The aura created by the
ruling class about Manmohan as the most honest man in Indian politics got
severely damaged with the revelation of coalgate scam. The evidences in
coalgate show how coal blocks were allocated inadvertently and clearly point
fingers at Manmohan. Prior to coalgate, a number of scams were coming out in
public – the 2G Spectrum, Delhi Airport scam, TATA-Ambani power stations scam,
Maharashtra irrigation scam, CWG scam, Adarsh, Lavasa, so on and so forth – all
these exposed how strong the nexus between congress & corporate is.
Revelation of each and every scam damaged the image of ‘the honest man’ further
and further. On the other side, the Times Magazine in the US had criticized
Manmohan as ‘underachiever’ for not being bold enough in implementing
liberalization measures such as permitting FDI in retail, insurance, PF etc.
The rating agencies have also played their part by reducing the rating of Indian
economy for hastening the liberalization measures. Finally received a warning
from Obama too!
A complicated situation
of this kind has been managed by Manmohan with the precision and knack of a
seasoned criminal. The tactics can be compared to that of a chain snatcher who
would not hesitate even to cut the throat of the woman from who the chain is
snatched, to prevent her from making noise. A number of grenades were thrown
upon the people one after the other – starting from opening up of FDI in retail,
increase in diesel prices, reducing subsidized gas cylinders, sale of stake in
public sector companies; this “shock and awe” strategy followed by Manmohan has
shown expected results – scams took a back seat in the people’s memory. In one
of the meetings of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Manmohan has delivered a heroic
(!!!) speech – “If we have to go down, we will go down fighting”. He has shown
a similar courage once earlier too – that was during signing of “Indo-US
Nuclear agreement” in the year 2008. “We are not worried about the withdrawal
of support by left / right communist parties; we are determined about signing
the deal” he thundered.
A person who was mocked
by BJP as a weak prime minister, and who claimed himself as ‘accidental prime
minister’ has become undefeatable stronger in a situation where he is being
attacked by a number of accusations from all directions. Media claim that the
strength of Manmohan lies in the weakness of other political parties. All
parties including BJP are stuck in a deep mess – with a number of scams and
party in-fighting; media claim that this is the source of strength of Manmohan
government. This is a very simplified and superfluous view. The fact is that
both congress and the other parties which claim to be the ‘enemies of congress’
are all ‘stuck’ in the same policy – and this is the source which makes
Congress stronger , even in a situation where it does not have a majority of
its own. To put it in other words “inability of opposition parties to suggest
an alternative policy to that of the neo-liberal policies of Congress” has made
Manmohan stronger.
Government was well
aware that there would be protests opposing such fanatic neo-liberal attacks.
Government was also aware that they would all come to an end soon. Government’s
expectation is that when all the announcements are made together, everything
would get over with only one bandh; and ‘everything’ got over as expected. DMK,
which is part of the government, participated in the bandh; ADMK and TMC, which
claim to be opposing FDI actually deployed police forces to defeat the bandh.
The TMC which is acting as if it is opposing the FDI had mentioned in 2009
election manifesto that it would welcome FDI. When some media persons pointed
this out, Mamta brushed it aside saying that it is a printing mistake. All
political parties, without an exception, are embracing LPG while in power;
after getting defeated and when sitting as opposition parties, they ‘act’ as if
they are opposing it. This wonderful drama of political parties is not new –
this has been going on for the past 20-odd years. The sovereign authority
gained because of peoples’ vote is being abused for fulfilling the promises
given to the Multi-nationals. Then calling
this political system as ‘democratic’ is also a printing mistake!!
All political parties
from BJP to the Congress are compelled to act and talk against LPG to satisfy
their electorate and for their own political mileage. The BJP which has small
traders as its base claims that it opposes Walmart. The left and right
communist parties which are thriving out of the levies provided by the Unions
in PSUs (Public Sector Units) are making big noises against privatization of
PSUs. Wherever people, who are impacted by the effects of LPG, come together to
stage a protest or demonstration, all political parties would appear there.
They would make big speeches opposing ‘everything under the sun’ – right from
LPG, US, central government, state government, and would leave from there in
search of next platform for making their speech. None of the party cadres would
be aware about what their leaders are supporting. Not only that, the ‘heroic
verses’ of the leaders will not have any role in even in deciding the next
electoral alliance - that is very important. The party which would come to
power next is not going to reverse the diesel price hike or withdraw permission
given for FDI in retail. It is all about which party is going to pocket the
discontent and anger of the people created by the price rise; ‘politics’ is
being conducted in such an interesting manner that even the people who are
watching it would enjoy. People are so used to it that they have started
accepting this as a normal and acceptable practice. Privatization and
Liberalization is not just a policy that all the political parties are
supporting; it is the base for their own sustenance.
Right from top layer
like Pawars, Gatkaris, Vadras to the lowest cadres who are thriving out of the
income out of contracts, agencies, real estate dealings – the nexus of capitalist
corruption; all are being “gratified” from LPG. In each sq.ft of coal that is
dugout, and in each gallon of petroleum sucked out by Ambani – name of
constables to IG, district collector, Munsif to the judge of SC, district
secretary to the PM are embossed invisibly. These are the people who hold this
system. Anyone who says that the LPG policy can be defeated with the help of
these people is either insane are they want to make those who are listening
insane. LPG is the policy devised by world capitalism and imperialism to
overcome the structural difficulties that it is facing and to continue
expansion of its policies. Through corruption neoliberal imperialist forces
create the smoke screen across the world. We are witnessing that the
constitution and policies of our nation are being modified so as to fit the
needs of imperialism. It is impossible to change or stop these policies through
this existing set of political setup, political parties, and court of law and
also from ‘reformation’.
Trying
to find a solution by standing inside this system is futile. Solution lies in
organizing mass struggles outside this system, in order to hit and demolish
this existing neoliberal imperial structure and to establish a New Democratic
society.
There are people who argue
that this is not possible immediately; they also suggest that we should settle
for a workable and opportune solution. NGOs, intellectuals and
pseudo-communists are all saying this, but in their own language. They say that
there is a better and ‘just’ solution other than capitalism and communism; they
act as if they are in a kind of penance to catch hold of ‘that’ elusive
solution. Capitalist and imperial alliance produces knowledge production which
shapes the ‘common sense’. UPA-II is just another agent of this alliance and
willy-nilly introducing FDI, banking bill etc. and the opposition is just like
a ‘barking dog’. The present state of Neoliberal attacks on India needs to be
understood as surrender of sovereignty, beginning of recolonisation process
which can be changed only through a New Democratic revolution.
[ See more Arundhati Roy: Capitalism - A Ghost Story ]
[ See more Arundhati Roy: Capitalism - A Ghost Story ]
