Two factors contributed to the reversal of the roles. One was the presentation of an ostensibly positive looking 2011-2012 Budget. The second was the Congress decision to boycott the debate on the Budget. The boycott was announced after PCC President Capt. Amarinder Singh while opening the debate on behalf of the party alleged that figures given in the Budget were fudged and demanded a White Paper on the state’s finances.

Pre-election Budgets are always tax-free. Besides offering generous sops to targeted sections of the ruling party’s vote banks they invariably paint a rosy picture of the state’s financial health. Punjab’s 2011-2012. Budget is no different. It provides higher allocations for social welfare sector, particularly for the hitherto woefully neglected health and education besides for women empowerment. The Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal has said “Punjab has emerged from the dark fiscal tunnel into a sunshine zone of growth, development and prosperity. The dramatic turnaround in revenue generation has reduced debt to a non-issue”. A bold and self-patting assertion supported by an intricate web of figures.

For the common man, Budget whether fudged or realistic, is only a jugglery of figures. The maximum he is interested is to know if it is a deficit or surplus budget and whether it carries any new tax proposals or relief measures which could make his life a bit better. Measured with these yardsticks, the 2011-2012 Budget would look meeting the common man’s expectations.

But is this presumption realistic? A brief look at the Budget and the state’s ground realities do not support the projected rosy picture. In an annual plan of Rs.11,500 crore the fiscal deficit will rise from Rs.7,188.68 crore this year to Rs.8,801.33 crore in the next. Punjab’s debt will go up from the current year’s revised estimates of Rs.69,549 crore to Rs.77,585 crore next year. This will be besides the outstanding guarantees of Rs.33,200 crore for public sector units, Boards and Corporations which have grown to Rs.50,000 crore. During the Akali-BJP government’s 2007-2012 term, Punjab’s debt has risen by RS. 14,653 to Rs.77,585 crore while during the 2002-2007 Congress rule, it rose by Rs. 11,490 crore to Rs. 48,344 crore.

The seemingly welcome feature of the 2011-2012 Budget is that it provides the much-needed large allocations for the social welfare schemes, particularly health, education and infrastructure. The large provisions, however, amount to an indirect admission that these areas remained distressingly neglected during the outgoing four years of the Akali-BJP government.

Sukhbir’s claim that Punjab has emerged from the dark fiscal tunnel and that there has been a dramatic turnaround in revenue generation is not borne out by ground realities. The acute financial crunch the government has been facing has led to extraordinary delays in payment of old age pension, ‘shagun’ claims and dues of some other sections of the people including employees. The aggrieved sections of the people have been holding frequent demonstrations to express their resentment against the government’s failures.

Newspapers reports appearing even after the Budget’s announcements mock at the claims that Punjab has emerged from the dark fiscal tunnel and there has been a dramatic turnaround in revenue generation. Sample these: A six-column front page report published in The Indian Express of March 19 with screaming headline says “No mid-day meal funds, so Punjab teachers spend own money”. It quotes the Education department attributing the delay in payment to non-release of funds by the Finance Department. It also says the cooks who get Rs.1000 per month have, in some areas, not been paid since November last. The Times of India also of March 19 prominently front-paged news saying “Punjab and Haryana High Court on March 18 stayed the Punjab government’s move to mortgage the properties including parks, waterworks, jails and Mayor’s house of various municipal corporations of the state for raising loans from banks/financial institutions”.

Such a situation was a godsend for any opposition party to mount an offensive against the government. But the Congress lost this opportunity by boycotting the debate on the Budget. The party’s easy going leadership apparently avoided doing home work on the Budget to support its claim that the figures given in the Budget were fudged, the argument it advanced for boycotting the debate. Coupled with its failure to raise the issues confronting its main urban vote bank, it reflected on the quality of the main opposition party’s leadership. It also damaged Capt. Amarinder Singh’s image of being a fighter who was the only Congress leader in Punjab capable of taking on the ruling alliance. Sukhbir could not be faulted for making sarcastic comments that Capt. Amarinder Singh had run away from the field.

If the Congress continues with such lapses, it would jeopardize its potential and opportunity to exploit the widely prevalent anti-incumbency sentiment in Punjab for electoral gains.

The Congress leadership perhaps needs to remember Disraeli’s saying that “There is no education like adversity”. (IPA Service)