Column

Sotto voce

Our Prime Minister is not a man known for making casual, rhetorical statements. Not being a professional politician, he does not have the habit of playing fast and loose with the truth; his words are measured, his ideas cogent, and even his loud thinking not without purpose. So when he says something, we need to take notice.

Last week, he made a speech that went largely unreported, but which, in my opinion, raised some important points. Speaking at a management institute near Delhi, Singh wondered if what we were seeing in India was "crony capitalism." : "I was struck recently by a comment in the media that most of the billionaires among India's top business leaders operate in oligopolistic markets, and in sectors where the government has conferred special privileges on a few. This sounds like crony capitalism," he said.

Cynics will immediately suggest that Singh is beginning to distance himself from economic reforms that he himself began because the time has come to prepare for the general elections which are about two years away. The government will now start making populist noises, they will tell you wisely; it cannot afford to be seen to be pro-businessmen when it's own platform is based on policies for the 'aam aadmi." Highly paid analysts will produce well-researched reports arguing that economic "reforms" will now slow down.

Keeping the motivation of this speech aside, let us look at whether anyone else is thinking on these lines. The Union cabinet appears to be fairly in tune with reformist policies, barring the occasional "retrograde" Arjun Singh. But is it really so? Here is an excerpt from a recent speech made by Mani Shanker Aiyar, who heads the ministries for Sports and for Panchayat Raj: "Every five years, it is the masses who determine who will form the government. And in between those five years the classes determine what that government will do."

Aiyar, and Singh too, are echoing what many others, chiefly on the left, have been saying, that India's economic policies are geared towards the well-off and many of India's "successes" — increasing number of millionaires, rising spending power and indeed, the growth rate itself — are nothing more than rampant consumerism. And the government is encouraging this consumerism by keeping duties low because of lobbying pressure from industrial groups, which have the clout and contacts to get the policies they want. In contrast, the poor have no lobbies. Whenever the subject of India's growth comes up, they point to farmers' suicides; it's a bit of a cheap shot, but it works.

The question, however, is: is there a cause and effect? Are the suicides, for example, in any way related to the emergence of malls? Is the investment in the Commonwealth Games and the failure to encourage Panchayati Raj a zero sum game? Would the poor be any better off if the economic policies were reversed?

This is a critical nub of the debate, where so far, unfortunately, ideology and polemics have taken over from hard analysis and facts. For those who are unbridled supporters of the market, the trickle down benefits of liberalisation is the way to go to bring the benefits of an expanded market to the poor. And as far as leftists are concerned, the market is a monster and capitalism is a dirty word. The two sides have joined battle, fired with the idealism of their worldviews, but without the ability to consider the issue in a nuanced way.

True, India is on a growth path and many people are getting richer by the day. Yet, look around and there is no dearth of poor Indians barely managing to get by. On the other hand, empirical evidence will tell you that upward economic mobility is a fact, and large numbers have seen a rise in their incomes. This, however, does not mean that farmers are not facing severe problems. The issue, therefore, is far more complex than what it has been made out to be. By himself raising questions and doubts about his own policies, the Prime Minister has shown that he is prepared to confront the issue head on. This is an opportunity to all those who oppose his government's policies, especially the leftists, to open a new, but honest debate.

Email: sidharth01@dnaindia.net