PRESS RELEASES
May 24,
2005
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YEAR OF NATIONAL
DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE New Delhi - May 23, 2005 Within one year of its rule, the UPA government has done more damage to the democratic institutions, norms and standards of our polity than any other government in independent India’s history, barring the Emergency imposed by Smt. Indira Gandhi in 1975. After the general elections of 2004, disparate forces which had contested the elections against each other and gone at each other with hammer and tongs during the polls formed an unholy alliance amongst themselves. The fragile and artificial character of this unprincipled and opportunistic alliance has been borne out by the events of the last twelve months. The Common Minimum Programme, subsequently adopted as the National Common Minimum Programme by the UPA government is like the wall-paper which has miserably failed to conceal the cracks in the wall itself. In this report card, we list below the failures of this Government, its acts of omission and commission and the long term implications for our polity that these acts of the government represent. I Proxy Dynastic Rule & Devaluation of the Office of the Prime Minister
The Congress party, which leads this coalition, with only 145 seats in a Lok Sabha of 543 members, pretends as if it has secured a massive majority in the 2004 general elections. It has become the victim of its own propaganda. Power has gone to its head. The arrogance of its supreme leader Smt. Sonia Gandhi knows no limits, just as the servility of the Congressmen before her knows no bounds. People have not forgotten the soap opera of 18 May, 2004 when Smt. Gandhi declined to become the Prime Minister – heeding her mysterious “inner voice” -- and member after member of the Congress Parliamentary Party indulged in the most shameless and undignified spectacle of sycophancy and flattery to try and persuade her to change her mind. The assault on the institutions of parliamentary democracy was indeed launched on that day. The “Great Renunciator”, whom her sycophants placed in the hallowed league of Gautama Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi for her act of “giving up power”, had other plans. She nominated Dr. Manmohan Singh for the post of Prime Minister, knowing all the while that she would keep the real reins of power in her own hands. The Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) did not, even as a mere formality, elect Dr. Manmohan Singh as its leader. Rather, he was nominated for the office of the Prime Minister by the Supreme Leader, making it loud and clear that he was a mere puppet. Doing so was a violation of the norms and conventions of parliamentary democracy. However, within a few weeks of the UPA government taking office, the fake ‘Tyag Murti’ mask of the Supreme Leader slipped.
This happened when, in an equally flagrant violation of the norms of parliamentary democracy, a servile Prime Minister created, within the framework of the Union government, a new perch solely and exclusively for Smt. Sonia Gandhi. Thus, for the first time in the history of independent India, a strange creature called the National Advisory Council was created, with Smt. Gandhi as its chairperson. The Prime Minister has not cared to explain why his government needs a separate advisory council, when it already has the Planning Commission with precisely the same mandate. The Planning Commission has advisors in more subjects than the NAC does, and its collective institutional expertise far exceeds that of the NAC. Besides, each ministry is free to appoint its own advisors. In fact, the various ministries in the UPA government have created a record of sorts by setting up as many as 52 committees for study and tendering advice. Over and above these, the Prime Minister has set up his own Advisory Councils on Trade, Industry and Economy. Hence, it is obvious that the real purpose of the NAC is not to tender advice to the government; rather it is a thinly disguised arrangement for someone who the world had been told had “sacrificed power”, to exercise enormous power in the UPA government. De jure the chairperson of the NAC has been given the rank of a cabinet minister. However, de facto she exercises the power as the Super Prime Minister. Exercise power Smt. Sonia Gandhi does, but with one basic difference. It is power without responsibility and accountability – not even to the Parliament of India. The Supreme Leader is thus protected from answering a single question in the supreme body of India’s democracy. The NDA demands that the Prime Minister either disband the National Advisory Council, or make its chairperson accountable to Parliament and, additionally, make NAC’s work open to scrutiny by Parliamentary committees, who should have the right to summon NAC chairperson and members before them.
The only informal explanation that members of the UPA government give for the creation of NAC is that Smt. Gandhi would look after the politics of this Government and the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh would look after the administration of this Government. This is a diarchy which is not sanctioned by our Constitution. Our parliamentary system of governance recognizes the Prime Minister as the supreme head of the executive wing, whose authority straddles both political and administrative domains. The Prime Minister of India is not the CEO of India Inc, stripped of political powers that are exercised by some other person. This unconstitutional arrangement has imposed on the country a Prime Minister who is not the leader of his own party, who is not in command of his own government, who has to report to his boss -- as indeed he has done with his annual report card, in which he has given himself 6/10 and his boss 10/10 --, and who has to seek her instructions, directions and orders at every important step.
In a gross act of impropriety, official advertisements put out by both the central government and Congress-run state governments carry the photographs of Smt. Sonia Gandhi as the chairperson of NAC. Often such impropriety crosses all limits when Smt. Sonia Gandhi’s photograph either dominates over that of the Prime Minister or the latter’s photograph is altogether missing in official advertisements. No wonder, the people of India recognize Dr. Manmohan Singh as the weakest Prime Minister our country has ever had. No wonder he remains largely invisible. The NDA demands that projection of the NAC chairperson in official advertisements should be immediately stopped.
