Bikash
Choudhury
AYSSYG-As you see, so you get. A
beaming and highly responsive Sonia Gandhi from the treasury benches drew the
attention of millions of viewers during the FDI debate in the lower house; it
was unusual and amusing when she gesticulated in response to a point raised by
Smt. Shushama Swaraj. And, in contrast Prime Minister sat through the entire
debate as quite as himself; even a die hard mind reader could not have guessed
what was occupying his mind? The weak P.M tag given to him by non-other than
Advaniji has fallen flat on his face as Singh Sahab weathered many storms
inside and outside Parliament and still done exactly what he believed in “The
Nuclear Deal last time and FDI in Retail now”. The silence and media shyness
could be construed as his weakness at one’s own peril. Sonia Gandhi always
considers him as very intelligent and treats him with dignity and respect of a
Head of State, which he so eminently deserves. The dual leadership, two for
party and one for Govt. has worked very well for the century old Congress party
to steer such a large ship in very turbulent weather. The “quality of
leadership” of INC at present has shown the chutzpa and drive which is heaps
better than the competition, BJP. The party with difference has destroyed its
leadership and has not brought up enough fresh bloods with new “Ideas” to steer
itself in a difficult time for the party and the Nation. In a recent study
published in the “Harvard Business Review” it was observed that “unconventional
and unfiltered leaders have always produced extra ordinary results and brought
epoch making changes while experienced and filtered leaders who come up from
the rank and file in a conventional process produce average to good results
only” This hypothesis holds good incase of Sonia Gandhi who came to
Politics from the profession of ‘home maker’, Manmohan Singh comes from
academic and professional economist back ground and Naveen Patnaik, Chief
Minister of Odisha comes from literary field; however, he has transformed the
State Politics and Economics, that no one has ever attempted before. This could
be due to a fresh perspective in contrast to a contrived notion as experience
at times, comes with its own unwanted baggage.
Deependra
Hooda, the young M.P from Rohtak echoed the right sentiment while speaking on
FDI, he said “Hamare Bichar Alag Hosaktehein, Hamara Dristikona Alag
Hosaktehein; lekin, Hamsabko Ekdusre Ka Bichar Ko Sanmaan Karna Chaihe”.
This is the approach the Congress Leadership need to consider and adopt to make
its umbrella party and our umbrella Nation of multiple ethnicities and culture
with various dormant sub-National identities a formidable Nation that its
majority young people dream of, and searching for right avenues to contribute.
It is not very clear as yet, why FDI in Retail suddenly drove so much passion
and so much virulent opposition; this may be just political than economic.
Initially, Reliance Fresh met strident opposition to its stores selling fruits
& vegetables on the guise of farmer’s interest and for the lively hood of
small vendors. It is reality now that both coexist and flourishing in their own
domain and with its own exclusive customers. Only thing, those farmers who now
supply vegetables to Reliance Fresh stores in Bhubaneswar and elsewhere in the
country have made higher margins with a nearly fixed and predictable income
and, more over, their social status has improved in the society; making it
easier for them to get a bride or groom in the Indian traditional market for
marriages. The other argument that needs to be considered by the naysayer is
the prospect of FDI brought competition making Indian Kirana shops becoming
efficient by adopting technology and processes that would be a huge value
proposition for Indian economy; while, wastes minimized and discovery of hidden
values in human resources and its application.
Congress,
along with slew of reforms including FDI in Retail need to make an attempt to
change its approach towards consensus building and revisit some of the issues
which were very dear to Sri Rajiv Gandhi, like Ganga Action Plan;which is still
languishing and has not reached its logical conclusion even after two decades
of being conceived and other thing that he raised with gusto, was the
digitization of all transactions in Govt. and a Free Port at Andaman Islands
which was shot down by pseudo Environmentalist. In addition, if Congress was
able to make good with the words of its young leader, Rahul Gandhi; on bringing
about systemic changes to sap corruption including the bill for public
procurement in 18 months time; then, UPA II could actually bury the negative
public perception about itself and infamous tag of “policy paralysis” though
nobody knows for sure who coined the phrase which got wide currency of recent
times and it could be a just and bold move for Indian National Congress.
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