M.J. Akbar in his weekly column in Khaleej Times, Dubai:
“The Left, [the raft on which the UPA government has been sailing for four years] which is still anxious to save the Manmohan Singh government from self-inflicted wounds wanted to hear prescriptions [about the inflation turmoil]. Instead it got a sniffy sermon based on the extraordinary assertion that “political parties should not politicise the misery of the people”.
“I find this quite incomprehensible. If political parties do not politicise the misery, what should they politicise? What are they in politics for? To celebrate Diwali every week? Heaven knows, enough politicians do that already.
“But at least the Prime Minister’s formulation recognises that the people are indeed miserable. And when they are miserable it is hardly surprising that they tend to vote against those who have made them miserable.
“Here is a fact of life that Prime Minister Singh and Mrs Sonia Gandhi, his mentor, may want to remember: it is the people who politicise misery when they convert their anger into a vote.”
Read the full column: Nine per cent growth for 9 pc
churumuri 
Sure. M.J.Akbar’s point, mundane as it is, is taken. However, I think what the PM was referring to was the fact that the inflation was neither caused by this government nor can it entirely be controlled by this government. It is primarily caused by massive increases in food prices over the last few months which are down to various international factors not entirely in the control of the government. Thus, when the Left “demands” that the PM stop inflation and threatens political consequences should this not be addressed, the Left is politicizing an issue that it itself cannot give a complete solution to. It is therefore merely politicizing the issue of the grief of the people (justified) without providing any solution or understanding that this issue isn’t totally within the control of any government (not just the UPA). Thus instead of blaming the UPA for everything and thereby politicizing a sensitive issue, it should come up with some sort of constructive criticism which would help address the issue, failing which it should content itself with tackling other issues. I think that the PM and the FM are well aware of all the facts and are eminently capable with dealing with the crisis.
LikeLike
If the commies were really concerned they would have joined the government instead of needling it from the outside. The commies have lost the moral high-ground long time back.
LikeLike
Chaita:
” The Left is politicizing an issue that it itself cannot give a complete solution to”
Why should Left give the solutions ? Its their job is to raise the matter and get as shrill as they can, crirticise the government and do anything to make the government to take remedial action. If Govt is expecting opposition to come up with solutions then they could as well hang up boots and hand over the power to them.
” I think that the PM and the FM are well aware of all the facts and are eminently capable with dealing with the crisis ”
PM and FM are capable people. Agreed. However, their capabilities, eminennce etc in handling inflation remains a mystery and a well guarded secret. If one even scrathches at surface of few decisions this govt took – future trading in food grains, importing at higher prices etc – questions about integrity and future planning have to be asked.
In a democracy, Opposition Parties job is to oppose everything and anything..that their privilege. Its the government’s job to ensure justice ( of all kinds) and do things ( take corrective action when need be) keeping public interest in mind, thats their responsibilitY. People are better off when these two things happen.
LikeLike
Andy:
I quite agree with you when you say that it is the opposition’s job to raise issues and as such, it is quite right that the Left raised the issue of inflation with the PM. However, from what I understood from the PM’s statement, and from what I have read elsewhere, the Left was “politicizing” the issue in a way that isn’t constructive. There is a difference between raising legitimate concerns and taking those to the public and needlessly “politicizing” an issue. One legitimate concern could be that the PM wasn’t taking any steps in tackling inflation or was ignoring the plight of the poor. That is a legit. issue because the Left would claim that the PM is not doing his level best and that the Left has some concrete plan which would work better than the PM’s. Politicizing the issue is just saying there is rampant inflation (something that the PM is working hard on) while ignoring the fact that the PM is working hard to control it, doing everything in the governments power and not specifying exactly what the Left would do instead. To be constructive, the left should point out exactly what policies are wrong and why what the PM is currently doing is wrong or ineffective and also point out that he could/should be doing better. If he is not able to do better (for example, if inflation is caused by high world oil prices) then there it is counter-productive to blame this particular government for it, because it is outside of their control.
That is all i meant.
LikeLike
Why would a newspaper have a name that sounds like our “galeeju?”
LikeLike