Maya won't vote against FDI - in the interests of secularism

It’s back to the old bogey of communalism. To keep “communal forces’ at bay, Mawayati will not vote against the UPA government when it comes to the debate on foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retailing. The Congress sees FDI in retail as proof of its commitment to reforms. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) of Mayawati says it is opposed to FDI, but will not do anything beyond talking about it. For the Congress, it is the issue of “secularism” that is proving to be its trump card in getting FDI through. At a press conference today, Mayawati dropped clear hints that her 21 Lok Sabha MPs and 15 Rajya Sabha members would abstain from the vote to enable the Congress to carry the day. She claimed that despite her opposition to FDI, she had to take on board some “larger social concerns”. And what were these? “After all we have to see who brought this motion in Parliament, the BJP & Company. We have to see that no message should go out that we are standing with communal forces. It is also possible that hereafter the government responds positively to the points raised by me.” [caption id=“attachment_543569” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Mayawati. Agencies.[/caption] Mayawati’s public statement should come as a huge relief to the government, more so to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath ,who only a day ago had said on CNN-IBN that there had been no assurance of support from the BSP and the Samajwadi Party (SP). He, however, said he was confident of it. Clearly, the BSP will not vote against the government. However, Mayawati did not apparently want the Congress’s floor managers to rest easy. So she added a caveat for the record: “Under the scenario, we will take a decision on how to vote on the issue at that particular moment on the floor of the house.” She could even consider supporting FDI if the government succeeded in convincing her that the concerns raised by her had been addressed. Mayawati’s position is akin to the one taken by the Congress’s biggest ally, DMK chief M Karunanidhi, who after listing out the negatives of FDI, pledged his support to the government in Parliament to “stop communal forces” from taking centrestage. Mayawati too listed out the too many negatives of FDI, but echoed the arguments of the Congress leadership that states were anyway free to bar FDI if they so wanted. Ironically, the biggest critics of the BJP, the Left parties, are acting in tandem with them on FDI. They have even had informal discussions for floor coordination. But then, for the Left, FDI is an ideological issue and not about cornering the government. CPM leader Sitaram Yechuri, in fact, hardened his position and brought up the issue of  linking parliamentary approval for FDI and the amendments made to the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The Left will bring a statutory resolution in both houses to oppose the five FEMA changes notified by the government. The other crucial player in the FDI vote, the Samajwadi Party, is playing hardball with the Manmohan Singh government. It has taken conflicting positions on voting. While senior SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav, brother of  Mulayam Singh Yadav, asserted that he would vote against the government in the Rajya Sabha, Mulayam Singh himself kept the suspense going by saying his party would strongly oppose FDI in retail, but a decision on the vote would be taken at the last minute. SP leaders had also earlier raised the bogey of communal forces. For the strategists from the government side, the numbers in the Rajya Sabha are more worrisome. But they seem to have found a technical escape route. Kamal Nath says that support from the Lok Sabha is enough for both the FDI and FEMA amendments. On FDI, the opposition vote is more like a privilege motion because Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had made a statement in the Lok Sabha last December about consultation and consensus. On the FEMA amendments, he said the approval of one house would be sufficient. The BJP and the Left contest both these points. Its going to be a battle of wits when the Lok Sabha begins debating the issue tomorrow and votes the day after.