New Delhi:
Senior BJP leader Arun Shourie has said that though he agrees with the government's decision to increase diesel prices, reports that he praised the decision to liberalise the retail sector are incorrect. "I praised only his diesel price hike," the former union minister said. He described as inconsequential the move to open up the country's vast retail sector to foreign super-chains like Wal-Mart. "This will neither help, nor hurt," he said. Mr Shourie also pointed out that large retail chains already exist in India and have not been able to oust small kirana shops (corner-shops).
The ruling Congress has gratefully accepted Mr Shourie's statement as an endorsement of its reforms. It will no doubt embrace his remarks on NDTV's prime-time show, Left, Right and Centre tonight - he said that the opposition to FDI in retail is "a fuss over nothing."
The former union minister also said that though he accepts Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's explanation that the need of the hour is to check subsidies and reduce the fiscal deficit, "these are deficits of budgets that he praised...which had his concurrence. It has been an abdication," he said.
The reforms introduced by the Prime Minister last week reduced his government to a minority after its biggest ally, Mamata Banerjee, quit the ruling coalition on Friday in protest.
Like Ms Banerjee most other parties, the BJP has argued that allowing chains like Wal-Mart in India will destroy the business of thousands of corner shop owners. The BJP played a large role in a nationwide strike called last Thursday in protest against the government's reforms to allow 51% Foreign Direct Investment or FDI in retail, and to rein in fuel subsidies by increasing the price of diesel and limiting the supply of subsidised gas cylinders to households.
His party has made it clear that it does not agree with Mr Shourie's assessment. "It may be his stand but not of the BJP. Based on the fact and the documents, we can confidently say that because of FDI in retail, India will lose its 400 billion dollar retail market to others. And also five crore people will be left unemployed," said Murli Manohar Joshi, senior BJP leader. The party and its allies have said that none of the states it runs will implement FDI in retail. The government has underlined that the policy is optional for states.
The Left says Mr Shourie's comments expose the BJP's political hypocrisy on the issue of FDI in retail. "It is for the BJP to explain Mr Shourie's statement, they must explain whether their leaders believe in the stand that the BJP has taken," said D Raja of the CPI.
In a television address to the nation on Friday night, the Prime Minister justified the new reforms, describing them as vital for reducing fiscal deficit, reviving economic growth and renewing foreign investor confidence. He also said that the reforms would not affect the poorest families, who use less than six cylinders of cooking gas and are reliant on kerosene.