Mr Modi, look into Moody's warning

Last week’s comments of Moody’s Analytics, the research wing of Moody’s Corporation, on the investment climate in the country is a strong warning to the government over the build-up of social strife and political hostilities in the country. It also underlines the inability of the government to rein in those elements which create such a contentious milieu impacting economic growth. It is the first major international professional body to come out with such a critique. Respected persons from different walks of life within the country have made the same point in the last few days. President Pranab Mukherjee has repeatedly called for upholding the values of pluralism and tolerance. Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy and Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan have both underlined the need for tolerance and peace as essential conditions for development. Murthy has noted that there is fear among the minorities and Rajan said there should be maximum room for debate and alternative views in social and political spheres. These voices are apart from the words and actions of a large number of writers, artists and scientists who have protested against the government’s silence and inaction on issues of vital importance to the country.

Moody’s has pointed out that an atmosphere marked by strife, fear and confrontation can lead to loss of confidence on the part of foreign investors and dissuade them from making investments. This is true about domestic investors too. The deepening political divisions can also make it difficult for the government to undertake necessary legislative measures for economic reforms and to implement them. This has already been seen in the case of bringing in a goods and service tax and land acquisition laws. The economic scenario is not the best, with agrarian distress prevailing in many parts of the country, prices of many items of essential consumption rising and the economic growth rate projections being scaled down.

Unfortunately, the message does not seem to have been absorbed by the government and leaders of the BJP. Dissent is being criticised as motivated opposition and sometimes equated with lack of patriotism. But the views of none of the eminent critics can be called “manufactured dissent’’. The NDA government came to power on the promise of development but the discourse ruling in the country now is one of divisiveness and social strife. It is the words and actions of those in government, its allies and others associated with it that caused this shift. Even when the Prime Minister spoke, he was not convincing. The rising number of warnings can be ignored only at the nation’s peril.