Manmohan Singh asks 'aam aadmi' for help

The prime minister on Friday night defended his recent reform moves in a televised address to the nation, explaining why the government had no option but to opt for these tough measures.

He explained how increasing diesel price had become inevitable, how LPG is not exactly the poor man’s fuel and dispelled notions that FDI in multi-brand retail would hurt hundreds of traders.

It was a speech delivered with passion but it didn’t really have a political message. There was no effort to soften the blow by announcing a few populist measures or, at least, promise that a few sops are being planned for the aam aadmi.

Manmohan Singh tried to bring back the aura of 1991 by trying to remind the audience that he, after all, had been the father of reforms in the country and had opened up the economy under trying circumstances.

Painting a gloomy picture of the economy, he said, “The last time we faced this problem was in 1991. Nobody was willing to lend us even small amounts of money then.

“We came out of the crisis by taking strong, resolute steps. You can see the positive results of those steps. We are not in that situation today but we must act before people lose confidence in our economy.”

The prime minister said no government would like to impose a burden on the common man. “Our government has been voted to office twice to protect the interests of aam aadmi.”

He argued that rapid growth was necessary to fund the national programmes in various sectors like health, education and housing while pointing out that the government was expected to do this at a time when the economy had slowed down elsewhere in the world.

He said that the slowdown had affected the United States as well as Europe. Even China was not growing at the same frenetic pace.

Manmohan Singh said the subsidy bill in oil was over Rs140,000 crore last year and had preventive action been further delayed this year, that same subsidy bill would have surged beyond Rs200,000 crore.

“Money does not grow on trees. If we had not acted, it would have meant a higher fiscal deficit.” The prime minister said that the diesel price hike was actually cushioned. It was increased by only Rs5 a litre instead of Rs17 a litre, which was the requirement if subsidies were to be cancelled out completely.

He said that the government’s calculation was that the real poor use six LPG cylinders or less a year. That is why the government agreed to continue subsidising a maximum of six LPG cylinders annually. He believed that those who consumed more cooking gas were in a position to bear the additional expenses. He reminded the nation that the fuel of a large percentage of the population – kerosene – had been left untouched.

He said those spreading canards that FDI in multi-brand retail will hurt the small trader were not speaking the whole truth. He pointed out that recent developments have shown there was space for growth of both “small and big”. The prime minister argued that the farmers would be benefited as modern transportation systems, warehouses and cold storage facilities would come up.

He said that the entry of foreign players in retail would create “millions of good, new quality jobs”.

Manmohan Singh appealed to the citizens: “Please do not be misled by those who want to confuse you by spreading fear and false information. The same tactics were adopted in 1991. They did not succeed then. They will not succeed now. I have full faith in the wisdom of the people of India.”

It was not a political speech. The prime minister did not give a roadmap how he expected to emerge from the number crisis that threatens his government in Parliament. No wonder the main Opposition, the BJP, felt that the speech was an “incomplete, one-directional” one. Devoid of political rhetoric, the speech possibly did not find sympathy with a large section of the aam aadmi.