After the Amartya Sen-Rajiv Kumar TV Debate on the economy
Now, the great game of the 2019 election!
Yes, there are some dramatic moments in the political and economic debates in recent times. One was of course the much-talked about No-confidence debate in the Lok Sabha. In a significant sense, this debate gave Mr.Rahul Gandhi the much needed boost to prove his credentials as a leader of the great national party, the Indian National Congress. It looks as if the ruling party, namely, the BJP seemed to have imagined itself as a powerful party that wanted to replace the INC, the slogan was the Congress-mukth India! This won’t cut much ice, everyone knows and yet the very boost the party gave itself showed that they really believed in creating such a scenario.
Now, after the no-confidence debate and the outcome, though everyone knows, were as expected. The BJP gave in to the way Mr.Gandhi came out with a well-prepared and well-rehearsed speech that took everyone by surprise and even with some shock. Rahul Gandhi with this s;pee3ch seem to have arrived on the national stage, we have to admit, however grudgingly. Yes, he produced an impact and the ruling party itself was take a back with Gandhi’s flow of speech which had itself and flow and ended with a shocking hug he gave to Mr.Modi. The PM himself was unprepared and we have seen how he was caught unawares and yet managed to respond in a way that also gave him some credit. The real bonhomie brought the much need civility and some dignity also to the very august house and that is how it should be at the end of the day.
So, of all the old times, starting from the 1963 Acharya Kripalanai’s no-confidence speech against Pandit Nehru to the other such events, in all some 26 no-confidence motions in the Lok Sabha, this one too was a landmark event. After all, Mr.Modi managed to avoid any such move in the last four yats and also it is a fact that the very massive setback to the Congress made the party unnerved to move a motion on its own. So, the current move gave rise to a new development.
A new confidence to take on Mr.Modi on the coming Lok Sabha elections in 2019. Also came in before the debate in Parliament another well-timed debate, this time between the government economists, Rajiv Kumar who heads the Niti Aayog, the planning body of the m Modi government. The debate on the NDTV, well-timed and also well-titled, “Prove it!”And the “Challenges accepted.
We saw after a long break, Prof.Sen taking on Modi government for its lacklustre performance on the economic front, as Sen Saw it. After all Sen is an expert on the Indian economy, why even on the global economic scene and so we had for the first time saw Sen quoting enough evidence, statistics from a range of issues, from education to health to the very economic growth scenario, from Bangladesh to Indonesia to Sri Lanka to show ,to prove that on sheer general data, these countries were performing much better than the great Indian economy.
Yes, Rajiv Kumar quoted enough date to show how under the Modi regime many sectors of the Indian economy were performing very creditably. And yet, as Sen proved ,yes with a touch of sarcasm and with, that we have to prove by credible data. Yes, on this basis, we have to concede why we need a much more better account to prove that we are doing really well. We have to take our economic experts, advisers and independent experts with a pinch of salt, as we saw from Sen’s type of analysis that we need a much more critical insights.
As Sen said that we need more critical economists, very credible economists, unfortunately, the official economists are a bit unreliable, see how many were sent out or they themselves migrated as soon as their official tasks are over here!
This sort of “patriotism” nor the lack of it somehow dents the credibility of the USA-based Indian economists. Fortunately, Sen said that he spend more time these days in India. That is welcome and does him much good, we feel! If one Sen had based himself more on the Indian soil his wisdom and credibility would have much more good for the larger good of the country.
Now, the latest buzz is that the coming great challenge for Mr.Modi is the 2019 general election. Now, after the no-confidence debate we see the Congress is having a rethink, that is not to project Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Ministerial candidate that is how it should be.
Instead they should project a candidate who has really credibility. Not necessarily, a female candidate, Mayawati or Mamata Banerjee. But others too are also in the race. H.D.Kumaraswamy or a Chandrababu Naidu. We need a much more broad based debate, an objective debate. Not the media-inspire prejudiced media-led talk.
Surely, we feel that Mr.Naidu has the ideal qualifications. His proven administrative abilities make him an ideal candidate for the Prime Minister’s job in place of Modi, if the Opposition parties seriously give up their own narrow agendas and seek a nationally-credible fight.
Also, it is important to point out that the Congress must shed its obsession with dynasty. Mrs.Sonia Gandhi seems to be still playing an active role, not even from behind the scene and so too the dummy candidate of Dr.Manmohan Singh. Who knows the desires of people? Dr./Singh might still be projected as the dummy face of the dynasty. Such narrow dreams must be exposed and a real-well-debated candidate
or candidates who might emergence from a genuine democratic debate.