Three events last Saturday were symptomatic of the sickness that afflicts Indian politics. First was the announcement of Mulayam Singh Yadav's jumbo cabinet with 98 ministers that topped previous scores. A further expansion might conceivably take the tally beyond a hundred.
Mulayam, of course, should not be singled out. He is merely taking to its logical conclusion precedents set by all parties, both at the Centre and the states. These monstrous cabinets provide the clearest evidence of what motivates today's Indian politician. Only patronage and perks interest him. Nothing remotely connected to public service concerns him. How will portfolios be invented to accommodate so many ministers? Will the home ministry be divided into a minister for traffic, another for VIP security and a third for crime? Will the textile ministry branch into a minister for shirts, another for trousers and a third for saris?
The second event was the cabinet decision to amend the Constitution to give job reservations to the economically backward. This will benefit the forward caste poor. This column had earlier pointed out the self-contradictions of the Mandal formula. But already the Congress is vying with the government to grab credit for furthering this failed policy. A commission will be appointed to study the subject and offer recommendations within a year. That will time nicely with the general polls in late 2004, creating a campaign issue for the BJP.
Job reservations for central government employees are largely notional. Total central recruitment each year used to be around 40,000. Now a billion people probably will have even less. The genuinely poor get virtually nothing. Only politicians of all castes get political empowerment by spreading vicious caste propaganda. That's what creates the politician whose only interest is patronage and perks. But if all castes can get job reservation, then why not dispense with caste and apply only economic, educational criteria? Ahh, but that will not allow politicians to exploit caste as an easy way to win polls!
The third event last Saturday was the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD) to bifurcate and juggle with the government-owned oil companies and circumvent the Supreme Court ruling that made parliamentary approval for disinvesting them mandatory. Why should government be reluctant to let Parliament discuss the disinvestments of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL)? What kind of market economy is it that shuns transparency? There should be little wonder then that people have begun to smell a rat!
