India! For sale!!

The neoliberal policies of the government that started at the wake of 1991 economic crisis have steadily moved the country towards ceasing of political and economic powers in the hands of multinational corporate. The fundamentals of the Indian democracy as laid by the Lahore summit of 1931 and further concreted by the constitution of independent India is losing its meaning. The idea of a socialist republic, a welfare state, equality, fraternity and provision of fundamental needs to all the citizen of India has got no importance in the policy making of today’s government. The recent bill on FDI in retail and insurance is the latest addition to the neoliberalism of Indian polity which will prove to be a pivotal point in the failure of the economic structure of the country, once the bubble bursts.

Opening of the economy to the free cash and goods flow from foreign investors needs a certain restructuring in the polity. In the modern day scenario where majority of economies are developing, a large number of investment opportunities are present in front of the investors, supported mainly by the economic policies and availability of cheap labor force in the country. India is just one of those many countries where the government is restructuring its polity to facilitate inflow of capital. Finance capital above all can easily move from one country to another, once the financial environment is not favored to the investors. These movements can be quite large and the economy can find itself in crisis. To avoid this, the government will always be caught in an attempt to retain the confidence of the investors.

Once these policies come into full effect, the incapacitation of the government will be independent of the party who comes into power. The choice of people in the election will be of no relevance because whoever comes into power will have the obligation to keep capital market happy. This will in time conflict with the interest of the people because the interest of finance capital will be kept above the interest of public, leading to the loss of sovereignty of the democracy. A very prominent example of this dependence can be seen in the elections held in India. Post reliance era, when major corporate of India emerged by political assistance, the political parties started to receive huge funds from the big business houses. In return, policies were made in favor of the corporate, even though they were against public and national interest. Further polarization of power happened after 1991 when the country opened for foreign capital. The intervention of foreign governments and multinational corporate in the policy making of the country became more and more evident. This was one of the reasons for the decline in popularity of leftist parties, since they had very little connection with business world.

The flag adopted in 1931 and used by freedom fighters the during the subsequent years

The ill effects of FDI in retail are widely published in many national and international journals and magazines. Further divide in the socioeconomic gap is eminent.  The struggle for ever shrinking means of livelihood and dis-appropriation of wealth will further fracture the society. Regional politics and violence between groups of people based on cast, creed, religion, region etc, can be an outcome of such struggle. Example of which is violence against Biharis in Maharashtra where Marathis were told that there unemployment is because of outsiders, was a result of such struggle, fueled by political motives.

Now people who are playing the role of financial supervisors in government are coming from the club of technocrats who talk the same language as of the capitalists. Everything is now becoming market dependent and favorable for people with ‘’primitive accumulation of wealth’’. Recent episode in Maharashtra regarding sugar pricing is an example of how government is favoring industrialists over peasants. Transfer of state property to capitalist and permission to encroach peasants’ and tribal land is done by the government in return of a fraction of this bonanza offered to the politicians. The restriction of economic disparity between people of oppressed cast and others as enforced by the constitution through reservation and subsidy is under attack by market dependent forces. The responsibility of the state as promised by the constitution to maintain the integrity, fraternity and dignity of the Indian democracy is not being fulfilled and freedom we got by our struggle against imperialist power is under attack by capitalist hegemony.

The way our economy is getting opened to foreign capital, will create a vulnerable situation where the main driver of the economy will be international capital flow. The addiction to attract foreign investment is evident even now where stock market is largely stimulated by it. Once the bubble bursts, it will affect other sectors (like, IT, Agriculture etc) as well creating immense financial pressure on the government. Even the IT sector of the country which is the fastest developing sector and has bought lot of wealth to the nation is also mainly dependent on the foreign clients. Denuding agricultural land and ignorance towards local industry has dismantled the fundamental structure of the economy and any destabilization caused by foreign capital outflow will now pose an even more serious threat to the country and its people than what happened in 91’.

The love of congress and BJP towards FDI is clear to everybody, irrespective of whatever drama they create in the parliament. Major parties like SP, BSP, AIDMK, NCP etc are all devoid of any fundamental ideology and like any regional party are opportunists. They all support government’s decision for closing its eye over the illegal activities carried out by them and blackmail the government for favors. Left parties are entangled in internal conflicts over ideology. They have to reformulate their ideology to support the productive forces while maintaining the economic equality. Until they come out of this dilemma, politically, very few options are left for the people. The invertebrate politicians and bureaucrats are all set to sell out the nation in the hands of capitalists. Now the question is whether some political party stands against these capitalist forces and restores the balance between capital infusion, industrialization and public welfare or the public comes out of the houses like what happened in ‘’IAC movement’’ and ‘’aam aadmi party’’ to form an alternate government. I wonder how much the latter option will be effective! If not these, then the dark period of Indian economy is coming. The stability that we have achieved by our post independence conservative economic and political policies will soon be mortgaged to the board rooms of multinational corporate.