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FDI in retail: Don't allow foreign governments to set our agenda, asserts Yashwant Sinha
(05-12-2011) |
The UPA leadership has been blaming the Opposition for the current crisis in goveance at the Centre. According to them, the BJP has been placing hurdles before every key policy initiative of the govement. Former finance minister Yashwant Sinha responds to this charge in a conversation with ET. Excerpts:
Senior ministers of the UPA govement have been blaming the Opposition for crisis in policy-making and legislative inaction. How do you respond to this charge?
This is the line that some ministers of this govement took at the ET Awards ceremony. Let us see what's leading to this crisis. FDI in retail was clearly a miscalculated adventure that the govement indulged in. It was entirely avoidable. They brought this crisis upon themselves and cannot blame anyone else.
Why blame just BJP? The opposition to this step came loudly from their own allies and their own members. The Opposition is doing its job. It has a duty to oppose unpopular policy decisions of the govement.
The govement leadership, particularly the commerce minister, has said that BJP has shifted its policy on FDI in retail. And that the BJP is being opportunistic...
They are naming three states, out of which Himachal Pradesh has already denied that it supported FDI in retail. And if there was any conditional support extended by Gujarat and Punjab, that stands withdrawn now. Is it the govement's contention that it took the FDI decision just because Gujarat and Punjab supported it?
Obviously not. Now they are looking for excuses for that botched up step. So, they have come out with a GoM note of 2002, NDA's vision document of 2004, etc. All these are after-thoughts. They have taken a decision. They must own complete responsibility for it.
But isn't BJP being inconsistent on retail?
Three pieces of "evidence" have been put forward by the govement to make this point. One, the famous GoM note of 2002. But no one tells us what happened to this note. The NDA did not take a decision till it demitted office. In other words, the policy was not accepted.
The second is the 2004 Vision Document, where it said that the NDA will allow 26% FDI in retail. As a BJP member, I will not disown it. But the 2009 manifesto of BJP has opposed the proposal to allow FDI in retail.
Why did we change it? We changed it for the simple reason that capitalist model collapsed in 2008, following the subprime crisis. The situation continues to be shaky even today. People who used to be most critical of our conservative policies are complimenting us on our wisdom.
We must lea lessons from crisisfacing Europe and US and become even more careful. Therefore, permitting FDI in real estate, retail is not welcome, just as we cannot go in for complete convertibility of the rupee or concessions to the West in farm sector under WTO.
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