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UPA’s one year in office

	May 23, 2005

The United Progressive Alliance led by the Congress completed its first year in power yesterday (May 22) with the Left parties, whose support provides it sustenance, keeping away from the function organised to mark the occasion. Congress leaders made efforts to persuade the Left leaders to attend the function, but failed to make them budge.

The Left parties were formally invited to attend the function to mark the completion of one year of UPA rule. But they sent individual letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying that they would not attend the event, but would continue to cooperate with his Government. Thanking the Prime Minister for the invitation, the leaders of the Left parties said they looked forward to the Government carrying out the common minimum programme, keeping in mind national interest and also that of the poor. CPIM general secretary Prakash Karat wished Dr. Manmohan Singh all success in the coming period for implementation of the CMP. Veteran CPIM leader Harkishan Singh Surjeet and politburo member Sitaram Yechury also assured the Government of continued cooperation in the endeavour of meeting the people’s aspirations.

The Left parties had spelt out their stand on the matter at the UPA-Left Coordination Committee meeting held in New Delhi on May 18. While the UPA in a statement issued after the meeting claimed that those present expressed overall satisfaction and resolve to move forward more purposefully to implement their collective political, social and economic agenda as embodied in the national Common Minimum Programme (CMP), CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat made it clear that this was only an assessment of the UPA and not that of the Left parties.



UPA-Left agree only to fight communal forces

The only point of agreement between the UPA and the Left parties to emerge at the Coordination Committee meeting was the consensus to fight communal forces. Karat said that he agreed with the point in the UPA statement, “The UPA partners and the Left parties reaffirmed their resolve to confront and combat communal forces and strengthen the secular pillars of the Indian state.” Reports say that the focus of the meeting held to review the one year performance of the Manmohan Singh Government turned on communal forces and on Gujarat after members sought to know from Home Minister Shivraj Patil what prevented the Union Government from ordering a CBI probe into six riot cases being tried outside the state. Prakash Karat raised the issue and found support from Ahmed Patel of the Congress, Lalu Prasad Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal. Debabrata Biswas of the Forward Bloc and Assaduddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen. Biswas said the members wanted to know the political direction and will of the Government than just a bureaucratic reply. Shiv Raj Patil who gave a presentation on the internal security situation in the country, mentioned the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act and start of dialogue with Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh and militants in the North East.

Briefing media persons after the seven-hour long meeting, Congress leader Ambika Soni said the meeting witnessed a structured discussion with leaders making their points on different issues. In a separate statement, Prakash Karat said the meeting was useful as it gave an overall view of the UPA Government’s performance and certain Left concerns were raised.

Among the Ministers who briefed the coordination committee were Natwar Singh, Sharad Pawar, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Meira Kumar, Arjun Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, Dayanidhi Maran, K. Chandrashekhar Rao, Rambilas Paswan, P.R. Kyndiah, P. Chidambaram and Raghuvansh Prasad Singh.

The UPA statement said that the coordination committee underscored the criticality of the recently announced Bharat Nirman Programme in bringing prosperity to the country’s villages. It also appreciated the launch of the Rural Health Mission, the National Horticulture Mission and the National Urban Renewal Mission.

The Left parties have distanced themselves from the first anniversary of the Manmohan Singh government saying that it is a celebration of the UPA Government and they are not part of the Government but only supporting it from outside.

About the Left assessment of the UPA Government’s first year, the CPI(M) said that its politburo, at its meeting held in New Delhi on May 14 and 15 had already made an assessment of its performance. In a significant comment, the politburo said : “Hardly any legislation which addresses the needs of the vast masses of the poorer sections in our country, has been moved in Parliament in this one year by the UPA Government.”

Prakash Karat told reporters after the politburo meeting that there is a class bias in legislation brought forward by the UPA Government. He alleged that the Government has moved legislation to put forward policies within the neo-liberal framework and in the interest of big business and foreign capital. According to Karat, the Government’s economic policies remain a major cause of concern for the Left. A few positive steps like restoring the Employees Provident Fund interest rate to 9.5 per cent, amendments in the Patents Bill, were made possible because of the Left’s intervention, Karat said. He also talked of opposing foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail. But he did not reply to a reporter’s query on why the Left Front Government in West Bengal is relentlessly urging the Centre to give clearance to a retail chain. Karat also criticised the Government for not doing anything to reverse the collapse of the public distribution system (PDS).



