“The Customer Can Have Any Color He Wants So Long As It’s Black”. — Henry Ford
Similarly, India can have any government so long as it’s not comprised of largely leftist parties.
Between the two major parties, the Congress and the BJP, the Indian voters are faced with choosing between dumb and dumber, in no particular order. So which one would be better for maintaining and promoting economic reforms?
Vikas Bajaj at NYT asks this question and comes away with the following conclusion, no leftist parties.
Parties interested in India’s economy have reasons to worry about the future of economic reforms. Following the global meltdown, the leaders of India’s major parties have been spouting protectionist rhetoric.
Sonia Gandhi, the Congress Party’s president, has said that the nationalization of banks in the 1960s by her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi, has “given our economy the stability and resilience we are now witnessing in the face of the economic slowdown.” In its manifesto, Congress promises that the government will retain a majority stake in state-owned companies.
Even L. K. Advani, the leader of the B.J.P., the opposition Hindu nationalist party that has been more supportive of free markets, has described the financial crisis as a “clear warning to India” not to emulate Western ways. “India cannot attain prosperity by boosting speculative instincts,” he said late last year according to the Press Trust of India.
Prominent economists warn against the dangers of reverting back to the days of stifling regulations.
Many people “don’t quite remember how bad it was in the ’80s when we had tremendous amount of rationing, when it took years to get a car, when it took years to get a phone,” said Raghuram G. Rajan, a prominent economist who recently led a government-appointed panel that proposed financial reforms, including a gradual privatization of state-owned banks.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, an independent member of the upper house of Parliament and an entrepreneur, said he was worried that the country would not undertake the next series of reforms until it faced a new crisis.
The business establishment appears to have the right mindset.
Chandrajit Banerjee, the executive director of the Confederation of Indian Industry, said the populist talk would dissipate once a new government confronted economic realities of slowing growth and falling foreign investment. “Rhetoric is part of elections,” Mr. Banerjee said. Once elections are over, “what one would see is a very, very strong practical approach.”
The money quote from the article:
the Indian business establishment appears to be less worried, at least as long as the next government is led by Congress or the B.J.P. and not a coalition made up entirely of leftist parties
One can only hope that will be the case.
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