The debate over FDI, diesel price :: Two central characters
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 24, 2012 -
Dr Manmohan Singh and Mamata Banerjee.
Nothing in common between them but yet a strikingly common trait has thrown the duo up as the two central characters in the unfolding drama hovering around the issues of FDI in retail, hike in the price of diesel and putting a cap on gas consumption.
With this series of bold reforms, Dr Manmohan Singh has single handedly blown apart the ‘myth’ of an indecisive man, a man who has been thrust to the centre stage more by default than by any political acumen or standing.
Whatever his critics may label him with, history, more so the liberalised India will remember him as the man who set the wheels of economic reforms moving, first as the Finance Minister in 1991 and then as the Prime Minister more than a decade later.
The arguments over the merits and demerits of FDI, steeply hiking the price of diesel and putting a cap on the consumption of subsidised LPG apart, the Prime Minister has demonstrated that he has it in him to take bold initiatives provided he believes in them.
It may not exactly be a win-win situation for the Prime Minister and the Congress but it certainly is not a lose-lose situation either. One clear message that has come out from the din of the debate is the resolute stand of a leader and this is important.
This is not the first time that Dr Manmohan Singh has demonstrated a degree of resoluteness as he had earlier stood his ground against the onslaught of the Left parties and went ahead with the nuclear deal with the United States in the first innings of the UPA Government.
Perhaps there is a lesson here for the political leadership of Manipur to take out a leaf or two. A leader who is not unwilling to take a stand against the odds.
At the other end of the spectrum is Mamata Banerjee. In walking out of the UPA, Ms Banerjee has delivered a political statement in that she is not willing to erode her constituency.
By taking a resolute stand against the land acquisition at Singur, Mamata Banerjee was able to outwit the Left in their own bastion, which resulted in her coming to power by breaking the monopoly of the CPM and their allies in West Bengal after more than two decades.
And in walking out of the UPA over the FDI, diesel price hike and LPG restriction, Ms Banerjee has demonstrated that she is not willing to forsake the people who voted her to power, a rare trait in politics, in this part of the country or more specifically in Manipur.
It is the willingness and the readiness to stand by the core constituency which is appealing.
Two figures standing at opposite ends of the issues but strangely a common thread binding them together and surely such a situation would be unthinkable in any other type of Government other than a democracy.
It this essence of democracy that should be acknowledged. A case of differing but yet at the same time giving each other the opportunity to express their stand openly.
No doubt the debate over the issues is important, extremely so, yet the other big picture that has emerged too should not be lost on the political leaders of the State and the people too.
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