The Hindu Business Line : <I>Politics of the oil protest </I>

The response of certain political parties to the decision of the Congress to get its State Governments to reduce sales tax on petrol and diesel is gradually entering the realm of confusion, the one certainty being that the interests of the average citizen of the republic — both short and long term — are getting pushed to the sidelines.

Take the case of the BJP, the stalwarts of which party — including Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Mr L. K. Advani — have courted arrest while protesting against the Congress move.

The former Prime Minister, Mr Vajpayee, has been reported as saying: "A strange phenomenon has emerged with States being asked to share the burden. We have no objection if States cut taxes on their own. But it would be a joke if the Centre uses its pressure on States to slash their taxes."

THE BJP MOVES

The BJP today is in a difficult political situation and it is expected that the party will employ every stratagem at its command to get back into the public eye, which is exactly what it is doing now. But how does the stand compare with the basic promise made to the voter during election-time that the party would do everything it can to make life a bit easier?

Even the RSS, which the BJP cannot ignore, has argued thus: "The BJP can make a beginning instead of protesting on the streets by stopping the wheels and adding to public misery. The party can walk the talk by asking its State Governments to reduce State levies on fuel and show the way."

The CPI(M) has described the Congress move as "diversionary" and "pure tokenism" and has asked the UPA Government (which is in power because of Left support) to forgo the additional revenue being generated in the form of Customs and excise duties so as to cushion the impact of the price increase instead of asking the States to cut their sales tax.

Needless to say, while the party leaders fight the big battle in New Delhi, the people of the Left-ruled States have no choice but to bear the higher fuel prices.

This political line would make sense only if it was accompanied by a strong agitation programme in the Left-ruled States (Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura) so as to impress on the Congress the seriousness of the demand and the political consequences of ignoring it.

In West Bengal, curiously, this normative agenda is being disturbed by the perceived economic compulsion of making the State an attractive investment destination, with the Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, strongly advocating a line which woulddiscourage strikes and work stoppages.

Simpler Alternative

It would have been so much simpler, and popular, if both the Left and the BJP (strange bedfellows as they are) lowered the petro-product imposts in their respective States and continued with their political opposition to the Centre's oil-pricing policy — a line which would have fetched them much larger political dividends than they are in for now.

At the very least, it would have deprived those who are against these parties from employing the argument that they are more interested in political gain at the expense of the Congress than actually helping the common manto make both ends meet.

Further, as Tamil Nadu has shown, only the diesel price need be lowered because of the multiplier effect it has on a large part of the economy through higher transport costs, etc.

Ranabir Ray Choudhury

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