President Pranab Mukherjee is perturbed and anguished when he is at variance with the views of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on certain issues. Such a mismatch is not new as it has been evidenced since the BJP led NDA government assumed power in May 2014. In the present instance, it is with regard to the November 8 high power demonetisation unleashed by Modi.
The Head of State believes that in the short to medium term, demonetisation is unlikely to achieve its three pronged objective – eradicating the scourge of poverty, tackling black money and along with it dealing a crippling blow to the menace of terrorism.
The poor encompassing the daily wage earners, farmers, the underprivileged as well as the oppressed and depressed cannot afford to wait for the long term. The copybook President has once again found it necessary to bring to the fore the core values of Indian civilisation, in a subtle manner.These embrace tolerance and debate and the need to be protected. Mukherjee underlined yet again the need to protect the virtues of democracy revolving around the “freedom to doubt, express disagreement and discuss without fear and prejudice”.
Impartial observers believe as the protector of the Constitution, his efforts in outlining again the virtues of democracy could not have come at a more opportune moment. Making these observations while addressing Governors and Lt Governors in the new year through teleconferencing, Mukherjee said it is natural to love one’s country and take pride in its past glory.
It should be remembered that patriotism puts blinkers on people’s eyes. The lens of patriotism can sometimes present or distort one-sided or too partisan a view of the past. The First Citizen was quick to say “they bear reiteration, especially at the present conjunction in India when any criticism of India’s past or present is condemned as being anti-national”.
There has been a tepid response if at all to these observations by the Head of State in the past with Modi responding publicly on one occasion, exhorting the people to follow the President’s advice.
All those adversely affected are least bothered about statistics or where India is placed in a fragile economy. Mukherjee emphasised that the troubles of the poor cannot be brushed aside by a government on the promise of long-term dream of prosperity. A case in point is the widespread distress sale by farmers and lay offs underlying the fact that there is a need for social security.
Waiving bad loans or cutting taxes and interest rates for businesses is one thing, providing direly required social security is inexplicably nowhere in sight.
The President categorically said that those suffering “need to get succour here and now”. Amid all this, the BJP leaders’ paeans of Modi post the second surgical strike pertaining to demonetisation is bound to turn the tide.
On the other hand, the economy is expected to grow at 7.1 during the current fiscal far slower than 7.6 per cent in 2015-16. The negative impact of demonetisation is far greater in the rural areas. The country faces an extraordinary situation due to demonetisation. It has become imperative to reach new notes to areas which continue to be affected by the liquidity crisis.
The Central Statistics Office forecast does not take into account the impact of the demonetisation which by all accounts is a daring step. The CSO’s prediction is based on data for the first seven months till the end of October last year. The CSO chief TCA Anant conceded that the latest projection may have to be reworked once data for the remaining period becomes available.
An alarming trend discernible in the country since the Modi government assumed office having completed half its term of two-and-a-half years, is to take nationalism to a new level by the BJP’s ideologue, the RSS and the Sangh Parivar. This in turn has shown nationalism in a different perspective of indulging in violence and whipping up a fear psychosis leading to increasing intolerance. Inevitably, dissent and debate are becoming the casualties.
The Prime Minister has rarely ever intervened in curbing such aberrations. His silence has been stoic and on the odd occasion, mild mannered. In October 2015, the President was categoric that coexistence of opposition forces, different opinions, strengthened ties along with increasing society’s capacity to move forward.
At one stage Mukherjee invoked Mahamaya to help “strengthen the moral foundations of our society and turn us away from all that divides and destroys.” He wondered aloud “if acceptance of dissent is on the wane.” “Humanism and pluralism should not be abandoned,” he emphasised.
Another disturbing trend has been the propensity to use the Ordinance route for political expediency. This has been deprecated by superior courts as well as constitutional functionaries.
There is the fear of defeat in the Rajya Sabha where the BJP led NDA government is in a minority.
In 1986, the Supreme Court had already declared that repeated failure to place an ordinance before the legislature constitutes abuse of power and a fraud on the Constitution. It noted in this case that a 1989 Ordinance by which the state government took over 429 Sanskrit schools in Bihar was promulgated several times until 1992 but not once tabled in the State Assembly.
The writer is a senior journalist and commentator
