NDA govt will have to atone for the note ban: Anand Sharma

Interview with the former Union minister and Congress leader Anand Sharma

Former Union minister and Congress leader Anand Sharma talks to Amit Agnihotri about the role of the Opposition, how he rates the Budget presented on February 1, the negative effects of demonetisation and the party’s chances of coming to power in Punjab.

It appears there is a trust deficit between the government and the Congress even after two and a half years of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime. Do you agree?

It is sad, but there is a complete breakdown of communication between the Centre and the main Opposition party due to the mindset of this government, which does not want to create a platform for regular dialogue. The main factor has been the confrontational attitude of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership, which blocks dialogue. Instead of seeking cooperation from the Opposition, the PM belittles and berates it, leaving no option.

Why has the situation come to this pass?

After the 2014 general elections, when the BJP-led NDA came to power, the Congress accepted the verdict of the people with humility and offered its cooperation to the government on issues of national importance. In a democracy, both the Executive and the Opposition have a major role and the government of the day must engage in dialogue with the main Opposition party to evolve consensus on critical issues. In the absence of a meaningful interaction, the narrative is imbalanced and distorted.

Can the Congress make the PM see reason?

The prime minister should realise that the main Opposition party has a duty to perform: take critical view of government policies, support what is done in national interest and oppose what is anti-people. The government is afraid to acknowledge a mature Opposition, which has facilitated the passage of important constitutional amendments and bills related to land boundary agreement with Bangladesh, the goods and services tax, foreign direct investment in the insurance sector and the bankruptcy code. I would like to point out that when the BJP was in the Opposition, it did not support the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and stalled these legislations. 

But the government brands the Congress as anti-development and anti-national for questioning its policies. Do you think the the criticism is fair?

No. This government brands us as anti-national for highlighting issues such as the suffering of people due to the note ban, politicisation of campuses and atrocities against Dalits as if they are the sole custodian of nationalism. This is in fact intolerance and incorrigible arrogance in a democracy.

The Gandhi family, too, has come in the PM’s line of fire. Your comment on the matter? 

Misuse of agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate to unleash targeted vendetta against the Congress leadership and other Opposition parties — these are ominous signs for the democracy.

The Congress strongly opposed the note ban and party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi ordered party leaders to take the issue across the country. Has the Congress picked up the right issue? 

The economy is down due to the note ban. Thousands of factories have been closed, crores of people have lost their daily wages and more than 100 people lost their lives as a result of the note ban. Farmers, farm labourers, factory workers have all gone back to their native villages in absence of work. As a result, the rural job plan MGNREGA demand has shot up. But rather than acknowledging the problem due to the note ban, the government is celebrating increased funding for the rural job scheme that was started by the UPA to cushion the poor.

Was demonetisation a misadventure then? 

Yes. The worst thing is that people have lost trust in institutions like the Reserve Bank of India and the banking system as they found that the words of the PM, too, were not kept. The world was thinking that the third-largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity was running on black money. More so, the PM and the finance minister have not been able to tell the nation the quantum of black money deposited in the banks and how much of it is fake currency. These are fundamental questions and people want answers. The PM played with the people’s emotions and the honour of the top post has taken a beating. The government will have to atone for its mistake and apologise to the people.

The Congress-led protests over demonetisation washed out the winter session of Parliament. Do you intend to keep the pressure on in the Budget session? 

See, the first half of the Budget session ending February 9 will mostly be consumed by the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address to the joint session of Parliament on January 31. But we will certainly raise the relevant public issues from March 9, when the Budget session resumes after a break.

The Congress had opposed the presentation of the Union Budget 2017-18 just before Assembly polls in five states, but the government went ahead, saying it had been planned for long and a constitutional obligation could not be deferred. What’s your take on this? 

This Budget was advanced for narrow electoral gains and to influence voters, thereby undermining the fairness of the elections in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Goa. The Budget has deeply disappointed everyone, whether it is the investor, the farmers or the youth. It is lacking in direction and has no proposals to accelerate manufacturing or job creation. The fundamentals of the economy are nose-diving — fall in demand, fall in consumption, a historically low investment rate and credit off-take for industry at a 20-year low, capital formation in the negative in real terms, non-utilisation of existing industrial capacity up to one-third or more than 33 per cent, no job creation but job losses in the millions.

The government is touting its Budget proposal to bring down cash donation limit to parties to ~2,000 as a big move towards transparency. Rahul Gandhi welcomed it; what is your take? 

This is a half-baked step and would have no impact. The PM is not going to change the political funding system for greater transparency. If he is serious, he should call an all-party meeting on the issue, evolve national consensus, prepare a plan and set up an electoral trust. Then we will support him.

You have just come back from campaigning in Punjab, which goes to the polls on February 4. What are the prospects of the Congress in the state? 

The Congress is set to form the government under Amarinder Singh (Punjab Congress chief). There is popular support for the Congress among the people and a definite mood against the ruling combine of the Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP. Gandhi has promised to usher in change in the state if we come to power; I think that is going to happen.