The Opposition is another important institution of parliamentary democracy that has been the target of systematic assault by the UPA government. From day one after coming to power, this government, under the direct orders of Smt. Sonia Gandhi, decided to destroy the institution of the Opposition in Parliament. The ruling coalition launched an attack on the Opposition as if it was a war between two enemies. The Opposition was not allowed by the ruling coalition to raise issues in Parliament. Gone were the days, as during the six years of NDA rule, when the Leaders of Opposition in both Houses of Parliament could raise any issue at any time and be heard by the whole House. In the past one year, members of the ruling alliance often heckled the Leaders of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha in the most unbecoming manner. Not only was the Opposition gagged, a well-orchestrated vilification campaign was started by the Government against the leaders of the opposition parties. Vindictiveness and calumny became the order of the day. For all the 365 days that this government has been in office, the picture inside Parliament is that it is the NDA Opposition which was under attack by the Treasury benches, rather than the other way round. It is instructive to remember that, the last time a government displayed similar intolerance towards the opposition, it went on to impose the draconian Emergency Rule in 1975.
The concept of the collective responsibility of the Council of Ministers has been effectively destroyed in the last one year. Senior ministers of the government have freely abused and contradicted each other in public. The unseemly war of words in public between Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav and Shri Ram Vilas Paswan during the Bihar elections is still fresh in our minds. They even publicly leveled against each other grave charges of corruption. Their war of words continues even today. The public expression of differences between the Defence Minister and the Law Minister over the filing of the first affidavit relating to the defence deals, the public airing of differences between the Labour Minister and the Finance Minister over the interest rate of EPF, between the Petroleum Minister and the Finance Minister over the fixing of petroleum product prices, the External Affairs Minister’s shocking statement in an interview to a South Korean newspaper, urging Korea not to emulate India’s “wrong example” of conducting nuclear tests at Pokharan in 1998, are all examples of the erosion of the concept of collective responsibility of the Cabinet under this Government.
The worst example, of course, was provided by Shri Lalu Prasad, the Railway Minister, when he openly attacked the Election Commission recently in the most intemperate and foul language. In any government, such intransigence would have been punished with immediate dismissal from the Cabinet, but in all these cases the Prime Minister has been a helpless onlooker. The Prime Minister had to perforce defend the Election Commission, which is a constitutional authority, and distance himself from his errant minister. The Super Prime Minister, however, tacitly supported Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav in this matter. During a press interaction at the NAC office on May 17, when journalists asked her if “Lalu Prasad Yadav has been isolated in the EC matter”, Smt. Sonia Gandhi’s reported response was: “No, Laluji is not isolated. All of us are with Laluji.”
This Government has freely changed the names of schemes and places to satisfy the insatiable hunger of the “royal family” of the Congress party to name everything and every place after the names of the members of that family. It does not matter if in this process revered names like those of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan and N T Rama Rao are removed. The following is a partial list of schemes and places named after only one of the members of the ‘royal family’:
The UPA government has proved beyond any doubt that, as far as it is concerned, only those belonging to the Nehru dynasty are worthy of receiving official honour. Mention must be made here of the decision of the Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, disapproved by the PM but tacitly approved by the Super PM, to insult the hallowed memory of Veer Savarkar at the martyrs’ memorial at Cellular Jail in Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Hence, as far as this Government is concerned no institution of parliamentary democracy is either sacrosanct or safe. They can be trampled upon at will. II Instances galore of kushaasan (bad governance)
Political opportunism has been the hallmark of this government. For the first time, in the history of our democracy, persons with well-known criminal records were appointed as ministers of Government of India. These ministers even today face charges as serious as murder, rape, dacoity and extortion in various courts of law. Shri Lalu Prasad and some others are charged with serious corruption charges. Shri Lalu Prasad specially has not only been chargesheeted by the CBI in case after case, but charges have also been framed against him in many cases by courts of law after full hearing. There is also evidence of how Shri Prasad has misused his authority and clout in the government to subvert the legal and democratic process. And yet, he continues as an important and senior minister of this Government. Can a person charged under section 420 of the IPC be trusted with the treasury of the railways? The Prime Minister is once again a helpless spectator. In July 2004, Shri Shibu Soren, one of the cabinet ministers in the UPA government, had to quit ignominiously after an arrest warrant was issued against him for his involvement in a case of mass murder. He became an absconder, trying to escape the long arm of the law. In spite of the Opposition’s insistence, the Prime Minister refused to make a statement in Parliament on the subject. Congress spokesmen publicly stated that there was no need for Shri Soren to resign. Finally, after the situation became completely untenable, the Prime Minister had to virtually sack him. It says a lot about the Congress party’s faith in democracy that, within a few months, it conspired in the illegal installation of Shri Soren as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand! What is more, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, speaking to journalists on May 17, defended her party’s action in Jharkhand.
