As(s) is the leader...........................................

It was pathetic to see our esteemed Finance Minister say in a TV channel that India is a victim of the fuel price hike and when he presented the Union Budget on 29th February 2008, 'no one' did envisage oil prices touching $ 140 per barrel.



I don't know who this 'no one' is. If it was the Finance Ministry mandarins, then they need to look at their market intelligence. It was common knowledge by January end that Oil prices were firming up and is likely to touch $ 150 by August. Where the FM got the idea that oil prices will remain sub $ 100, I have no clue.



He also mentioned that the Government can hardly do anything. This is true considering that the Government is incapable of doing anything. This Government has postponed critical issues on almost all spheres. It was obvious to all that the oil prices had to be raised at least 4 months back. But the government did not take any action as elections in Karnataka was around the corner. Finally, when they were forced to raise the prices, situation had gone beyond control.



But we need to go back a bit more to really find out how culpable our Government is. India had a dynamic Petroleum Minister in Mani Shankar Iyer when they started to rule. Now, I don't agree with many of Mani's view points. But you need to give credit to him. He broke all the conventional rules on energy procurement for the country and started to approach the problem with out of the box thinking. He took to the job like a duck would to water and initiated a multi-pronged approach ranging from opening channels to the OPEC countries, aggressively pursued the Iran-India gas pipeline, and waded into Africa where energy is avaialble for taking. Instead of supporting him wholeheartedly, as any sane PM will do, all kind of obstacles were put in his way. This was at the behest of the Americans, who saw an emerging alliance between Iran and India as a threat to their global plan. And guess what! Mani was kicked out of the Petroleum Ministry and given a portfolio no one wanted - Panchayati Raj and Sports. Later Sports was also taken away from him.



So, a very dynamic, intelligent minister who only wanted to secure India's energy needs for future prosperity was insulted, and downgraded. Will anyone take India seriously when they talk about energy any more in the future? And, we as a nation, lost a golden opportunity.



You need to remember that Mani was shown the door when a nincompoop like Shivraj Patil, who is, by unanimous opinion, is the worst home minister India has ever seen (that is saying a lot as we really had some real jokers as home ministers including a gentleman called Giani Zail Singh) still continues to hang on to his post despite internal security goof ups, total lawlessness, increased naxalite threats, growing militancy, and inability to punish terrorists.



The PM and FM is still taking credit for the 8 % GDP growth, but says inflation is a global phenomenon over which they have no control. And the FM had the audacity to state that Food prices have started coming down. I am sure FM is sleeping well, for he must have dreamt this. Cannot fathom how one can take credit for success but wash one's hand off failure. Well, they are taking a leaf out of their super PM, Sonia Gandhi. Every election Congress loses is due to local leaders inefficiencies, but every success (not that there are any) is attributed to Madam.

As(s) is the leader, so is the follower.....................................