Reference Auto

The drama has finally unfolded ahead of the Presidential poll and surprisingly there doesn’t seem to be any talk of horse-trading?

So, have our parliamentarians (politicians) come clean and has former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav not been offered money or a favour to do a volte face (and support Congress candidate Pranab Mukherjee) in just 24 hours after making a commitment to jointly pitch for APJ Abdul Kalam as President with Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

We’ve seen what our politicians are capable of. With a litany of scams from the fodder case to the coffin scam to the mega telecom scandal, India’s reputation (courtesy the political parties) across the globe has taken a huge beating.

Corruption in Presidential poll, if any, could be the icing of the cake, prompting the public to utterly disregard politicians (with Team Anna getting even more vociferous on corruption in politics and instigating the people).

Many are of the opinion that the President’s post (as well as the posts of the vice-president and state governors) is a drain on tax-payers’ money to allow a politician to live his retired life king size in a country where over 30 per cent of the people are living in abject poverty.

We see India being at the forefront among global nations often for the wrong reasons like having the highest rate of people who defecate (go to toilet) in the open (the figure stands at nearly 55 per cent of the total population).

This is a record even Africa cannot match. So, can we afford to let certain sections live luxuriously?

However, considering the President’s post to be the pride of our nation, we may still want only this plum position to stay even as we face an economic slump (during a boom, over 60 per cent of our nation’s people are distressed. So, imagine what it would be like during a sluggish period).

But if we justify the necessity to keep a President (not a V-P or governors), let’s not make it a joke by appointing a politician to this post and let us change the system of voting and give weight to the civil society’s wishes instead of heeding to just the desire of our political masters.

We must bring in people like former President APJ Abdul Kalam, who will not only be neutral to any party (as the President should ideally be) but could also be India’s global ambassador and in a way replenish lost pride with his goodwill.

Mamata Banerjee may be isolated on this issue, but by selecting Kalam, she wanted to give out this message (to appoint a neutral President). But she wasn’t aware of Mulayam’s U-turn.

During the recent past, the Rajya Sabha elections witnessed vigorous horse-trading in Jharkhand with a relative of one of the aspirants (independent candidate RK Agarwal) being found with a bag of money, which the CBI felt was for distribution among the state’s legislators.

We should appoint politically-neutral persons as President as this will minimise graft or corruption in the selection process and not leave the decision to one person alone on who will be the President of India.

Horse-trading is common before formation of any alliance (especially that of a political representative), and if there is no horse-trading to win over the likes of Sharad Pawar, Lalu Prasad, Mulayam and others in this Presidential poll, then our political system must have evolved.

So, the Congress finally managed to ceremoniously bid farewell to Pranab Mukherjee as finance minister for not doing enough to revive the economy.

Let alone resurrect the economy, Pranab babu probably did just the opposite as finance minister and the only way the Congress could see hope in the next general elections (in 2014) was by keeping him in the pavilion or relocating him appropriately (as President of India?).

Therefore, Pranab has been given an honourable exit, and in a few months, will live lavishly at Rashtrapati Bhavan for five years.

Immediately after Pranab’s exit, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh swung into action, reviving his team of 1991 – comprising Montek Singh Ahluwalia (now the Planning Commission deputy chairman) and C Rangarajan (economic advisor to the Prime Minister) along with himself, to run the show.

The markets responded positively to this move and now the Sensex is almost at a healthy 17,400 points (after hovering around the 16,500-points mark for quite a while).

Pranab had made the economy unmanageable. Prices of essential items such as vegetables had hit the roof, petrol prices touched unprecedented levels, electricity bills soared, the stock markets looked bleak, national growth plunged and India’s global rating turned from stable to negative.

All this could spell disaster, and taking into account the Euro Zone slowdown, things were reaching unimaginable levels. The middle-class Indian was being squeezed from all directions and there is nothing left of him now.

However, with Montek, Rangarajan and the Prime Minister himself coming into the picture, things could improve. But how?

India cannot live in isolation and the first thing the central government needs to do is get back the confidence of global investors by putting reforms in the fast lane. The best way to do this is to open up the retail sector to foreign direct investment (FDI) as a start.

FDI in retail will not only allow foreign brands into the country. It will also bring a sea change in the supply chain infrastructure across the nation (including villages) and also provide direct and indirect employment to lakhs.

For this, the Centre will have to come up with a policy and do a balancing act – to bring in FDI into the retail segment as well as placate the opposition and allies.

Also, Manmohan’s 1991 team must bring about a situation so as to create demand for products to spur growth. Like, if the Reserve Bank reduces home loan and auto finance rates, it will give a fillip to the demand for cars. When demand gets a boost, it brings back prosperity.

Also, the central and state governments must check hoarding to tame veggie prices and could perhaps introduce a rate chart for vegetables and other essential items on at least a weekly basis so that retailers are not able to fix their own rates. (Retailers overcharge by almost three to five times of their purchase price).

So, if Team Manmohan can bring growth into track, Sonia Gandhi’s (and the Congress) plan to revive the economy by keeping Pranab Mukherjee away will reap benefits not only for the whole country but also her party in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.