The Hindu Business Line : Honesty and political survival are ‘incompatible’

In an era where “honesty has become incompatible with survival in politics”, rivals of the UPA Government hollering over the cash-for-vote scam is ‘fantastic’, says Dr Jayaprakash Narayan, President of Lok Satta party, which he describes as the “biggest of the smaller parties” and which got a 12 per cent vote share in the four byelections it contested to the Andhra Assembly.

Now that the trust vote has been won, during the fag end of its term, the UPA Government should prioritise injecting quality in higher education, improving health-care and helping the agricultural sector, not through “fiscally profligate” measures such as the huge loan waiver but by technological and marketing support to farmers, he told Business Line in an interview. Excerpts from the interview:

Let’s begin with the political drama we saw during the trust vote in Parliament; two aspects — the manner in which the Left withdrew support and the CPI(M) General Secretary went out with vengeance to bring down the Manmohan Singh Government and money for votes. Your comments on the first.

Actually Prakash (Karat) did himself and his party a great disservice; in my considered view, this is a historic blunder. Of course, some points he raised about India’ sovereignty and independence are important. But you and I know that in today’s world, the US cannot even do much to North Korea and Iran. Look at India’s size, clout, stature and record in non-proliferation, which nobody doubts. Given all this, the withdrawal smacked of a lack of confidence.

Actually, Rahul Gandhi, while the speech was not very impressive in delivery, made one point, which he repeated four-five times. That is the right approach; we are too big and too important, too modern and too civilized to be too fearful. Karat is basically dealing with the 1960s’ world, the Vietnam War, etc; in these 48 years, things have changed drastically.

And the manner in which the trust vote was won?

You may not like who won it; or some of the methods employed. Nobody says our democracy is perfect; it is far from perfect, but there is a democracy in place and there are certain rules of the game. The right approach would be to bury the hatchet and say: “Alright even though I’m not happy, I accept it and reserve the right to go back to people as this is not right and all of us should work to improve that democracy”.

I don’t know much about Tamil Nadu, but in Andhra Pradesh, practically every major party is buying votes by spending astronomical sums. Typically, in this State, to get elected as an MLA, the average cost is between Rs 5 and Rs 10 crore. For me now to pretend that I am shocked and horrified is a little too much!

And after what had happened in Karnataka?

Exactly. Karnataka comes after Andhra Pradesh; in many ways I believe AP, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are the worst in terms of money in elections and corruption, therefore. In such a situation, for us to pretend that there can be a very clean and pure political process in Parliament is fantastic.

But still it is not justifiable…

Let us not accept it; let us holler and shout and fight but let not that fight destroy our democracy at the same time. I cannot say that because it was done this way I will not accept your legitimacy. I may not like him (the winner), I reserve my right to criticise him but I respect the legitimacy of that office.

For instance, Mr Karat, even before the vote, said no matter what happens we will make it politically impossible for this government to continue. So what are you saying? That majority does not matter in a democracy? How can this be constitutional or democratic? Yes, that approach is valid on fundamental issues of right and wrong; if we impose an internal emergency and throw 100,000 people behind bars, extinguish constitutional liberties and close down your newspaper group. There, majorities don’t matter. But such issues come once in a generation, a lifetime.

The problem is that, today, honesty is incompatible with survival in politics. Let’s not pretend otherwise. Even now, Dr Manmohan Singh is impeccable. But the fact is he knows what is happening and he needs it to survive. So blaming doesn’t make sense.

What is your view on nuclear power?

It is not a panacea, but required. More than nuclear power my concern is a technology denial regime.

This government has eight months before the next elections; what should its priorities be? Till now, it could say the Left is holding us back. Also, how would you judge its four-year performance?

Like a curate’s egg — part good, part bad. On balance, considering the constraints, a huge and wobbly coalition, it would be uncharitable to judge any such government — the NDA earlier, the UPA now — very harshly. It is easy to be judgemental and take moral positions, but the tragedy of India is that as long as a goonda is an MLA there are political compulsions.

And the priorities?

First of all, education, and moving from quantity to quality. So far, the approach of Sarva Siksha Abhyan is enrolment, emphasis on numbers, and the quality is appalling. The Prime Minister must fight that and cleanse higher education by destroying the existing regulatory regime.

How?