The institution of Governors of States has been treated in an equally cavalier way. The manner in which some of the Governors appointed by the NDA government were removed and new Governors were appointed in their place showed that the UPA government, showed that the ruling alliance has scant regard for the constitutional office of Governor. The healthy practice started by the NDA government of consulting the chief ministers of the states concerned before the appointment of new governors has been abandoned. In an unprecedented defense of the government’s action, the Home Minister impudently stated in Parliament that governors appointed by the NDA government were removed “because they did not subscribe to the ideology” of the new government. Subsequently, when the newly appointed Governors were manipulated to carry out the political diktat of the Congress President in Goa and Jharkhand, our worst suspicions behind this move stood confirmed.
The NDA takes exception to the style of functioning and several utterances of the Governor of Bihar, Shri Buta Singh. His critical statements about the efforts of political parties to form a popular government in the state and thus to bring the President’s Rule to an end are not only unbecoming for a Governor, but they also appear to be politically motivated. In Patna, people are saying in disgust that “it is not Rasthtrapati Raj but Rabripati Raj in Bihar”. This is best illustrated by the fact that on the very day (May 20) that Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, addressing a conference of district magistrates in Delhi, was bemoaning that “No system of government can deliver if officers can be changed without notice… short tenures do not produce accountable results”, the Governor of Bihar gave marching orders to two DMs of Sewan and Gopalganj. Their crime? They had refused to allow two key supporters of Shri Lalu Yadav, Mohammad Shahabuddin and Sadhu Yadav, both of whom are dreaded mafia dons, to conduct their unlawful and criminal activities in their districts. There are reliable reports that Shri Lalu Yadav met not the PM but the Super PM and demanded immediate transfer of the two DMs in Bihar. The Super PM in turn spoke not to the PM but to the Union Home Minister and asked him to convey to the Governor that “Shri Laluji’s wish should be fulfilled.” Compliance from Raj Bhavan was immediate since it was conveyed that the message had come from the Super PM, so what if in the process the PM’s nice-sounding words about “tenure security” for IAS officers remained only that – nice-sounding and ineffectual.
The NDA government had amended the Anti-defection Act to prevent the horse-trading of legislators. The Congress party, like all law-breakers, soon found a way to circumvent this law. In Goa, members of the ruling party were instigated to resign from the legislature. The Governor of Goa was then manipulated to ask the Chief Minister to prove his majority on the floor of the House in the shortest possible time – within 48 hours. Even after he proved his majority, the Governor dismissed his government for which orders had been typed and kept ready even before the vote of confidence had taken place. A Congress Party government was then installed with the defectors as ministers. After a dubiously conducted trial of strength, the Assembly was deliberately put under suspended animation. Our demand that fresh elections be held in Goa to install a new democratically elected government has been disregarded by the Government. Now, only bye-elections are being held to fill the vacancies in the state assembly, which were deliberately created to facilitate defections. What has happened in Goa under the direct supervision of the Congress president is hence scandalous in the extreme. It is a blot on the fair name of our democracy. All through the Goa episode, the Prime Minister has remained a helpless spectator, often in the dark about the goings on. What happened in Jharkhand was even worse. Once again under the direct orders of the Congress president, the Governor of Jharkhand, breaking all norms of parliamentary democracy, installed a minority UPA government in the state Shri Shibu Soren as the chief minister. He also gave it the longest rope possible to buy MLAs. The NDA had already demonstrated its majority before the Governor. However, the Governor decided to follow the orders of the Congress president rather than the Constitution of India. If the Supreme Court had not intervened wisely, rightly and in time, the peoples’ mandate would have become meaningless and a great wrong would have been done to the people of Jharkhand and to Indian democracy.
In the name of detoxification, the Minister for HRD has virtually let loose a reign of terror in the Ministry of HRD. During the NDA regime an attempt had been made to correct the Leftist distortion in our text books and to strengthen the nationalist thrust in India’s education system. For example, Guru Tegh Bahadur was projected as a plunderer. The entire Jat community was shown as goons. The Jain tradition was maligned. And the betrayal of the communists during the Freedom Struggle was blanked out. The NDA government tried to remove these lies and absurdities in the text books. However, as soon as the UPA government came into being with the communists providing life support to it, the previous distortions were brought back again in name of desaffronisation. The Leftists have invaded the academia. Like in the past, they are out to capture and mislead young minds. The Congress party is a willing ally. The NDA views with much concern the attempts by the UPA government to widen the majority-minority divide in the country’s education system. Its latest decision to reserve 50% seats for Muslims in Aligarh Muslim University is blatantly communal. The NDA is all for effective governmental and societal action to promote education among the minorities. However, this worthy objective cannot be achieved by the HRD ministry’s ill-conceived decisions, which are intended only to garner the minorities’ votes for the Congress in elections. The UPA government’s move to allow minority educational institutions in any state to get directly affiliated to central universities is also objectionable on similar grounds. The Congress leadership appears to be completely indifferent to the long-term effects of such divisive politics.
