This refers to the article “Changing dynamics of Budget politics” (February 9) by A K Bhattacharya. The article unnecessarily straitjackets situations that are usually called déjà vu and are wholly unreal in nature.
The political history of India has never been unilinear but mostly spiral in nature. It would have been better if Mr Bhattacharya looked into the specifics rather than the rhetoric of 1991 and thereafter. It’s hard to understand which coalition partner would be in a position to pull down the government before or after the Budget. If that had been the case, the partner concerned would have done so long ago. Between 1989 and 1996, the country constantly experienced political changes. However, since 1998 things have stabilised; in 1998, the BJP formed the National Democratic Alliance and after that the United Progressive Alliance came into power. So what causes this unnecessary anxiety that the Congress is going to place a Budget in troubled times? When has this not happened? The Congress party has been weathering such storms since 1967, but never fizzled out. From 113, it jumped to 202 seats within a span of 13 years. The Congress has learnt to live in dangerous times. A Bofors-like episode doesn’t happen all the time. So Mr Bhattacharya can always set aside such anxieties and look for something positive.
Nirmalya Mukherjee, Kolkata
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