at 12/08/2012 05:54 Reply to this Report abuse
You have rightly shamed the national government by pointing out that " the dubious victory may have ensured the survival of the government, but it can by no strech of imagination be termed as an endorsement of its policies ".This is an irrefutable fact. The participation of FDI in our economic matters appears to be a camouflaged strategy to destabilise our economy.Current politicians are only busy in making hay while the sun shines.They constantly and consistently chant the mantra of "aam aadmi " while carefully feathering their nests.Unlike Indo-US nuclear deal,the only saving grace in the matter of FDI is the option given for the states to opt for FDI.What the Centre has achieved,the states should defeat in the interests of the millions of small traders.Further the present ruling coalition should be jettisoned unceremoniously in the next general elections that our nation may be saved from being sold to foreigners.
Posted by G.Rajaram. at 12/08/2012 13:39 Reply to this Report abuse
AN EXCELLENT EDITORIAL TRULY REFLECTING THE VIEWS OF MAJORITY INDIANS.
Posted by K.JAYARAMAN at 12/09/2012 08:59 Reply to this Report abuse