Commissions of Enquiry have been an accepted mode of getting at the truth in our democracy. The Congress party has always treated Commissions of Enquiry, which have not served its political purpose, with scant respect. The Justice Nanavati Commission report on the carnage Sikhs in 1984 in Delhi has not been presented to Parliament despite an assurance to this effect by the Home Minister himself. In contrast, the interim report of the Justice Banerjee Committee, set up by the Ministry of Railways with the sole purpose of discrediting the Railway Minister in the NDA government and proving that the torching of the train at Godhra was “accidental”, was hastily tabled in Parliament just before the Bihar elections. The manner in which the Phukan Commission of Enquiry into the Tehelka episode has been dealt with is once again proof of this. First, the UPA government summarily wound up the Commission even though it was close to finalizing its report and had already submitted its final report on two out of the four terms of reference. Second, its credibility was sought to be destroyed on the flimsy pretext of the Commission having used an Air Force avro aircraft for its official journeys once. Thirdly, after a great deal of delay, and under duress, the Government presented the report to Parliament on the last day of the Budget session but rejected the findings of the Commission because it had given a clean chit to the former Defence Minister Shri George Fernandes.
Strangely, the reason given by the government for rejecting the Phukan Commission report was that the “Commission’s report is incomplete”. It is impossible to think of a more dishonest explanation. The report was incomplete solely because the government wound up the Commission, without giving it an opportunity to complete its work. It is worth recalling here that several senior Congress MPs had forced Justice Venkatswamy, who was earlier heading the Commission to probe Tehelka’s charges, to resign by making baseless allegations against him. It is therefore obvious that the Congress party, especially its president, do not want the real truth about Tehelka to come out. The same is the case with the Congress party’s approach to the truth about the so-called “Coffingate” scandal. In almost every campaign speech of hers during elections to the 14th Lok Sabha, Smt. Sonia Gandhi had charged the then Defense Minister and NDA Convener Shri George Fernandes with “making money in the purchase of coffins for our martyrs”. Similar vile allegations were hurled at Shri George Fernandes by Congress MPs, who did not allow him to speak in Parliament for nearly three years. However, this charge was shown to be completely baseless in the affidavit that the Defense Ministry filed before the Supreme Court. Rattled by this, Super Prime Minister Smt. Sonia Gandhi ordered the Defense Ministry to file a second affidavit on defence deals in the Supreme Court. This second affidavit contradicted the Defense Ministry’s own stand in the first affidavit. These two episodes – the rejection of the Phukan Commission report and the two contradictory affidavits by the Defense Ministry -- clearly showed that it is Smt. Gandhi who calls the shots in the UPA government.
The fact that Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is not in command of his government is demonstrated by his total failure to rein in Railway Minister Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav. The manner in which he forced the government to appoint a committee under Justice Banerjee to look into the Godhra train burning incident despite the fact that the Justice Nanavati Commission was already looking into it, the manner in which he made public the interim report of the committee to influence the electorate in the Bihar elections, the manner in which he faked the attack on himself in Ahmedabad after a railway accident and even forced the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs to pass a resolution condemning the alleged incident and the Gujarat government without verifying facts, the manner in which he has wantonly rejected the report of the Forensic Science Laboratory, Ahmedabad which contradicted his claim that stones were thrown on his car, the manner in which he has attacked the Election Commission, particularly the newly appointed Chief Election Commissioner, Shri B. B. Tandon, are all proof of the power he wields in this Government with a weak Prime Minister remaining a silent spectator in every sordid episode.
The second extra-constitutional center of power in this Government is the Left. The Left claims to be a party to the CMP but it supports the government only from the outside. It has, therefore, no responsibility or accountability for the acts of omission and commission of the UPA government. Yet, it keeps the government on a short leash, makes its deals with the government in private while it continues to bark at it in public. Green flag inside and red flag outside (Andar Hari Jhandi, Bahar Lal Jhanda) seems to be its motto. The duplicity of the Left parties is entirely in keeping with their character. The Left parties always prefer to run with the hare and hunt with the hound. With their decision not to participate in the government’s 1st birthday celebrations, and with their refusal not even to sign a joint UPA statement on the occasion, they have made it known that they are dissatisfied with the functioning of the government, which survives on their support. This kind of constant muscle-flexing by the Communists has completely undermined the ability of the government to take bold decisions, especially in the economic field. The victim of all this, of course, is the country’s economic growth and the welfare of the aam aadmi.
The Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG) submits his report every year to Parliament on the accounts of the Government of India. The procedure to deal with these reports is well-established. After the presentation of the reports to Parliament, they are automatically transmitted to the Public Accounts Committee. The concerned agencies of the Government of India, including its ministries, then start preparing Action Taken Notes (ATN) and after vetting by an officer of the C&AG they are submitted to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). The PAC then examines the objections raised by C&AG in the light of the ATNs submitted by the agencies of the Government and then submits its final report to Parliament. Parliament may then discuss the report of the PAC if it so wishes, otherwise the report is accepted without discussion. Further corrective action is then taken by the agencies of the Government in the light of the report of the PAC. It is only in cases where the C&AG reports fraud, defalcation or misappropriation of funds that immediate action on the part of Parliament or Government is called for. In the C&AG reports submitted to Parliament in the Budget session, the C&AG has made some observations regarding the sale of the two Centaur hotels in Mumbai. Nowhere has the C&AG suggested that there has been fraud, defalcation or misappropriation of government funds. Yet, out of sheer vindictiveness and under the pressure of the Left, the Government has announced that it would hold an enquiry into these transactions. Scores of reports of the C&AG are gathering dust in CPI(M)-ruled West Bengal. They have not even been placed before the State Assembly for years. But, clearly the Left parties follow one principle in West Bengal and an entirely opposite principle in Delhi. The UPA Government, which is hostage to the Left, gives in and in violation of the prescribed procedure, orders an enquiry. It is a reflection on the method of working of this Government that on the same day it rejected the Phukan Commission report, which did not serve its political ends, and ordered a premature enquiry on the basis of the C&AG report on Centaur Hotel disinvestment, which serves its political end.
