Economy is what matters most. all else is sideshow 

There is no disputing the fact that RaGa’s mood pendulum has swung again—he is back to his ‘fight not flight’ mode.
People queue up outside polling booths with their voter ID
People queue up outside polling booths with their voter ID

Pushpesh Pant  Former professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University

There is no disputing the fact that RaGa’s mood pendulum has swung again—he is back to his ‘fight not flight’ mode. He has been taking on the Prime Minister on the real state of the economy and likening the present situation to the sinking of the Titanic after the iceberg hit it. As everyone who has seen the movie or heard the tragic tale knows it was the overconfidence of the skipper who delivered the trusting passengers to doom. The slanging this time is certainly an improvement on shrill claims of what pa, grandmom and great-grandfather have ‘gifted’ to the country. But let us not digress.


The economy may not be in a state of irreversible tailspin yet but only the seriously visually impaired will fail to notice what is glaring others in the face. Comparing statistics of past three years with the numbers for the period of three years preceding that doesn’t serve any useful purpose. People are feeling the pinch and their patience is wearing thin. It is getting increasingly difficult to convince the hassled citizen that the birth pangs of demonetisation and teething troubles of GST implementation will soon be over and a bonanza of benefits is about to shower upon them.

To make matters worse, linking Aadhaar to almost all transactions has added to their travails. The government may have meant well but some at the helm seem to have forgotten that the road to a very hot place is paved with good intention.  The finance minister may snap at a reporter when asked to translate a word and admonish the person to ‘get serious’ but he can’t be absolved of the responsibility for the downslide. Everyone is aware of the worldwide recession and the adverse environment in which India is trying to develop inclusively. Jargon and fusillade of statistics no longer guarantee impenetrable defence. Common man wants comprehensible answers in mother tongue.

This can’t be arrogantly brushed aside as language chauvinism. The reason why PM Modi connects with the people effortlessly is that he mostly communicates in their idiom. While rapier-sharp repartee and riposte can squelch an opponent in courtroom, they are uselessly blunt weapons to bludgeon ‘duller’ persistent questioners.  In coming days, Mr Jaitley will have to show a capacity to listen patiently to criticism and to respond to it less personally and a little more politely than he did to his senior party colleague Yashwant Sinha. As mid-course corrections are made—and these will have to be made—his credibility is bound to take a hit. Not every failure can be blamed on ‘frustrated also-rans’ and ‘congenital pessimists’ or ‘timid governors of the Reserve Bank’.

No one is worried about the long run. What is agitating the nation is the present. The comatose Congress is stirring back to consciousness. Coupled with the CPI(M) and the Trinamool Congress, it has begun to corner the Central government. Audiences, who had not too far back laughed the scion of Nehru-Gandhi dynasty off the stage, are grudgingly conceding that the not so young man is showing improvement. That he may yet with peerless genius flounder again and go belly up is quite beside the point. What is alarming for the NDA is that many are apprehensive about its lurking failure to address bread and butter issues caught, as it seems, in the mirage of grand visions. Series of unfortunate rail accidents and the recent footbridge collapse in Mumbai have made the Bullet Train appear a cruel joke. Yogi Aditya Nath exhorting the Leftist government in Kerala to take lessons in healthcare from Uttar Pradesh is irony dying dozens of deaths. The march against killings of BJP cadres began with a bang to end in the proverbial whimper. 

The state of the economy can indeed brook no diversions or distractions. 
As elections draw near, the fighting will get dirtier. Scams long tucked in cupboards will tumble out. Retired bureaucrats will suddenly become whistle-blowers. What the BJP and Congress—for that matter all political parties national and regional—must realise is that in the end, it is not rhetoric but reality that prevails. When the voter heads out to punch the button on the EVM, it isn’t slogans but perception of self-interest that plays the decisive role. This is what happened in 2014 and this is what will decide the electoral verdict in 2019. 

Economy is what matters most. All else is sideshow at best. Circuses can only buy temporary respite—when hunger pangs become unbearable, it is only the bread that sways the minds of men. 
The writer of these lines isn’t a born pessimist—neither a Shalya nor a ‘frustrated’ ex-FM. As RaGa pointed out, there is still a year to go. The government can regain a lot of lost ground if it begins to deliver on its promises even if partially.
pushpeshpant@gmail.com

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