CWC discusses UPA’s performance

The Congress Working Committee at its meeting on May 16 reviewed the performance of the Manmohan Singh Government and how the Congress has coped with the pressures of coalition building. Reports say that the meeting glossed over contentious issues and instead concentrated on congratulating itself on the successful completion of the UPA Government’s one year in office. The 25 odd speakers including Chief Ministers, who took part in the CWC deliberations, competed with each other in heaping praise on Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Sonia Gandhi set the tone when she praised Manmohan Singh’s leadership of the UPA Government in her opening remarks. Dr. Manmohan Singh, on his part, lauded Sonia Gandhi for the manner in which she chartered the party with her “maturity, guidance and leadership.” A resolution adopted by the CWC appreciated how Sonia Gandhi led the party to power and then renounced the office of the Prime Minister. It also placed on record acknowledgement of the “quiet dignity and qualities of head and heart” which Dr. Manmohan Singh had brought to bear on the office of the Prime Minister. A significant remark made by Sonia Gandhi at a meeting with newspersons later was that the UPA Government was here for five years and Manmohan Singh would continue to lead it. Not ruling out a reshuffle in the AICC after the June 9 organizational elections, Sonia Gandhi said there would be some rearrangement. On whether her son Rahul Gandhi would be given some responsibility, Sonia Gandhi said “Not only Rahul, the services of all other young leaders will be used.”

But the CWC meeting was not without its share of controversy. A press note issued by the Prime Minister’s Office said that Dr. Manmohan Singh gave the UPA Government six points on a scale of 1 to 10 for its performance. He was also quoted as saying that he would never be satisfied with 60 per cent and believed that the Government could do better.

A day later, it became clear that the 6/10 remark had not really been made. It may have been in the draft speech, but Dr. Manmohan Singh did not read it out at the CWC meeting. Congress President Sonia Gandhi, responding to queries related to the 6/10 report card said, “I do not know whether the Prime Minister has said it. He did not say this at the working committee meeting as reported in the media.” When told that the PMO had released the Prime Minister’s speech, which contained this remark, Gandhi said in a disapproving tone. “Well, I have always been hopeless in mathematics. I won’t give numbers. I can tell you I am fully satisfied.”

Ambika Soni, chairperson, AICC Media Department, who briefed the media after the CWC meeting, strongly denied that the Prime Minister said any such thing at the meeting. In fact, the 6/10 mystery is just another goof-up by the Prime Minister’s Office. A senior Congress leader said that the Prime Minister’s speech did contain the 6/10 remark, but there was a unanimous decision to cut it out. There were a few other paragraphs also which the Prime Minister decided to omit and did not read out at the CWC meeting.



Massive rural development plan unveiled

On the eve of the completion of one year in office, the UPA Government has approved a Rs.1,74,000 crore Bharat Nirman (India Development) project for development of rural infrastructure over a period of four years. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Committee on Rural Infrastructure chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on May 16. According to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office, the programme will bring an additional 10 million hectares of land under assured irrigation, connect all villages with a population of 1000 or above, with a road, build six million houses for the poor and provide drinking water to over 74,000 new habitations. The programme will also extend power supply to 1,25,000 villages and offer electricity connection to 23 million households. All villages in the country will get telephone connections.



India’s ‘Suez Canal’ gets Cabinet nod

The Union Cabinet has given the go ahead for the ambitious Sethusamudram ship canal project. Once completed, it will become a short cut for ships moving between the west and east coasts of India which now have to take a long detour, sailing around Sri Lanka. It will save 21 to 36 hours of sailing time. The project involves cutting a canal across a narrow strip of land, mostly through Rameswaram Island, to connect the Gulf of Mannar with Palk Bay. The idea of the ship canal was floated 145 years ago by Commander Taylor of the Indian Marine.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the shift canal would vastly reduce distance between the east and west coasts. Comparing its benefits with that of the Suez and Panama Canals, he said : “it opens up a channel that will enable ships to avoid going around Sri Lanka.”

Calling it “a dream for over 100 years”, he said the Government had fulfilled one of the major promises made in the CMP and Budget.

Chidambaram said a special purpose vehicle would be set up for implementation of the project and raising funds. They may tap the market through an IPO or private placements to mobilise Rs. 236 crore.



BJP charges UPA with inaction and vendetta

The BJP has criticised the UPA for what it called non-performance. The party general secretary and former Law Minister Arun Jaitely said that the UPA had survived for one year only because of anti-BJP-ism and not because of its performance. Speaking to reporters in Chennai, Arun Jaitley said : “The principal achievement of the Government is inaction and vendetta, and despite its inability to take decisions, anti-BJP-ism has kept it going for 365 days.” He said it was a year in which continuous assault was made on constitutional institutions, as he put it. Jaitely said it had been a year of tainted ministers and emergence of extra-constitutional centres of power and efforts to destroy the primacy of the institution of the Prime Minister.

NDA leaders are meeting in New Delhi on May 23 under the chairmanship of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to discuss the current political situation in the country and to finalise the charge sheet against the one year old Congress-led UPA performance. The meeting is also expected to take a critical view of the UPA performance in different spheres including economic, social, foreign affairs and internal security besides taking a relook at the Opposition strategy to challenge the Government.