On Friday, the Government headed by Manmohan Singh suddenly announced big-ticket economic reforms including allowing FDI in multi brand retail and aviation and a few other sectors and a 15000 crore divestment target. On Thursday came a decision to hike diesel prices and capping subsidies on LPG. It seems like the Government has gone all-in to make up for years of inactivity and policy paralysis.
Now, the timing of all these big announcements is very important. The international media from 'The Economist' to the 'Time magazine' had criticised the PM for all the inaction and failure to implement reforms. The international investing community and the Corporate India had been very vocal against the Singh led Government. More than anything, these big announcements help improve the short term market sentiments. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who was called an 'Underachiever' by the Time magazine suddenly looks like a hero. The TV channels who had slowly started to distance themselves from the Congress after a series of corruption scandals under his watch are back again praising the Government's enthusiasm in implementing long-delayed reforms. Is this PM Singh's N-Deal moment?
There may be many reasons both political and corporate lobby behind Singh's new-found enthusiasm and guts. But whatever the reasons are, these reforms were very much necessary for the nation at the moment. Any big economic reform has side effects but in the long run it helps to bring in efficiency and prosperity to the country's citizens both urban and rural.
The developments in the last two days on the economic reform front clearly shows the efficiency of the well oiled crisis management system of the Congress party. It has successfully shifted the national debate from the 'Coalgate' to the reforms. The BJP appears to be the biggest loser from this swift political move by the Congress because FDI in multi-brand retail was Jaswant Singh's 'baby'. The BJP has positioned itself on the wrong side of its urban consumer vote-bank by opposing FDI. Even though the SP and the TMC have opposed FDI in retail their support base mainly consists of rural voters, but the urban voters have traditionally been with the BJP. The Congress has once again exposed BJP's failure in formulating clear economic and media strategy. The BJP should have welcomed the Government's announcements and should have convinced people that the UPA-2 is just implementing the policies that were actually born during the NDA regime.
Overnight the BJP finds itself aligned on the side of backward-looking Left parties. The BJP should learn from the policies of the right wing parties across the globe. It should shed its anti-development image and hug free-market capitalism. Only the free markets can bring in prosperity in its true sense. A Government cannot shield its people forever from the adverse effects of the global economy. And farmers & traders have to get out there compete with the world's best and in turn make the entire system efficient.
At the end all this means the Prime Minister has just survived to fight another day.
Now, the timing of all these big announcements is very important. The international media from 'The Economist' to the 'Time magazine' had criticised the PM for all the inaction and failure to implement reforms. The international investing community and the Corporate India had been very vocal against the Singh led Government. More than anything, these big announcements help improve the short term market sentiments. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who was called an 'Underachiever' by the Time magazine suddenly looks like a hero. The TV channels who had slowly started to distance themselves from the Congress after a series of corruption scandals under his watch are back again praising the Government's enthusiasm in implementing long-delayed reforms. Is this PM Singh's N-Deal moment?There may be many reasons both political and corporate lobby behind Singh's new-found enthusiasm and guts. But whatever the reasons are, these reforms were very much necessary for the nation at the moment. Any big economic reform has side effects but in the long run it helps to bring in efficiency and prosperity to the country's citizens both urban and rural.
The developments in the last two days on the economic reform front clearly shows the efficiency of the well oiled crisis management system of the Congress party. It has successfully shifted the national debate from the 'Coalgate' to the reforms. The BJP appears to be the biggest loser from this swift political move by the Congress because FDI in multi-brand retail was Jaswant Singh's 'baby'. The BJP has positioned itself on the wrong side of its urban consumer vote-bank by opposing FDI. Even though the SP and the TMC have opposed FDI in retail their support base mainly consists of rural voters, but the urban voters have traditionally been with the BJP. The Congress has once again exposed BJP's failure in formulating clear economic and media strategy. The BJP should have welcomed the Government's announcements and should have convinced people that the UPA-2 is just implementing the policies that were actually born during the NDA regime.
Overnight the BJP finds itself aligned on the side of backward-looking Left parties. The BJP should learn from the policies of the right wing parties across the globe. It should shed its anti-development image and hug free-market capitalism. Only the free markets can bring in prosperity in its true sense. A Government cannot shield its people forever from the adverse effects of the global economy. And farmers & traders have to get out there compete with the world's best and in turn make the entire system efficient.At the end all this means the Prime Minister has just survived to fight another day.
No comments:
Post a Comment