Some hope for reforms 9 July, 2008

I am no fan of the Left in anyway. Firstly, their loyalty lies with China. Next, they seem to be caught in a time warp – they still celebrate the October revolution even when the fall of the USSR is nearing two decades. And lastly, there is no room for flexibility with the Left in India. They are caught in ideology for far too long. Even China has dropped Communism over three decades ago and adopted market reforms in 1979. The only ray of pragmatism is shown by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee  who of course is no saint, but atleast is more practical. Alas, neither does he enjoy major popularity within the CPM due to his statements, reforms policies & his straightforwardness nor within West Bengal. The Communists have never felt so low in Bengal if we go by the results of the Zilla Parishad polls held in the not so distant past.

Some of the major reforms they have blocked in India are

• Opening up of the insurance sector for greater FDI
• Allowing change in labour laws
• Privatisation of airports ( reluctantly, they agreed to the privatisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports
• Opening up of the retail sector to FDI
• Reluctance to PPPs

The problem with the Left was that though  they  were giving support, they acted more like an opposition, protesting against almost any kind of reform. They didn’t give any kind of new ideas to the government. Their agitations against fuel price hikes had no effect for obvious reasons that fuel is used by middle & higher income individuals more than that of grassroots. Neither on the inflation front did they suggest anything new or could mobilise support. They have been faltering in the not so recent past.

Now that they have finally withdrawn support to the UPA, I hope that the Congress is allowed to take reforms process ahead. It has to start right NOW. Already Samajwadi Party is known for a bit of it’s pro-private sector approach and I hope they give some leeway to the FM to initiate some reforms which are long overdue.

Even Sagarika Ghose has some words for the Left. A good read relating to where the Left was never right!

Red Letter Day

On a final note, I am happy that they Atleast they put words into action. Unfortunately, they will be decimated due to this. Inflation would be more of a concern for the aam aadmi than a nuclear deal.  The BJP has simply been sidelined and it’s hypocrisy is really baseless when it has come out that they were close to signing the CTBT some years back for the N-Deal. The Deal shouldn’t be salvaged just like that & more importantly – Deal or No-Deal, the country’s image of not being able to honour it’s commitments in the global arena should be salvaged