Hopes Opposition will accept the compromise and allow Parliament to function
In its war of nerves with the Opposition, the Congress has blinked on the contentious issue of permitting FDI in multi-brand retail, holding out the promise of “a holdback, not a rollback,” in the hope that it might break the parliamentary logjam. It is now hoping – still hoping – that when the all-party meeting takes place on Wednesday, the Opposition will accept this compromise and allow Parliament to function.
The dominant view in the Congress is that this was the only way forward, as its ally, the 18-member Trinamool Congress (TMC), had refused to budge on its stand on the retail issue, and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) cannot afford a parliamentary vote in which the TMC votes against it, even if it had managed the numbers. The Manmohan Singh government may have billed the FDI decision as UPA Two's first major policy initiative, intended to signal an end to accusations of “policy paralysis” but, clearly, many in the government and party who feel that this is not an issue on which it should risk losing the government.
There is, of course, a pro-reforms section in the party and the government which believe West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee's bluff should have been called: after all, they point out, Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma met her twice in Kolkata before the Cabinet decision, and it was her idea that it should be left to individual States to accept or reject the decision.
But beyond whether the Congress could have managed the numbers in the event of a vote on the FDI issue or not, there are, party sources said, other considerations why it decided “not to stare Ms. Bannerjee down”: in six months, there will be the Presidential elections, and the Congress needs to have all allies on board.
Publicly, the party has reserved its entire wrath for the Opposition. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said, “We are not fighting shy of a full-fledged discussion in Parliament, but every policy decision cannot be voted on as a censure motion in the House – it is an infringement of executive powers.”
The Congress' managers are describing this as a “temporary” setback, but it is also being viewed in party circles as another instance of poor management. Party sources said that either the discussions with the Opposition could have preceded the Cabinet decision, or the government could have waited till the session was over.
In the case of the civil nuclear agreement with the United States, the Left parties had already withdrawn support and the government had moved a vote of confidence. On that occasion, the Congress needed to mobilise numbers without worrying that a party supporting the UPA government would vote against it. This time, too, the party and the government functionaries were confident of mobilising the numbers, but if the TMC had voted against it, it might have become untenable for the government to continue in office. In 2008, UPA-One was riding high – it was a government that could do no wrong. In 2011, UPA-Two is plumbing the depths – it can't do anything right. So it has decided to take a leaf out of Roman historian Tacitus's book: “He that fights and runs away, may turn and fight another day; but he that is in battle slain, will never rise to fight again.”
Keywords: Parliament session, Winter Session, Congress, all-party meeting, FDI in retail, rollback, multi-brand retail
I hate to say this, but the MPs & MLAs we voted for are wasting our Tax money, our precious time and our lives by canceling the sessions in the Parliament. This country needs MPs & MLAs to be and act as Professionals, who know the value of money and time. Every session in the Parliament should be made fruitful. The Government does not care, the opposition parties do not care and the Prime Minister does not seem bothered about these. What is really happening to our country? In a democratic country, the people are the Kings and the Government is their servant. The Kings should start deciding on keeping the right servant to serve them. But right now its the other way about.
Congress's decision to go in for a holdback and not a rollback on the FDR Retail
issue amounts to a sudden volte face on their part from the original proposal to go
ahead with it. The proposal will be initially discussed with the the Opposition
parties for eliciting their views on the issue. Already, according to reports, the leftist
parties have indicated clearly that nothing short of roll-back will be acceptable to
them. Even otherwise, there are other burning issues such as price rise, black
money slated for discussion in the Parliament and the ruling party will predictably
have a tough time in countering the opposition charges.
History repeat itself, this time now again repeating the history after a long spell. to allow FDI in retail market is like as allow sellers of East India company and again invites them to rules over ourselves. It is very bad for economy, as the capital are flow out our country in liew of destruction of many country man who are engaged in retail market. The claim of government that it is beneficial for farmers as well as consumers does not hold water, as we have live example of packed bottle water, in which packers of sealed bottle water gain a lot of profit, which is injurious for Bharat i.e. India.
Congress has handled the entire issue very badly . They dont believe in consensus and the way they introduced FDI without even taking into Account the Aliies speaks of their poor Administration. Now govt to be blamed completely for the non functioning of the Pariament. Whatever they are trying to do like all party meet, winning over Allies should have been done well before the FDI Announce ment. Congress targetted for the full praise for Introducing FDI but ended up with full blame due to their mishandling it.
It shows that UPA (Congress) is interested to safeguard some MNC's only at the cost of Public dissatisfaction. What is the hurry now when there is so much opposition.Let them honour people's sentiment.
Well said, especially the last quote. The UPA sure has its stars in the wrong position going by its current situation. A lot of things are in the air and yes thanks to gravity falling down pretty fast. I cant understand one thing, should i marvel at how our democracy is functioning or should i feel ashamed that our Prime Minister is lacking the strong will needed to push through reforms. Let us hope we get the answer for this very soon.
If Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni has said that "every policy decision cannot be voted on as a censure motion in the House – it is an infringement of executive powers”,she has to be told that our constitutional system is not a dictatorship by a political party or a group of political parties and the government is answerable to the parliament on everything it does or intends to do and the opposition members of parliament have every right to censure the government if it has the numbers. The "holier than thou" and 'mightier than thou" attitudes of the Manmohan Singh government in its dealings with the opposition is against the philosophy of democratic governance. Moreover arrogance do not sit well on a democratic government.
Sitting here in Canada,I see what the West says about India. A huge, disfunctional democracy, where progress is made ispite of the Government! Understandbly, the Congress is handicapped because of it does not have a majority, but the manner in which this FDI matter has been handled, leaves a lot to be desired. On the face of it, it seems such a sensible policy initiative and yet the Government has floundered. One can expect the BJP to use every stunt available to get back into office, but the other parties have become spoilers for their own petty politics.The Trimool Congress is a joke and the Communists have become so irrelevant that India is unable to progress through this organized chaos! Another election will not solve anything in India, if there is no collective will to become serious players on the International stage
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