The UPA government has proved within a year of its existence that it does not believe in federalism. The Central Government has completely reversed the tradition established by the NDA government to treat all state governments, irrespective of their political hue, equally. This Government has openly indulged in discriminatory treatment against non-Congress, non-UPA state governments, especially governments run by the NDA. The Prime Minister looked on silently as the Congress government of Punjab abrogated an inter-state agreement on sharing of river waters to which Government of India was also a party because the affected states were the non-Congress ruled states of Rajasthan and Haryana. Our states are singled out for condemnation at the slightest pretext. III INTERNAL SECURITY IN PERIL
The internal security of the country has never been under greater threat than at present. The situation in Jammu and Kashmir remains critical. The attacks on security forces go on unabated. Political activists, including the Chief Minister, remain a prime target. Many of them have lost their lives in the process. The attack on the Tourist Centre in Srinagar on the day the Prime Minister was to visit Srinagar and the city was on maximum alert exposed the failure of both the Central and the State governments. The recent terrorist attacks in Lal Chowk and in the vicinity of a school have clearly demonstrated that the terrorists can attack any target at will. The Central Government is guilty of complacency and laxity.
The situation in the North-East continues to deteriorate. What was allowed to happen in Manipur for months by the Congress government in Imphal and the UPA government in Delhi will remain a black spot in the record of this government. Peace was restored only when the government gave in to the extremists. The Naga peace talks are in doldrums. The ULFA has raised its ugly head again. Assam is in the throes of non-governance and instability.
It is now well-established that the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh and the UPA government at the Center rode to power on the back of Naxalite support . The Congress Party had entered into an unholy alliance with the Naxalites before the elections and for their support had promised, among other things, to abolish POTA. The matter, however, did not stop merely with the abolition of POTA. The Naxalites were wined, dined and feted by the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh. The people of this country will not easily forget the spectacle of the fully armed Naxalites marching through the streets of Hyderabad on a day when the Union Home Minister was holding a meeting there with the Chief Ministers of Naxalite-affected states. This shortsighted and opportunistic policy has given the Naxalites time to regroup, arm themselves with modern weapons and expand their base. Violence has broken out again in Andhra Pradesh leading to avoidable loss of human lives. The Government of India has been particularly inept in dealing with this menace. Even ordinary law and order has deteriorated in the Congress-ruled states and in Delhi. Delhi has already acquired the dubious distinction of being the Rape Capital of India. The law and order situation in Mumbai, where a Congress-NCP alliance is in power, is equally alarming.
: On the grave issue of unchecked influx of Bangladeshi infiltrators, the NDA wishes to draw the attention of our countrymen to two ominous developments. One is the Delhi High Court pulling up the Union Government for not carrying out its promise to deport Bangladeshis from the national capital. The other is the unprecedented public criticism of the Assam Governor’s report on the subject by none other than the state’s chief minister. Assam Chief Minister Shri Tarun Gogoi has described Governor Shri Ajai Singh's report on illegal migrants as being “totally baseless”. According to newspaper reports, which have not been contradicted, the Governor’s report has asserted: “This (Indo-Bangladesh) border is literally one of the world’s most fluid borders, crossed daily, border officials say, by some 6000 Bangladeshis who come in search of work, often staying to join the estimated 20 million illegal immigrants in the country”. (Emphasis added.) If the Assam CM has challenged his own Governor on the issue of Bangladeshi infiltration, the UPA government’s first year witnessed another shocking spectacle: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh challenging the figures presented in Parliament by his own minister of state for home affairs, Shri Sri Prakash Jaiswal. On July 15, 2004 Shri Jaiswal stated in the Rajya Sabha that “a total of 1,20,53,950 illegal Bangladeshi migrants were residing in 17 states and Union territories across the country as on 31 December, 2001.” He also affirmed that a staggering 50 lakh Bangladeshis were residing in Assam. Indeed, he gave statewise figures for illegal foreign residents. However, the very next day, responding to vociferous protests lodged by Shri Tarun Gogoi, the Congress chief minister of Assam, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, who was in Guwahati on that day, publicly stated that he doubted the veracity of the statistics presented in Parliament by his own minister of state for home affairs. In a tragic-comic retraction by a minister in Parliament, Shri Jaiswal stated in the Rajya Sabha on July 23 that the information provided by his ministry about illegal Bangladeshis in Assam and Bengal is “unreliable and based on heresy ”. The NDA strongly condemns the UPA government’s myopic and selfish approach towards the grave problem of ‘Demographic Invasion’ of Bangladeshi infiltrators, giving no thought to the long-term harm that this can do to India’s security, unity and integrity. IV ECONOMY: A PICTURE OF NEGLECT AND BETRAYAL OF PROMISES
