Talking Shop: A new beginning

“You are likely to keep

repeating the same

mistake all over again

if you do not agree

that it is a mistake.”

— Israelmore Ayivor

History has shown us repeatedly that coalitions have worked fine in India, with no adverse impact on the business of business. However, the business we are talking of today is serious business – that’s the business of running and rebuilding a nation. With ‘business’ being used five times in the first two sentences itself, this column obviously means business. And we are cantering towards that goal. We just need to rein in our runaway gumption long enough to check whether the 72-member strong Council of Ministers manages to seamlessly and effectively perform as one entity – an entity that brings about change; an entity that has growth at the core of its agenda; an entity that brings people together; and, most important, an entity that means business.

I will rest my case on the ‘historical track record’ of Indian coalition Governments with one example that should kill all debate – PV Narasimha Rao’s Congress-led coalition that toed Manmohan Singh’s line and saw India launch economic reforms that have changed the global financial landscape. That being said, coalitions are typically caught between the devil and the deep sea, and the pulls and pushes can be seething, as we are beginning to witness.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, the single-largest political party in India as per poll results, has retained key ministerial posts, but the overall look and feel is made up of a different fabric this time. At the time of swearing-in, the Council of Ministers comprised the PM and 71 ministers. In the 2024 Council of Ministers, there are 30 Cabinet Ministers, 5 Ministers of State (Independent Charge) and 36 Ministers of State. What remains to be seen is whether and how these 72 people perform as ‘one’.

Burning list of issues

The list of issues that confronted the Government in its first week itself is a daunting one. Let’s begin with one that needed less of cleansing agents and more of compassion and largesse – here, the authorities have already failed, if some alleged local reports are true. I speak of Uttarakhand and the forest fires that have raged in Almora for a fortnight, burning entire hillsides to a cinder and leaving chaos in its wake. Sections of the media claimed that nine people had died in recent days, including four Forest Department officials who were burnt to death when their vehicle fell prey to flames in the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary.

Death is a great leveller and as news of the tragedy spread, massive crowds gathered in small towns and villages. One social media channel sent waves of consternation raging when it interviewed irate relatives of the families of the deceased, who alleged that they had each been offered a compensation of Rs 1,000 for the tragedy. The crowd turned ballistic on hearing this, baying for blood and retribution. Luckily, the state shrugged off its soporific lethargy and Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami jumped up to announce an ex-gratia reparation of Rs 10 lakh to the families of the deceased forest officials.

While it restored a semblance of calm in the immediate aftermath, the announcement came a bit too late, for the damage had been done. If the alleged social media reports are true, they paint a sorry picture indeed of how human lives are perceived and financially annotated in the official scheme of things. Remember, most people reading this column often spend Rs 1,000 on a single lunch or dinner.

NEET: Not quite neat

This ‘scam’ is one for the history books. You study, cram, lose sleep and pray, all for an examination that could change your life. You go for the written test and are informed that ‘the paper has been leaked’. If the allegations be true, as stated by petitioners before the Supreme Court, then this dark joke played on 26 lakh young Indian hopefuls should go down in history in a chapter titled: “India’s Greatest Prank”. I use the word ‘prank’ because the authorities have admitted that grace marks were given to over 1,500 students. Grace marks? To 1,500 students? I am sure using the cane to good effect on even a few would reveal just who got the grace to award these marks. This is an opportunity for the new Government.

Terrorism has reared its ugly head in Jammu & Kashmir again, with Doda district witnessing skirmishes and encounters, sending the security forces into high gear to flush out the miscreants. The Prime Minister has personally intervened to direct officials to deploy the full spectrum of India’s capabilities to untangle this maze in right earnestness. This is another opportunity for the new Government.

Unemployment threatens to breach the 45-per cent mark, even as we scratch our foreheads to fathom how wholesale inflation is at 2.61 per cent, while aloos, arbis and tamatars are refusing to come down from their spatial price orbits. This is another opportunity for the new Government.

If our mountains in the North were the first to feel the impact of Climate Change, it is the turn of South India now, where summer temperatures have shot up by 3-4 degrees Celsius in a decade. Cultivation choices and patterns are changing in this heat, with Madraasis (I am one too, so don’t get upset) looking yearningly at Butter Chicken and Daal Makhani. Ignore the dietary intonations, they are being used in jest. Anyhow, while a tall order, this is another opportunity for the new Government.

The point about “opportunity for the new Government” is simple. These are seriously tough challenges and uphill tasks, every single one of them, but that is where opportunity always lurks – within obstacles and challenges. Overcome them, and the achievement is noteworthy and all-impacting for the people. That changes aspirations, changes expectations, changes lives, changes moral fabric, and changes people. That is what governance and being in Government is all about.

The list is long list, though it does not include the mystery of last week’s official G7 Meet photograph from Italy – even with our ‘Partner Invitee’ PM missing from the frame, there were nine leaders in the picture. Who were the two gate-crashers? Aw, let’s just get back to business.

Business of business

Operating in the unfamiliar setting of someone – read ‘coalition partners’ – keeping a close watch on its moves, the Government will be hard-pressed to push initiatives or make announcements that are not easily digested by the average Joe. The new regime needs to drive business growth as well, addressing taxation issues such as the variable Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, despite its depleted numbers in the Lower House of Parliament. GST has been a contentious issue since its implementation and a burning election plank, with detractors calling for its consolidation into a single-rate system. This is an acid test.

There are other tough legacy expectations, including those centred around sustainability and green initiatives. A lot is also expected on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) regime for farmers, with coalition partners already seeking announcements on this front. It is worth remembering that in its last term, the Government ate humble pie when it rescinded the Farm Laws and threw in the promise of high-powered committees to come up with a solution (incidentally, has anyone ever heard of a ‘low-powered’ Government committee?). Anyway, to expect the same people in the driver’s seat to now do something diametrically different on MSP would border on the unreal. That is coalition at work.

It is such pulls and pushes that will determine who has a tight grip on the rope, and who runs out of it the soonest. The tightrope is taut and the walkers have the balancing beam delicately perched in their hands as they take the first few steps to re-discover their sprightliness, both physical and that which resides in the mind. To fall mid-way or make the long walk talk is the big ask here. For the sake of a nation seeking succour, growth and peace, and all these at once, one hopes that calm manages to prevail in governance and an amenable middle path is reached, amid all the pushing and pulling.

The writer is a veteran journalist and communications specialist. He can be reached on [email protected]. Views expressed are personal