Waiting for a government that will govern

When Business Line hit the news stands this day 20 years ago, the Narasimha Rao Government at the Centre was four months shy of completing three years.

The initial burst of reforms spearheaded by Finance Minister Manmohan Singh had brought about wholesale changes to the economy and the rules of the game as far as Corporate India was concerned had changed.

With its back to the wall triggered by a balance of payments crisis, the Government set about dismantling the stifling Licence-Permit Raj, inviting foreign investment in a whole host of sectors, opening the doors for the private sector to invest in fields hitherto closed to them, initiating tax reforms and unveiling inflation-cutting steps.

All this was done by a Government that did not enjoy a majority in the Lok Sabha. The Congress emerged the single largest party in the elections in 1991, mid-way through which the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. The veteran P.V. Narasimha Rao took over as Prime Minister and deftly ensured that the minority government status did not come in the way of the far-reaching changes that were initiated.

Since then, it has been an era of coalition governments at the Centre, with a Congress-led alliance being in power for two consecutive terms since 2004, supported by the Left Parties and others in the first five-year term and then an assortment of other parties since 2009.

And, as Business Line steps into the third decade of its existence, the country too gets ready for Parliamentary elections.

Unlike in the past, it does not appear to be a clear contest between a Congress-led front and one led by the BJP, which has already announced that the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will be its prime ministerial candidate.

There is the Aam Aadmi Party, which had a spectacular debut in the Delhi Assembly elections towards the end of 2013 and which is now in power with the Congress supporting it from outside.

In the next few weeks, the different electoral alliances will become somewhat clear – the Congress and the BJP will lead two fronts, the fledgling AAP plans to contest as many Lok Sabha seats as possible, and there will be the Left Parties that will hope to rope in some of the like-minded parties into their fold.

Between 1996, when the Narasimha Rao Government’s term ended, and now there have been different parties forming the government at the Centre. An AB Vajpayee-led BJP formation was in power for 13 days, before a United Democratic Front Government supported from the outside by the Congress was in power for about two years.

It was then two BJP-led alliances – the first one lasted 13 months and the second would have lasted its full term (in the process, it would have become the first non-Congress government to last a full term) had not the BJP called for early elections – with Vajpayee at the helm.

In 2004, when the Congress unexpectedly emerged the single largest party, the party President Sonia Gandhi appointed Manmohan Singh to the top job, with the Left Parties supporting the United Progressive Alliance Government.

In the last elections, the UPA again came back to power.

Irrespective of the political formation at the Centre, the process of reforms that was initiated in mid-1991 has continued, albeit in fits and starts. The UPA has come up with a number of social welfare schemes and legislations such as the rural employment guarantee programme, and the legislations on Right to Information and land acquisition.

The last five years, however, will be remembered more for the various controversies and scams, especially those over spectrum allocation for mobile telecom players and granting licences to the private sector to mine coal for captive uses. The Comptroller and Auditor General came up with reports estimating astronomical losses to the exchequer because of the Government’s policies with regard to both these scarce and priceless commodities.

Faced with allegations of crony capitalism and an unrelenting opposition, the Government let slip on governance, in the process the economy suffered the most. Most sectors of the economy have been facing a slowdown for more than a year now. In such a situation, one thing that the country will want in the next general election is a clear mandate and a Government that governs.

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