The anti-reform Congress

The United Progressive Alliance’s second government, which has become almost synonymous with inaction, is accustomed to citing its unruly allies as responsible for its inability to make policy. Major reforms like foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail or a land acquisition law, for example, have been put on hold because alliance partners like Mamata Banerjee have declared themselves uncomfortable with their passage. Yet, in the Cabinet’s treatment of the long-awaited insurance Bill, it becomes clear that the Congress party needs no outside agency to catalyse its paralysis; it is capable of holding up reform perfectly well on its own.

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