FDI vote in Lok Sabha

It is not a great achievement that the Manmohan Singh government has won the vote on Foreign Direct Investment or FDI in multi-brand retail in Lok Sabha. Discussion on the motion to withdraw Govt decision to allow 51% FDI in multi-brand retail trade & motions on FEMA moved by the opposition leader, Mrs. Sushma Swaraj,  revealed that all the political parties except the Congress Party and headed by Mrs. Sonia Gandhi and Nationalist Congress Party headed by Mr.Sharath Bhawar are opposed to the move. But the Congress party succeeded in bullying the DMK President M.Karunanidhi, the BSP supremo Mrs. Mayawati and the SP supremo Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav to toe its lines. The government and the Congress party have applied unorthodox, dishonest and illegal means to subject the above three leaders to toe their lines either by voting against the resolution or forcing them to boycott the voting on flimsy and unconvincing reasons. It seems that they were bullied, threatened, induced and offered gratification. The Prime Minister seems to have used his magic band of assuring to safeguard them from charges of corruption and amassment of wealth fraudulently and cajoled them at the dinner meetings with the leaders of these parties. Otherwise, how is it that all these parties which spoke vehemently against FDI in retail trade made a somersault and directly and indirectly enabled the government to scrap through the motion against FDI in the Lok Sabha. The above said regional parties, in collision with the Congress party, have made a mockery of Indian democracy and degraded the purity of public life. While the Congress party has involved in the shameful act of backdoor and illegal means to get their support, the leaders of these parities shamelessly succumbed to bullying and cajoling. It is implicit that the government and the Congress party skillfully applied the carrot and stick policy to make these parties to toe their line!

Of course all these three leaders (the DMK President M.Karunanidhi, the BSP supremo Mrs. Mayawati and the SP supremo Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav) are time servers and dishonest persons. Therefore, the people of the country never expected that they will stand firmly on their policy of opposing FDI in multi-brand retail trade.  But many believed that at least on this anti-people and antinational issue, they may stick to their stand. Mr. Karunanidhi has always been saying that his party was totally against FDI in multi-brand retail trade. In fact executive council of the DMK party passed a resolution stating that it will not support the government on FDI in retail trade. And participating in the discussion on the motion against FDI in the Lok Sabha on 04.12.2012 the DMK MP, Mr. Ilangovan, stated that his party was totally against FDI in multi-brand retail trade because it would affect the livelihood of millions of traders. But in a manner characteristic of his party leader, he stated that DMK will not vote against the government. What an absurd stand? SP Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav stated categorically and emphatically that FDI in retail is not in favour of the country. He also said that the retail in FDI would not create jobs in the country and therefore his party was totally opposed to the move of the government to allow multinational retail giants to open shops in India. Yet he said his party will not go with all the arguments made by the opposition. What a comical stand? BSP leader Dara Singh Chauhan said: “Poor people are anxious over the impact this policy can have on their lives. They fear the multi-national companies will take away their livelihoods. The government should not rush with it."  But BSP abstained from voting thereby paving the way for the victory of the government. What a ludicrous position? So the vote on the motion to withdraw FDI in muti-brand retail trade has proved beyond doubt that the country is passing through a serious moral crisis. The dishonest and corrupt politicians will sloop to   any level to safeguard themselves. They do lip service that they are for the welfare of the people. Who will save our country from further decay? How are we going to achieve clean and honest politics? Time alone will tell!  My only request is that let these so called champions of the downtrodden people ponder over for a while before deciding to vote for or against the motion to   withdraw FDI in retail trade in the Rajya Sabha.

Dr.C.Murukadas, Times of India, 05.12.2012