When the NDA came to power in 1998, it had inherited an economy that was in a shambles. The Vajpayee government steadily improved it with a strong vision, a wide array of ambitious and reform-oriented policies and programmes, and single-minded determination to implement them in order to take the economy on a high-growth path. As a result, after six years, the GDP growth rate crossed the morale-boosting barrier of 8% -- a target which Smt. Sonia Gandhi had lampooned in Parliament as “Mungeri Lal ke haseen sapne”. In contrast to the messy state of the economy that the Vajpayee government had inherited in 1998, the UPA government inherited an economy that was robust and full of potential for further sustained growth. The rate of inflation, which used to be double-digit in 1995-96, was brought down to 4.2%. It was often as low as 3%. There was remarkable price stability in spite of severe droughts. Bank rates had declined to record lows. Forex reserves more than trebled to cross $ 100 billion. The world began to see India as an emerging global economic power. Sadly, not only has growth slowed down in the past one year, but no bold decisions have been taken during this period. If the GDP growth rate of 6-7% still looks impressive, it is because the growth now is largely entrepreneurship-driven and not policy-driven. The UPA government has presented two budgets already. Both have been recipes of disaster. Core sector growth has slowed down from 8.5% in March 2004 to 3.7% in March 2005. Inflation, which had touched 9% after the UPA government assumed office last year, is on the rise again. Interest rates are under pressure and are bound to increase. Petroleum sector is reeling under high international crude prices with the Government merrily passing on the burden of its subsidy to the public sector petroleum companies and in the process destroying their balance-sheets. As if this was not bad enough, the Finance Minister has restructured petroleum duties in a way which has increased this burden.
The Congress party contested the elections by promising to protect the interests of the Aam Aadmi. That promise now lies in tatters. The Aam Aadmi is reeling under unprecedented price rise. The NDA government had kept the prices of all essential commodities under check during its six-year rule. In contrast, within the very first year of the UPA government, prices of food grains, vegetables, milk, medicines, transportation, housing and all other essential commodities and services, have gone up sharply. Betrayal of Unemployed Youth: The Common Minimum Programme of the UPA government had promised to “immediately enact a National Employment Guarantee Act” to provide “100 days of guaranteed employment to at least one able-bodied person in every rural, urban poor and lower middle-class household”. The Act is nowhere in sight even after the government has completed one year in office. The Finance Minister in his budget did not provide a single rupee for the implementation of this promise. In order to cover up the government’s failure, Smt. Sonia Gandhi has blamed the Opposition for “sabotaging” the bill’s passage in Parliament. The truth is that the draft bill prepared by the government is so flawed that even the Leftists and many noted economists have flayed it. In another way of hiding its failure to enact the employment guarantee legislation, the government has been trumpeting the launch of a “massive” food-for-work programme in 150 districts. This is nothing but a repackaging of the Rs. 10,000-crore Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana initiated by the Vajpayee government, which gave half this amount (Rs. 5,000 crore) to states in the form of foodgrains to implement food-for-work programmes. The UPA government has betrayed the unemployed youth in another significant way. When the NDA left office, the GDP growth rate was 8.4%. Now it has come down to less than 7%. This 1.5 percentage point decline in GDP growth shows a substantial slowing down in the economy. This slowdown has eroded millions of employment and income enhancement opportunities for our youth.
It is the plight of the kisans under the UPA rule which is a matter of great concern. More than 2,000 farmers have committed suicide in various parts of the country and especially in Andhra Pradesh, since the UPA government came to power. Even the visit of the Prime Minister to Andhra Pradesh has failed to stem this tide of suicides. It is the same situation in other Congress-ruled states -- Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab. The NDA charges the UPA government with showing utter insensitivity towards this shocking phenomenon of farmers’ suicides and demands a White Paper on the subject. The Congress governments came to power in AP, Maharashtra and Punjab by promising the farmers free electricity. They have failed to supply any electricity to the farmers, free or otherwise. Now, all of them have gone back on their promise of supplying free electricity. The farmers have been taken for a ride. The Kisan Credit Card scheme which brought about a sea-change in the concept of rural credit, has not even been mentioned by the Finance Minister in his budget speech. Foodgrain production last year has declined. The increase in the support prices of various agricultural produce by the UPA government has been nominal. It has not even kept pace with the rate of inflation. The UPA government has also betrayed the kisans on another promise contained in the CMP -- namely, that “adequate protection to all farmers” would be provided in case of a fall in the prices of farm products. In the past one year, average market prices of agricultural commodities have fallen sharply. The NDA demands that the UPA government inform the kisans of our country how much protection it has provided to them.
