The Congress withdrew support to the UF government on March 30. There should not have been any doubt in anybody's mind, least of all among the UF ranks, that without the Congress support, the UF government had lost the majority necessary for it to remain in power. As a consequence, it should have refrained from taking any policy decisions till it obtained a vote of confidence from the Lok Sabha. But that is not what really happened.
A few days ago, the finance ministry announced new guidelines for external commercial borrowing by Indian companies. Couldn't these have awaited the outcome of the vote of confidence or the formation of a new government? The guidelines for external borrowing do not constitute a routine announcement. This was a new policy framed by a government that had been asked to prove its majority in the Lok Sabha. By doing this, did the UF government maintain constitutional propriety? And if the railway budget has not yet been passed why should the new fares be enforced from April 1? A similar question arose when the commerce minister, B B Ramaiah, decided to go ahead with the announcement of a new five-year exim policy on March 31.
What was the government's logic in going ahead with the exim policy? A government official had explained that the existing policy was due to expire on March 31, and there had to be a new policy to succeed it. How foolish and simplistic! If indeed, the UF government or its leaders had any moral sense and the desire to honour democratic norms, they would have simply extended the tenure of the existing import-export policy by another fortnight, a month or till such time a new government could be in place. If the UF government does manage to seek a vote of confidence on April 11, the wait for the new policy could be even shorter.
Those who argue that the government was committed to meet international obligations to usher in a more liberal foreign trade policy, forget that the deadline for putting in place such a trade regime was still two months away. And if the negotiating skills displayed by Indian government officials at the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation are any indication, the deadline could be postponed even further. So, why was the hurry? The only reason for this irrational step could be that Mr Ramaiah did not want to lose the opportunity of presenting a five-year trade policy, even though that meant throwing the norms of democratic governance to the winds.
A more distressing development was the complete silence observed by almost all political parties. Some noises were, of course, made by a few Congress leaders. Surprisingly, Manmohan Singh left it to the UF government to decide if presenting the import-export policy on March 3,1 was constitutionally correct. Even the Left leaders quietly accepted the new policy. Mind you, this was no ordinary policy. This was a new trade regime that would remain valid for five years. And the joke is that this policy was formulated and presented by a government at a time its legitimacy had been questioned and it was yet to seek a vote of confidence.
The ominous silence of political parties is actually symptomatic of the deeper malaise that has set in our political system. There is no other reason why these same political parties began confabulations to save the budget by holding a special one-day session before the UF government could seek its vote of confidence. The idea was to get the budget out of way before the political parties could settle their scores.
In the last one week, the country has actually witnessed the emergence of some sort of an unholy alliance among all political parties. The objective of this alliance seems to be to make sure that their political shenanigans do not upset the economy and thereby do not attract the wrath of the people, the industry and the markets. The fear is genuine. The budget presented by P Chidambaram was friendly to all. If such a budget becomes a casualty of the political games the differential political parties are playing, surely the people, industry and the markets will be prepared to punish these leaders in the worst possible way.
Hence, this conspiracy of silence over the UF government's announcement of policy measures despite having lost Congress support and the political parties' efforts to somehow get the budget passed before the vote of confidence could be taken up by the Lok Sabha. That such efforts did not succeed is only a matter of chance and perhaps an indication that there is still some sense and sanity left in some political leaders.
But there is no doubt that the general approach of most political parties in the last few days reflects a dangerous trend. The UF government has shown scant regard for norms of democratic governance. Once it lost the support of Congress, it should have desisted from taking any policy decisions, let alone aiding the efforts of some political leaders to somehow get the budget passed before the vote of confidence.
Political parties must not believe that no price need to be paid for whatever actions they take or support. If Sitaram Kesri has withdrawn support to the UF government, let the country, its people, industry and the markets face the consequences; so that these leaders realise what their actions have meant for the economy. This alone can ensure that our political parties and their leaders become more responsible in their utterances and actions.