The political reaction to Monday’s cabinet decision raising the price of petroleum products seems to suggest the move was either unexpected, excessive, or both. The reality, of course, is that it is neither unexpected nor excessive.

Indeed, if anything, it is overdue. The logic of electoral politics dictated that the government had to wait till after the state assembly elections to take the decision, but any further delay would have been economically unconscionable.

Sky-high international oil prices and the inability to raise prices at home have meant that the state-owned oil companies have been taking a hit on their bottom lines, the magnitude of which was unsustainable.

Even Monday’s decision will not fully rectify the situation, but if you postpone hard decisions for too long it becomes impossible to make the correction at one go. It is not as if political parties are unaware of these ground realities.

So what explains their apparent inability to grasp simple economics? The opposition parties are in the happy position of being able to adopt a completely populist line without having to deal with the consequences.

The Left, though an important ally of the government, is not very dissimilarly placed and in any case has the virtue of being consistent, if not particularly sensible.

What is disappointing, though, is the Congress succumbing to the temptation to play populist politics. Coming close on the heels of the quota controversy in which human resources development minister Arjun Singh seems more intent on playing to the gallery than on evolving a sound education policy, this is most disturbing.

The Congress must remember that it is seen as the party of reforms and its prime minister as a man who can lead India into the 21st century. That image is a huge positive for the Congress, but it is not a given.

The image can be sustained only if the party lives up to it. Populism while in opposition may be undesirable, but most realists will accept it as inevitable, at least in the context of Indian politics.

Populism while in power is quite another thing, particularly when it comes from people like Manmohan and P Chidambaram, who hardly need lessons from us or anybody else on sound economics.

The Congress never tires of boasting that it is India’s “natural party of governance”. It is time for the party to prove that is not an empty boast and that years of being out of power have not reduced it to being permanently in opposition – even to its own government.

<B>From India

Source: Times News Network

©Times of India</B>