The Hindu Business Line : A clash of ideas

"Seek people's mandate", "think big" and build the "self-confidence to deal with new opportunities" is some recent key advice from the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh. But one section thinks there is no need to alter long-held beliefs. Far from being a negative, though, such differences are what make life worth it.

IN RECENT days, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has waxed eloquent on a number of subjects which, in the normal course, ought to gladden the hearts of all sensible citizens. In fact, what Dr Singh has done is to focus attention once again on well-known principles of a liberal democracy, which should, and must, have formed the bedrock of the Indian variant of parliamentary democracy.

First, on August 21, at Hyderabad, he underscored the point that, considering the governance of the republic, every point of view espoused by any group or individual has to pass the test of the popular mandate before it can be implemented as a matter of official policy. Alternatively, there is no creed or credo that can hope to become a part of official policy till it is approved by the people either through Parliament or, more directly, at the time of Parliamentary or State Assembly elections.

Specifically, what the Prime Minister had in mind in Hyderabad was to deliver a message to the Naxalites that violence and terrorism would not be tolerated by the authorities and that whatever the Naxalites had to offer to the Indian public would necessarily have to be put before the people as an election issue, even if the political group in question thinks that the electoral system is just another instrument to further exploit the poor and deprived by the ruling class. As the Prime Minister said: "Go ask the people to vote for you and support you. Come to the Legislature and enact the laws that you wish to see in place.

By all means use the media to convey your views. By all means, use the legislature to convert them into policies. In a democracy, the power of the people flows through the ballot, not from the barrel of a gun".

Ten days later, on August 31, inaugurating the meeting of the National Integration Council, Dr Singh reiterated basically the same point when he said: "There is no grievance, howsoever extreme and desperate, that cannot be redressed through democratic means. Our democracy allows us the freedom to espouse our cause and win over people to our point of view".

For good measure, he repeated his Andhra Pradesh message — that "Every political group that claims to represent the interests of any section of our people must test and demonstrate its popularity through the institutions of our democracy".

Essentially, this is a matter relating to the framework of governance laid down in theConstitution, the inference being that if the rules are not followed one has to face the consequences, which are also laid down in the book.

But this is not the case with the second bit of advice which Dr Singh has offered in recent times; an advice, though eminently sensible, is liable to be hotly debated depending on the point of view from which it is seen.

On Thursday, speaking at the golden jubilee celebrations of LIC in Lucknow, he exhorted Indians to "think big". Among other things, he urged fellow citizens "to unleash their creative potential" and reminded them that they could "take on the competition and make good use of new opportunities at home and abroad".

He was referring to globalisation and liberalisation of the national economy which, he felt, had created unjustified, "overstated" fears in the mind of the people. Dr Singh said: "We often lack the self-confidence required to deal with new opportunities," adding, "We worry far too much about the risks and do not grasp adequately the power of our own capabilities".

Coming from the nation's Prime Minister, these are brave words heralding an exciting future — but only if he is allowed to remain at the helm of affairs and allowed to function in the way he would like to.

The conditionality is important because there is at least one point of view — espoused by a politically influential section of society — which holds that though there may be a need to shed old dogma because of the rapidly changing domestic operational requirements flowing from substantive changes in the character of the international economy, there is no need whatever to alter the long-held belief in certain basic principles governing the evolution of Indian society and the economy.

In other words, the clash of principles will remain which, among other things, would make life worth living after all.

Ranabir Ray Choudhury

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