NDA mocks parliament: Mini-budget and after

The exercise, involving a drain of Rs. 20,000 crores on the exchequer, was improper and violated democratic conventions.

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In Parliamentary government, the Budget doesn't merely balances books. It is the sole democratic means of giving government a mandate to spend public money. Without a Budget approved by Parliament, the government has no business to incur expenditure.

That's why Cabinets which exit close to a fiscal year's end go in for a vote-on-account, a provisional mandate. Time-honoured conventions say the vote-on-account shouldn't change tax rates. The Budget proper can only be passed after detailed debate on its general and specific provisions, and votes on demands for grants and appropriations and finance Bills.

The NDA's "interim Budget" effected changes in tax rates, subsidies, salaries, the lot. Mr Jaswant Singh announced new schemes relating to defence, shipping, agriculture and banks. He knew these measures won't be debated by this Lok Sabha or the next one!

This Lok Sabha will be dissolved in disgrace, without the President's mandatory address to both Houses. If Parliamentary conventions are violated so casually in "normal" times, what will the NDA do during "crises"?

The "interim Budget" will further weaken India's already-fragile macro-economic balances. The Reserve Bank has warned that the government's living beyond its means; the quality of its fiscal deficit has worsened. It's spending half its total tax revenue on interest payments, which leaves little for public services and capital spending.

India has seen declining public expenditure. In the current year, spending by Ministries fell short of the target: by 17 percent in Women and Child Development, 14 percent in Communications, 6 percent in Health, 28 percent in Coal and Mines, 18 percent in Power and 41 in Steel. This will slow down economic growth.

Yet, Mr Singh blithely announced all kinds of concessions and salary increases. His key assumption? This year's total fiscal deficit has fallen below the budgeted 5.6 percent.

But this claim is based on mere jugglery. The Centre offered debt-swaps to the states. Mr Singh took credit for the income, but didn't show the outgoings! In reality, there's no fiscal stabilisation.

Mr Singh is leaving a burden for future governments. This is unethical. It may not bring in votes, particularly those of farmers in acute distress. The promised cheap credit won't reach them; there are no mechanisms for delivery. Nor will the Antyodaya Anna Yojana replace the now-crippled Food Distribution System.

Mr Singh's concessions are directed at the elite. They won't change the BJP's image as a "Brahmin-Bania" party sympathetic to semi-criminalised conglomerates in real estate, telecom, aviation and petroleum/gas.

The NDA has treated the Lok Sabha with disdain. The House witnessed several developments of national and international importance. The Kargil war preceded its formation. Soon after came the "coffin scam" and Tehelka expose. In the background hung Unit Trust of India's meltdown, which wiped out the savings of 50 million people.

Then came the Gujarat carnage. The 10 months-long military mobilisation against Pakistan with 10 lakh troops followed. The Lok Sabha's life coincided with a serious agrarian crisis and 2,000 farmers' suicide.

All these issues deserved to be fully debated. The NDA stonewalled debate.

The Gujarat carnage was a crime against humanity worthy of national and international trial. Refusal to investigate it through a Joint Parliamentary Committee was one of the NDA's most despicable acts, compounding the BJP's complicity in the genocide.

The Kargil war -- in which more Indians died than during the 1962 China war -- was treated the same way. There was no JPC. Instead, the K. Subrahmanyam committee did a whitewash job.

Ultimately, this Lok Sabha set up only two JPCs -- on the UTI scam, and on pesticides in bottled drinks. The UTI committee's unanimous report indicted the Finance Ministry on 52 counts for failure to exercise caution and control. The government's Action Taken Report has at best shabby, insubstantial answers to these. Mr Yashwant Sinha should have been sacked for ruining thousands of households. Instead, he went to the Foreign Ministry!

This speaks eloquently of the NDA's disrespect for Parliament. Take its abuse of the mechanism of a joint Parliament session. When there are differences between the two Houses on an issue, a joint session can reconcile them democratically. Its rationale is not to manufacture a majority.

The NDA bulldozed Parliament into a joint session just to pass the Prevention of Terrorism Bill. POTA was opposed by a majority of parties -- and the thinking public. But super-hawks like "Iron Man" L.K. Advani rammed POTA down the public's throats. Ironically, Parliament soon amended the Act because it led to the prolonged detention of an NDA ally -- MDMK's G. Vaiko!

Equally brazen is the NDA's grossly partisan abuse of Rs. 450 crores for the "India Shining" campaign, now extended to Central Ministries. The expense is half of what the 1999 national elections cost! The new Chief Election Commissioner has criticised the NDA. But Mr Vajpayee says the campaign will continue till the poll schedule is announced.

Cynicism is a contagion in the NDA's leading party. The BJP comes from the sectarian, communal and profoundly undemocratic Hindutva tradition. It distrusts open debate.

The NDA too has shown little respect for statutory authorities like the President -- it launched vicious propaganda against Mr K.R. Narayanan in 1999 --, the Comptroller and Auditor General, Election Commission and the National Human Rights Commission.

The NDA introduces strife where cooperation is needed. It tried to bypass Parliament on the HPCL-BPCL sell-off -- until restrained by the Supreme Court. If the NDA could rule by ordinances, it would. It has degraded democracy. One only hopes the public doesn't have to suffer it for another term.

Praful Bidwai is an eminent Indian columnist.