The Codpiece of Evil

The Codpiece of Evil


The codpiece of evil cloaks the cassock of holiness, to invert a bit of multiple Booker winning Salman Rushdie’s pyrotechnic writing. In his version, in The Enchantress of Florence, Rushdie has the cassock, and its purported holiness, doing the cloaking of evil. But what’s the point of parroting a borrowed simile, if you aren’t going to twist it?

The right way up, that’s how it was. Four harrowing years worth, when Comrade Karat and pals were tenderising the government’s meat into a mess of Pathhar Kebab. And suddenly he can’t anymore, now and anon.

The celebratory crackers are going off everywhere, and not just because it’s wedding season again, but because, truth be told, nobody likes a finger-wagging bully, dressed in either codpiece or cassock.

But it has been a slick bit of Manmohanomics so far. And much to Opposition Leader Mr. Advani’s discomfiture; and not a bit of sputtering dismay. It is our timid prime minister who’s turned unexpectedly bold, replete with “midnight deception” involving the IAEA. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has got everyone out manoeuvred for once. People are starting to say, with a smile and a wry shake of the head, he’s learnt his lessons well, not just now, but long ago, when he was running the numbers for Prime Minister Narasimha Rao.

And to strut about with Mrs. Sonia Gandhi’s backing, Rahul Gandhi working the phones to gather the numbers for the trust vote, the Congress big-wigs catering, as only they can to their beloved Your-wish-is-my-High Command; and a pair of other Singhs from Uttar Pradesh on board too.

If the prime minister is a card playing man, he’d recognise a royal flush in hand quick enough. Not bad for a fortnight’s work. And the outside Singhs, Mr. Ebullience cum Audacity Singh, holding hands with Mr. Rustic-Vote-Garnering- Singh from the Akhara, are both Aces in holes too, after all.

One can’t call it kabbadi, at least not yet, but its definitely masterful ringa-ringa-roses, with all the plague, and pox, and falling down in the mud, reserved for the trenchant Communist in Kabuli Sandals. Mr. Karat is not happy; but, no one outside of his club frankly gives a damn!

Furthermore, in this pre-election scene of extreme gloom and doom; with a possible 17 per cent wholesale inflation rate staring us in the face by year end; a stock market so depressed that its chin rests all day on its chest; a growth rate going, going, gone into reverse gear; the industrial numbers whittled down to a barely discernible 3 per cent; and a current account deficit threatening to bankrupt us; Mr. Manmohan Singh might just have the means at hand to restore some good cheer at last.

Some, if not all the pent up reform, can be implemented in short order after the government wins its trust vote, assuming it does so, on July 22nd.

And while Mr. Amar Singh may want to settle a score or two on behalf of his friends, its good old fashioned corporate lobbying, and there’s nothing sinister or cloak and dagger about it. What a relief and contrast it is to be spared the inquisitorial tortures of communist ideology in the only country with a Stalinist organisation left in the world! It does take some getting used to, this sudden lightness of being.
There is a tremendous amount of reform work piled up, in the financial sector, in the judiciary, in infrastructure, in labour reform, in PSU divestment. And as the soaring prices of crude oil, cresting up continuously on speculation teaches us, it is the financial sector that is the true engine of growth nowadays. Pending Indian reforms in the financial sector include those in pensions, insurance and banking as well as in structural ways that can better align it with global commerce.
If the UPA goes ahead with reforms in these areas now, promptly, it will change the depressed mood of India Inc. and middle class and rural, voting India too, galvanise fresh foreign investment, and position the ruling coalition favorably for the coming general elections. The considerable economist in the prime minister should be given a free hand.
In banking, we need some mergers amongst the public sector banks so that they can compete with much larger foreign banks. Then, there is the long pending issue of voting rights wherein, fair play demands that voting rights of foreign stakeholders must be commensurate with their shareholding pattern.
The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill is pending. Millions of the public’s pension money is being depleted by high inflation while the government has been unable to permit greater flexibility on how the funds may be invested.
Similarly, amendments are needed to free up the insurance sector inclusive of permitting more foreign direct investment in it, capped presently at just 26 per cent.
Reports do say that the UPA plans to take advantage of the exit of the Left. There’s quite a quiver full of arrows to let fly: such as, 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in telecom services. And specialty retail sectors to open up to foreign participation, including sports goods and electronics. Our own quality appreciation in manufacture can only go up as a consequence.
Atomic energy generation, which is presently barred to domestic and foreign private companies alike, could, and indeed should, be opened up. And, as the deal with America goes through, it may be good to realise that France’s nuclear power plants, all 56 of them, are actually based on American technology.
After experimenting with their own gas-cooled reactors in the 1960s, the French gave up, and purchased American Pressurized Water Reactors designed by Westinghouse. Sticking to just one design meant the 56 plants were much cheaper to build than in the US. Moreover, management of safety issues was much easier: the lessons from any incident at one plant could be quickly learned by managers of the other 55 plants.
This just might be a new season of learning unexpected lessons for many besides the prime minister who’s suddenly risen above codpieces and cassocks once and for all. As for evil, its back to school for it, and regrettably, China has already put up the no vacancies sign. I hear they are busy printing up their nuclear reactor plans in Hindi.

(1,050 words)
By Gautam Mukherjee
Saturday, July 12th, 2008

Also in print in The Pioneer on 16th July 2008 as "Celebrate the Left's exit" and online at www.dailypioneer.com