I believe the tussle between the government and the party on how quickly to liberalise protected sectors of the economy is in the national interest, which, of course, may not be identical to the interest of the pink papers. Through this tussle the pace of sectoral opening up can be made sustainable and conflict-proof. The throw-open-the-gates-by-day-after-tomorrow approach is both morally indefensible and politically disastrous for the party in government.
In TV studios, anchors often pose a question they believe is self-evident: So, who is supreme, Sonia Gandhi or Manmohan Singh? The party or the government? Their purpose is to suggest that there is an inherent and inevitable contradiction between the two. Besides, in their mind, the party is "populist" while the government is "visionary". The truth, unfortunately, is otherwise. Without the party there would be no government, and if populist means looking after those who don't shop in posh Khan Market, I say three cheers!
