CHIDAMBARAM STAGES A COME BACK

After a short span, Palaniyappan Chidambaram has staged a come back to his favourite portfolio as our Finance Minister. The gentleman, a Harvard product, till now was serving as our Home Minister who played a comparatively satisfactory role, not a laudable role, as he was a failure on many fronts. Even after he took charge as Home Minister there were terror attacks in a few parts of country, nevertheless, he could spread a wide dragnet to nab some of the culprits if not all of them as claimed by Prime Minister ManMohan Singh and other so-called dignitaries.

For instance, let’s recall his high talks and assurances about the 26/11 carnage of 2008 in Mumbai which claimed 166 lives, by Pak based Lashkar-E-Toiba militants who for more than 30 hours held the business capital of India to ransom which led India to the verge of a war with Pakistan as it was with the overt and covert support of Pak intelligence agency ISI (Inter Services Intelligence) the dastardly massacre was committed. You might be remembering his press meetings, his claims of booking all the culprits involved and his promise of bringing them to justice soon.  So far even after four years no tangible results could be arrived at. His tall claims of keeping an eye on their balls always, yes his words were on these lines during that period, and due to Pakistan’s non-cooperation and frequent denials, the problem remains unsettled and the evil brains walk scot-free in Pakistan even now. Apart from that, his promise of creation of National Counter Terrorism Act has been put on the back-burner. Yes, under his initiative one more intelligence agency – National Intelligence Agency – came into existence. So far, so good. He was far better than Shivraj Patil who allegedly made a mess of our internal security, no doubt.

His hawkish approach towards Maoist insurgency has only helped in aggravating Maoist activities in Chattisgarh, Andhrapradesh, Jharkand, Maharashtra and Orissa, what we call the Red-Corridor of India, which have not yet subsided. Instead of engaging them in peaceful talks and bringing them into the national mainstream his attitude towards them was one of suppression by giving a blank cheque to CRPF forces and Salwa Judum – an organization of tribal people who were encouraged, financed and armed with sophisticated weapons to take on their own brothers. In other words pitting brothers against brothers which also led to steep increase in calamities on either side. Resistance fed the Maoists with power and strength. The more the resistance the more strengthened were the Maoists. Without finding out the root causes for the tribals leaning towards the Maoists, it was primarily due to the exploitation of the resources in the forests by the corporates which the tribals deserved, led them to unite and fight against the exploiters under Maoist-umbrella. The corporates were reportedly given blank approvals and protection extended by the ruling class.

Our Prime Minister Dr.ManMohan Singh even while calling – the Maoist insurgency as the greatest internal security threat the country faces - is very well aware of the reasons behind their numbers mounting and reportedly mentioned about the need for creating infrastructural facilities and also providing them with basic amenities thus making their life more comfortable to bring them into the national mainstream. No steps virtually have been taken and implemented which is essentially the task of the govt he leads.

Let’s come back to Finance Minister P.Chidambaram. He has a functioning style of his own. Good. After arriving at a decision of his own he invites industrialists, businessmen, trade union leaders, farmers’ representatives and holds serious discussions with them, invites their suggestions to give a face-lift to the economy and after the talks are over sends them back in good humour. Even after listening to the demands and suggestions of them he sticks to his policy of implementing his own decisions which he had taken already. In order to justify his action he might even go to the extend of quoting a few lines from Thirukural. This ‘ritual’ often takes place two or three months before the presentation of Union Budget. What sort of fun and pleasure he derives at by making a fool of others if he is determined to pursue his own line? The stubborn and arrogant attitude is a trait in his character, an accusation allegedly directed against him by his own colleagues.

As Finance Minister the ones who are in good spirits and delight are the industrial tycoons and business barons. Corporate India might be celebrating his return to the finance portfolio like Chidambaram himself. As one who believes in the ‘power’ of neo-liberal reforms the coming days are crucial. Barrack Obama’s timely advice to India govt to invite FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in various sectors especially in multinational retail sector such as Walmart, the multi-national super retail giant, at the time of a Ministerial change in India was with an eye on his or his country’s apple of the eye P.Chidambaram taking over the Finance portfolio.

And the sector which is likely to bear the brunt of his actions will be none other than the agriculture sector. Indian farmers are likely to jump to fire from the frying pan in the immediate future. With the failure of this year’s monsoon a severe drought is staring in the faces of hapless farmers especially those from Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana and parts of Karnataka. Since a decade or two, farmers are compelled to seek solace in suicides and with the spectre of drought looming large they needn’t expect any benefit to tide over the crisis from the part of the govt, while corporates are likely to get fatter and fatter and the farmers thinner and thinner ultimately. The VIPs in the corridors of power have discovered a villain in the approaching drought and have found a reason to wash off their sins. Jai Hind.