Opposition parties content with political rhetoric

The recent Union Budget has invited reactions ranging from the advantages and disadvantages of certain proposals. It has also triggered strong reaction to certain comments by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao who not only criticised the Budget but also made certain remarks against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and went to the extent of saying that the country has all the resources to become a major power center but what it lacks is "brains."

He also went on to say that there was no point telling anything to the Prime Minister since he was like a "bull which does not bother even when it rains on it." There are allegations that he had also objectified women by making certain remarks.

Modi according to him is a short-sighted and narrow-minded person. He further said, Centre had miserably failed during the last eight years in governing and was trying to usurp the powers of State governments and hence there was need for a "New Constitution."

He felt that there was nothing like federalism in the country. Centre wants to have centralised power. On earlier occasions, he had stated that Telangana contributes major part of taxes to the Centre but what it gets in return is peanuts. He found fault with the Centre for its plans to go in for disinvestment.

Well, political rhetoric is understandable. To what extent it is justified, we shall discuss a little later. But what was shocking was the comment that there was need for a new Constitution. He said some countries have gone in for new Constitution. It reminds me of the statement of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in the State Assembly in 2019 when he came up with the three-capital formula. He said if South Africa could have three capitals why not Andhra Pradesh.

Well what is surprising is people who have sworn by the Constitution and have taken oath to protect and preserve the constitution are now talking about need for a new Constitution. They feel the existing one is outdated. First, they need to explain why they want a new Constitution. If some changes are to be made what stops them to campaign for more amendments.

If it could be amended 105 times why not couple of times more? One needs to recall here how NTR, Biju Patnaik, Jyoti Basu and Karunanidhi fought for certain amendments to the Constitution pertaining to Centre- State relations and how they succeeded.

Let's first look at the statement of KCR who stated that Centre survives on TS. States contributing to central pool is a constitutional obligation. According to the15th Finance Commission, 42 per cent of the shareable pool of Central tax revenue is to be transferred to States every year and the Centre will retain the remaining amount for the Union Budget. However, a required adjustment has been made of "about 1 per cent due to the changed status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into the new Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir".

The gross tax revenues for a five-year period are expected to be Rs 135.2 trillion. Of that, the divisible pool (after deducting cesses and surcharges and cost of collection) to all the states is estimated to be Rs 103 trillion, according to the Commission.

Share of states at 41 per cent of the divisible pool comes to Rs 42.2 trillion for 2021-26 period. Total grants are pegged at Rs 10.33 trillion.

"Including total grants of Rs 10.33 trillion and tax devolution of Rs 42.2 trillion, aggregate transfers to states is estimated to remain at around 50.9 per cent of the divisible pool during 2021-26 period," the Commission said.

The most important aspect of good governance is not to give freebies or run industries. The State is perhaps miffed because it is planning to announce large scale freebies in the State Budget.

Let's now take a look at the concept of public sector undertakings. It was relevant during the time of Nehru and Indira Gandhi. Now that the world has become a global village, the governments should concentrate on water for all, infrastructural development, housing, police reforms, education and most important health sector. Government has proved that it has Bhasmasurahastam in running PSUs.

There should be healthy competition between industries. For example, till about two decades back, BSNL was dominating telecom sector. But now there are hardly any takers for it. There was a time when we only had Doordarshan but now we have hundreds of channels, Netflix, Amazon etc and e-commerce is growing.

What people need is good service. Hence making political comments opposing disinvestment makes no sense. Let's take the example of Air India and Indian Airlines. Both are gone now. But the airlines in private sector are not only expanding but providing good services. It has helped in transformation of air travel and that in turn has helped the centre to earn good revenue. Privatisation of Airports has brought in international standards.

KCR had also criticised linking of rivers. Well the Budget speech of Nirmala Sitharaman says that if States agree and come forward only then the Centre would take up linking of rivers and she also explained which all rivers can be linked. This issue was first raised by the former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee long back. Similarly, some CMs are raising the issue of transfer of IAS officers. Well even for that the consent of the concerned IAS officer is must. In fact, not many from South are going on central deputation. That deprives the Southern States having their say in policy decisions. This the chief ministers should understand. Moreover, in governance heavens won't fall if 'X' officer goes to centre and 'Y' Officer takes his place. How a programme or scheme is implanted depends on leaders not babu's.

Another issue raised by KCR was about Centre trying to usurp all the powers and ignoring the concept of decentralisation. Is it not a fact that since there has been growth of regional parties, all ruling parties have been doing the same and TS is no exception?

Everyday we see press notes saying that the Chief Minister will take a final call and 'On the instructions of the CM'… it has been decided to take repair even city roads etc. Even matters pertaining to Municipal Corporation, the Mayor does not take a final decision. What do we call this? This however does not mean that I am supporting the Centre which on several occasions has been taking unilateral decisions. I am only trying to present the existing scenario.

Why is all this happening? It is because India whether it be at national level or state level lacks effective Opposition. All ruling parties want to decimate the Opposition which they have been doing systematically. Opposition too is suffering from lack of leadership.

We have quinquagenarian leader Rahul Gandhi. Who wakes up once a while and delivers a speech in Parliament which appears more like a speech at Congress Parliamentary party meeting.

He should first go through the videos of speeches delivered by great leaders whether it be his grandmother Indira Gandhi or leaders like Atal Behari Vajpayee, Indrajit Gupta, Somnath Chatterjee etc. Observe their body language and the kind of depth they used to have on the subject about which they were speaking.

They were heard with rapt attention by the then Prime Ministers and members. They never looked at their members and delivered speeches. They always faced the Speaker and used to convey their opinion through the chair.

Here we have a leader who always keeps looking at his own party members and speaks as if he is addressing them and not the Lok Sabha. He raised the issue of some members of a delegation from North-East who were asked to remove their shoes before entering the house of Amit Shah but the union home minister himself was wearing chappals. What kind of 'Sanskriti' is this, he questioned.

Rahul Baba should know that even now the Indian tradition is to remove shoes outside the main entrance, and it has become more relevant in the last two years ever since Covid-19 pandemic had struck us. Shoes are removed outside to prevent entry of virus or bacteria or other infections. People inside the house can wear chappals for various reasons and they are exclusively meant to be used only within the four walls of the house. It is unfortunate that one has to explain this simple issue to a quinquagenarian leader.

Why are we pitching for organic food and natural farming Mr Rahul Gandhi? It is simply because we want to live healthy and keep away from the damages the chemicals had caused to our body and environment including land. Similarly, removing shoes before entering someone's house cannot be treated as an insult. It is a preventive measure. Taking a negative view of everything is the biggest political menace which the country is facing today. Our leaders need to grow and become more matured in analysing issues and be more practical.