GUPTA: “Crude Politics” (Indian Express, IN)

The government’s announcement of a 10% increase in petrol prices has come under sharp criticism. In this article, Shekhar Gupta points out that oil marketing companies are supposedly free to reset the petrol price on a fortnightly basis anyway. They have not been doing so however, making this price hike an ‘event’. Before this, the last increase was carried out in November 2011, but the process stopped because the UPA was getting ready for the Uttar Pradesh elections. The UPA suspended that fortnightly rhythm in search of cynical electoral gains which never came.  The UPA’s actions are emblematic of a larger problem within the UPA – its slow decision making; the UPA  dithers and meanders into making everything out to be a story, a controversy, an event.