Recently, the Prime Minister has announced the launch of what is billed as a new mega-development initiative for rural India. Called ‘Bharat Nirman’, it is advertised to have an outlay of Rs. 1,73,000 crore over the next four years and promises to provide rural road connectivity, rural electrification, rural drinking water, rural telecom connectivity, and greater irrigation facilities. The truth is that, there is hardly anything new in the ‘Bharat Nirman’ initiative. It is nothing but a repackaging of the various ambitious projects and pathbreaking initiatives of the Vajpayee government. For example, the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, a Rs. 65,000-crore project for universal rural road connectivity by 2007, was already under implementation during the NDA government. This is now sought to be dovetailed into ‘Bharat Nirman’, with two significant changes. One, the deadline has already by pushed forward by two more years – to 2009. Secondly, the name ‘Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana’ is also likely to be changed. Similarly, the rural electrification scheme, universalisation of telecom connectivity in rural areas, rural drinking water scheme and the scheme for augmentation of irrigation facilities – all these are ongoing schemes which the UPA has inherited, and which the NDA government had envisioned to bring under the common umbrella called PURA – Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas. Hence, there is nothing new in the ‘Bharat Nirman’ initiative – either in terms of the concept or significantly higher financial outlays.
Hasty introduction of VAT has played havoc with the taxation system. Our plea that the introduction of VAT be postponed until all preparations were complete, fell on deaf ears. The traders were not taken into confidence with the result that they have repeatedly gone on strike. Utter chaos prevails all over the country. Heavens would not have fallen if the states had introduced VAT only after full preparation.
The Finance Minister in his budget has quietly transferred the burden of raising Rs.29,000 crore to the states to fund their annual plans. This has been done on the specious ground that the Twelfth Finance Commission had recommended it. This is not true. The Finance Minister has done it only to keep his fiscal deficit low.
He has tried to be more than clever in his taxation proposals. In his budget speech he assured everyone that he was reducing taxes while in reality he was increasing them. The average tax payer, therefore, is baffled. Women tax-payers, senior citizens, salaried employees, corporates are all up in arms against this deceit. The cash withdrawal tax and the fringe benefit tax are the products of a foolish and conceited mind. They deserve to be knocked out of the statute book at the earliest.
Infrastructure development has clearly slowed down. The National Highway Development Programme is in utter neglect. So is the National Rail Vikas Yojana, which too was launched by the Vajpayee government. No worthwhile infrastructure project has been started in the last one year.
The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana launched by the Vajpayee government is the largest rural roads construction programme since Independence. Its implementation considerably slowed down. Not only did it not figure in the Finance Minister’s two budget speeches, but even the Prime Minister rarely ever mentions it in his speeches. The NDA suspects two reasons behind this deliberate de-emphasis on the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. Firstly, the Congress-led UPA government does not want any scheme that has been identified with Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee to get prominence. Secondly, the Congress leadership does not want any scheme that brings the ‘Pradhan Mantri’ into prominence, since it believes that all credit must go exclusively to the Super Prime Minister or to other names in the ‘royal family’.
The ambitious scheme of inter-linking of rivers, like all other worthwhile schemes started by the NDA government, has been treated as a step child by this Government and has suffered for want of attention.
The power supply situation in the country continues to deteriorate while this Government debates the amendment of the Electricity Act. The massive shortage in Maharashtra, a direct result of the continued neglect of this sector by the State government, has been sought to be made up by the Central Government by denying power to the needy BJP-ruled states, especially Chhattisgarh.
Through his two populist budgets in a row, the Railway Minister has played havoc with the long term interests of the railways. He has hardly any time for the ministry, busy as he is all the time with his ill-conceived politics. He has misused the official platform of the Railway Ministry on every occasion to denigrate and attack the Opposition.