The AICTE, the Medical Council of India, and the UGC have all become millstones around the higher education system. At such a critical time in its history — when demand is growing for skills, quality education and parents are willing to pay — India has been poorly served by two education ministers. The Prime Minister should aggressively act on this and the country will stand by him. At the same time, guarantee that no youngster will be denied higher education of her choice for want of means. If she desires and deserves, means will not be an issue, either through full or part subsidy or soft loan…

How is it possible? Look at the numbers…

I said deserve and desire; I’m not saying everybody in India will get a university degree; that is silly. But today hundreds of thousands are denied education because they don’t have the means. Otherwise they deserve it. By removing the regulatory regime, you’ll allow private investment of the right kind. But what is happening now is that private investment is allowed but of the wrong kind; the paanwalla and the liquor baron are coming into education and not the truly enlightened and educated people because you have to pay bribes ranging from Rs 1 to 6 crore to the regulatory bodies. Today … and I’m not exaggerating a bit… not only has the quality of school education fallen but higher education is infinitely worse than it was a generation ago. A university graduate today means nothing.

What else should the government do?

Health care; let the Prime Minister go beyond the health mission allocations and actually devise a public-private partnership with public funding but with universal coverage. A bold, daring universal health care scheme. The UK could do it in 1948 when it was ravaged by war and the economy was in shambles. So why can’t we do it in India today? We can afford it. It may take 3 or 4 years to fully institutional it.

What about agriculture which is under such great distress?

That brings us to this horrible loan waiver; they can’t undo what they have already done, that is the gravest sin Dr Manmohan Singh has committed. I am a great farm sector man; I grew up on farms and a major part of my work in the government sector was related to the farm sector. And I say this is the worst possible way of supporting the agricultural sector. You are merely rewarding the defaulter at a time when only 30 per cent farmers have access to organised credit; 70 per cent either have no meaningful capital formation because they have no credit or have to go to usurious moneylenders, paying Rs 5-6 per cent monthly interest; in one extreme case, it was even 15 per cent!

In such a situation, we could have spent this money — I would say even Rs 100 crore — to do three things. One, guarantee universal credit access by strengthening the banking and co-operative sectors and ensure guaranteed credit to every single farmer and tenant.

Next, we have to guarantee technical infrastructure and marketing support for our farm producers. Right now, we have white elephants in the name of agricultural extension machinery and much of it exists only on paper and is of no consequence.

Now, with broadband connectivity, we can start kiosks for every 3,000-4,000 acres, have a farming register, and give them marketing support. Why is it that tomatoes are Rs 15 a kg on one day and at the month-end only 40 paise?

When onion goes up to Rs 20 a kg, governments change, but 90 days later, they come down to 90 paise. This is because farmers have no marketing intelligence. Next comes value addition, particularly for perishable commodities, so that if tomato falls below a certain price I don’t have to throw it on the street and then commit suicide. I can sell it at Rs 3 a kg; you subsidise the marketed produce.

Any suggestions on tackling inflation?

A significant part of inflation is external in terms of oil prices and, in the medium term, there is no solution. The world is addicted to oil and the world will pay a price until we switch over to a non-oil economy; I have no doubt it will happen.

The second is fiscal profligacy and I think it’s too late there. What do I tell the government about fiscal profligacy after the loan waiver? In the last one year, we’ve been behaving like a drunken sailor like there is no tomorrow. And the States are behaving even worse. In Andhra Pradesh, a unique experiment is on; the largest number of sops ever. Rupees 2 a kg rice, free power and loans at 3 per cent interest to many sectors, and Rs 5,000 in cash for those farmers who didn’t benefit from the loan waiver!

So what should be done?

Change the system… so that you don’t always need 40 per cent of votes to be rewarded with seats. Let the seats be allotted based on the total percentage of votes. This will also benefit the national parties — the Congress and the BJP — which are getting elbowed out of by regional parties in many pockets in India such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. In Maharashtra, they are playing second fiddle to their partners. This is not a happy thing. I’m no admirer of the Congress or the BJP, but that is not the issue. In a country as diverse and huge as India, if you have only fragmented polity and regional and sub-regional forces really calling the shots, the country suffers. But in the current political system, that is happening and if their vote-share falls below a certain threshold, people think that the party is over. So even if I wish to vote for that party, I won’t because I don’t want to waste my vote.

(Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in)

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