HVK Archives: Stand firm, PC
Stand firm, PC - The Economic Times
Editorial
()
22 August 1997
Title: Stand firm, PC
Author: Editorial
Publication: The Economic Times
Date: August 22, 1997
Finance minister P Chidambaram must be congratulated on asserting that the
Tamil Maanila Congress will not be bullied into changing its agenda by the
two communist parties. The comrades say they do not seek to impose their
own agenda on the United Front but will ensure that the Common Minimum
Programme is implemented rather than the 'World-Bank dictated economic
agenda'. This reveals both the hypocracy and intellectual bankruptcy of
the communist parties. The Common Minimum Programme says quite clearly
that the insurance industry will have the same economic environment as
banking - that is, private and foreign competitors will be allowed to come
in. In a clear stab in the back, the Left Front has backtracked on the
CMP, and opposes even preliminary steps towards opening up insurance. Some
communists say they had reservations on this score at the time the CUT was
formulated. So what? Other parties had reservations on other parts of the
CMP. The programme is a compromise document, and it is the duty of all
constituents to respect that compromise. The communists have abandoned
that duty, and deserve to be condemned roundly for it. Ideology apart,
they want to cater to the narrow interests of trade unions controlling the
existing public sector monopoly, and do not care a hang about consumers.
Having themselves flouted the CMP, it is hilarious to hear-them accusing Mr
Chidambaram of doing so. Even more hilarious is the notion that opening up
insurance is a plot of the World Bank. Are they unaware that any number of
Indian thinkers have long pressed for competition in insurance? Have they
ever bothered to ask consumers what they want? Not at all. Despite the
collapse of the Soviet Union, the communists remain slaves to the notion
that the state is the best provider of services and that foreign capital
must be kept out. The notion that the World Bank is the only agency
interested in liberalisation, and that any liberaliser is an agent of the
World Bank, shows that their intellectual level does not rise above the
rubbish doled out during the Stalinist trials of the 1930s. Mr Chidambaram
is right to reject attempts by the communist parties to dilute the content
of the Common Minimum Programme.
Back
Top
|