The manner in which this Government has gone about acquiring aircraft for Air India has raised many eye-brows in India and abroad. The procedure adopted has been far from transparent. The Ambassador of France in India, in an unprecedented outburst, alleged that considerations other than commercial had played a role in determining this deal. Members of Parliament, including from the ruling party, have protested against this move. The Standing Committee of Parliament on Transport, Tourism and Culture headed by a CPI(M) member has openly demanded an enquiry by an independent agency into the clearances granted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation to a private airline to fly abroad too close to the IPO of this airline. V MISSTEPS IN FOREIGN POLICY
Lack of firmness in dealing with Pakistan In foreign policy, while the Government has followed the many initiatives taken by the NDA government, it has also made a number of mistakes. In its negotiations with Pakistan it has believed more in giving than taking. It has been hesitant in raising the issue of cross-border terrorism with Pakistan. Hundreds of terrorists could not be waiting across the Line of Control in J&K to cross into India without the connivance of the Pakistani authorities. According to the Government itself, the infrastructure of terrorism is intact in Pakistan and Pak-Occupied Kashmir (POK). If there has been a decline in infiltration it is largely on account of the steps taken during the NDA rule, including the erection of the fence along the Line of Control. The UPA government has not only allowed Pakistan to dilute the commitment it made to curb terrorism in the Joint Press Statement issued during the visit of Prime Minister Vajpayee to Islamabad on 6th, January 2004, it has also allowed cross-border terrorism and violence unleashed by Pakistan to disappear from the bilateral and global agenda. The Government erred in allowing the bus passengers between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad to travel on the basis of documents other than passport and visa. It also erred in accepting the Deputy Commissioner of Muzaffarabad as the designated authority on the Pakistani side to issue the travel documents. We could have accepted the government’s contention that because the passengers were travelling within Indian territory passports and visas were not needed, if it had clearly stated to the Pakistani side that it was giving up the demand for passports and visas because India regarded the whole of Jammu and Kashmir including POK as an integral part of India. It has not shown the courage to say so to Pakistan. In fact, the Prime Minister has even gone to the extent of describing the issue of Jammu and Kashmir as a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan. Nothing could perhaps be more pleasing to the ears of President General Musharraf. In the case of the Baglihar hydro project, Government of India has fallen into the trap laid by Pakistan. Slowly but surely, Pakistan has led India to accept a World Bank appointed arbitrator to determine whether the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty have been violated by India or not. This could be the proverbial thin end of the wedge which could embroil India into accepting third party mediation on other issues also. The Government is also dealing weakly with Pakistan as far as the Kishanganga project is concerned and has already declared its intention to make changes in the project to accommodate Pakistan. While, the Government of India, on the one hand, goes on making concessions to Pakistan, Pakistan has responded by taking the Baglihar issue to the World Bank, securing arms, including F-16s, from the USA and obstinately opposing India’s entry into the Security Council.
Anti-India Bangladesh border The Government has been equally inept in dealing with Bangladesh. Infiltration and illegal immigration from Bangladesh goes on unchecked. The Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) has become trigger-happy. Border incidents are on the increase. Fundamentalist elements continue to tighten their grip over Bangladesh. The ISI of Pakistan finds Bangladesh a happy haven for its activities. The Government of India has failed to deal with the situation with determination.
It is the UPA government’s policy towards Nepal, however, which leaves us completely baffled. It is a tale of unprecedented flip-flop. First the UPA government is taken by surprise when the King declares an emergency and takes over the reins of government. It responds by refusing to attend the SAARC summit in Dhaka where the Prime Minister could have run into the King of Nepal. It pleads with the King to restore democracy. The King refuses to listen and even denies audience to the Indian Ambassador in Nepal for weeks. The Government of India reacts by stopping the supply of arms to Nepal. In the meanwhile, Pakistan and others offer to supply arms to Nepal. The Prime Minister then meets the King of Nepal on the margins of a multilateral conference in Jakarta. The King assures the Prime Minister to lift the emergency. The Prime Minister promises to resume arms supply. The King returns to Nepal and arrests former Prime Minister Deuba on corruption charges. Government of India resumes supply of arms to Nepal. The Left parties put pressure on Government of India and Government of India clarifies that it is only supplying jeeps to the Nepalese army. There is thus complete absence of coordination between the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Defence. Nobody knows who is in charge of the policy towards Nepal. In the meanwhile, precious time is lost. The Maoists in Nepal move from strength to strength. The King is angry with India. The political parties of Nepal are angry with India. The Maoists are angry with India. Everyone is angry with India. India becomes the biggest loser in Nepal. Nepal has now accused India of “excessive interference”.
On the question of India’s permanent membership of the UN Security Council, the Government has been sending similar contradictory signals. It made a statement in Parliament that there was no question of accepting permanent membership without veto power. It then invited the Secretary General of UN to visit India. During the visit, the Secretary General publicly declared that there would be no veto power for the new permanent members. Thereafter, the Government of India appears to have changed its stand and seems to be preparing for a compromise on this issue. Nobody is taken into confidence. Such serious international issues are dealt with in a casual manner. The UPA government asserted in the CMP that it would follow an “independent” foreign policy. Yet, in its first interaction with the US government it agreed to subject itself to inspection by US authorities with respect to the so-called dual use items imported even from third countries, a demand which had been rejected by the NDA government. The tension between the Prime Minister and the Minister for External Affairs is part of the folklore of Delhi these days. The minister is happy serving Smt. Sonia Gandhi, attending on her as she meets visiting dignitaries, taking orders from her, sending messages to her from his visits abroad. He has hardly anytime for the Prime Minister. * * * * * All
in all, it has been a wasted year – A Year of Non-Performance
& Misgovernance. The government’s only achievement is
fifty odd committees and commissions that it has appointed in one
year. The problem of unemployment of the youth of India may not have
been solved by the UPA government but it has solved the problem of
unemployment of its hangers-on. governance has suffered as never before.
The UPA’s only objective has been to target the opposition with a
vindictive mindset. It thinks as if it is still in the opposition
and it is its bounden duty to attack the NDA, even if this requires
committing illegalities and violations of the Constitution in a manner
that revives memories of the pre-Emergency situation in the country
in the early 1970s. The promises the UPA government made to the people
remain unfulfilled. Its only achievement is that it has survived in
office so far.
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