National Monetisation Pipeline | Rahul Gandhi’s criticism has misfired

File image of Rahul Gandhi (Image: Shutterstock)

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, targeting its ambitious Rs 6 lakh-crore National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), has misfired. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while countering Gandhi’s charge pointed out that such deals were carried out during United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s tenure as well.

The NMP is a structured programme with an enhanced scope including multiple sectors. It unlocks the economic potential of various sectors and the revenues that it is projected to bring in will go a long way in further boosting the economy. The government’s move to monetise its assets needs to be complimented as it comes at a time when the economy is yet to fully recover from the impact of COVID-19.

At a time when India needs resources to create infrastructure and fuel growth, Gandhi is ridiculing an innovative plan, a tested model globally, and hailed by experts as a bolder and larger programme. Gandhi’s criticism of the NMP also shows his lack of awareness about policies of the Congress-led UPA government.

The assets listed in the NMP are not being sold to the private sector. These assets will be offered as concessions, as rights to operate and returned to the State after a given period, providing a fillip to the Public-Private Partnership model.

In a sense what Gandhi is doing is supporting a policy while in power and criticising it while in the Opposition. The general public will see through this double standards.

It also shows how despite being a four-term Member of Parliament, he is yet to gauge the pulse of the nation. This disconnect exposes his inability to become a mass leader. By focusing on issues which a majority of Indians are not well aware of, such as the Pegasus snooping case or the Rafale deal or the NMP, Gandhi is reinforcing the notion that he is a leader who does not voice issues close to the people. Issues such as price rise, unemployment, and farm distress, have a greater connect with the people. These are the issues that Gandhi and the Congress need to take up aggressively on behalf of the general public, and put pressure on the government.

While attacking the government, Gandhi’s charges that the Union government is ‘selling’ India’s ‘strategic assets’ to crony ‘friends’ is purely rhetoric — and it will be hard for such allegations to stick on a government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has built the image of a leader who is fighting corruption and has broken Delhi’s traditional power centres to the benefit of the common man.

In the run-up to the 2019 general elections, Modi reiterated this message when he said that he was the ‘chowkidar’ protecting the nation. Though the Congress aggressively campaigned against this alleging that there was financial misappropriation in the Rafale deal, and coined the slogan ‘Chowkidar chor hai’, the voters did not buy it.

Gandhi alleges that the NMP is aimed at creating monopolies in key sectors. This is a premature statement as the fine print of the plan is not yet out. Thus, in allegations of crony capitalism the opposition party is betraying its prejudice. Similarly, Gandhi’s charge that the NMP will kill jobs, eliminate the informal sector, destroy small businesses and lead to ‘enslaving’ of people are ringing hollow. Funds raised through the NMP will lead to new infrastructure creation. This, in turn, will generate new employment opportunities, provide a boost to investments, and have a spill over effect on the overall economy.

A productive and astute Opposition will criticise (and even highlight) the government’s shortcomings, provide alternatives, and co-operate when it is doing a good job. Gandhi is in no mood for this.

Rather than criticising, Gandhi and the Congress should have come out and applauded the government’s NMP plan. There would have been at least two benefits: One, the Congress could have used the opportunity to highlight that what is being done now is an extension of what the Congress had started while it was in power, and; two, in the eyes of the public the Congress would have come across as a responsible Opposition.

This could have turned the debate on its head and changed the entire dynamics by putting the BJP on the back foot. Alas, it is yet another lost opportunity for the Congress.

Amitabh Tiwari is a former corporate and investment banker-turned political strategist and commentator. Twitter: @politicalbaaba.

Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.