Cong has a communication problem: Anand Sharma parrots colleagues

A negative narrative, a communication gap, a perception problem -- it's increasingly clear that the Congress top brass has hit upon these terms to explain away its impending political embarrassment in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

These, alongside the "landmark" legislations of Right to Information (passed by UPA 1), Right to Food, land acquisition (the impact of the latter two still to be studied), appear to form the thrust of the Congress's half-hearted attempts to come to terms with five years of policy paralysis.

PTI

Treading that well-beaten-in-recent-times path in an interview to The Indian Express is Commerce and Industries minister Anand Sharma who not only says the pattern of voting in Lok Sabha elections is so different from state elections that the "setback" of December 2013 cannot be termed a final verdict, but also goes on to say that the Congress allowed, "by default", a negative narrative to be built which in turn has "created all these impressions referred to as policy paralysis".

"I must admit, our problem is one of communication. We have done an enormous amount of good work, when it comes to growth, investment, increasing India's share in global trade…" he is quoted as having said.

It's not true that the Congress has suffered from policy paralysis, Sharma contends, citing major decisions taken such as the national manufacturing policy, a new mining policy, legislation such as Companies Act and Competition Commission, simplification of FDI policy, etc. "What has hurt us is a very negative narrative, which sought to black out all the positives..." he said.

Only last week, speaking to The Indian Express, Union Minister M veerappa Moily who is also a member of the Congress's pre-poll alliance subgroup, uttered almost the same practiced lines.

"What happens is that the Congress doesn't do propaganda. We have to market our product. We have a quality product on both the financial and the social sides," he was quoted as saying.

Another interview by Business Standard, with Minister of State for Communication and Information & Technology Milind Deora, also saw the Congress leader say the core problem for the UPA in its second term has been its inability to communicate effectively.

"If the Congress and the UPA were compared to the BJP and the National Democratic Alliance government, then the latter's ability to communicate effectively and far more aggressively than we do would have been the difference. Also, the way the BJP has spun the Gujarat economic story. Ultimately, people see through these things. But our opponents communicate far more aggressively. Frankly we haven't got credit for most of the things we have done," he said.

Union Minister Jairam Ramesh was taking that party line too late last month when he told a gathering in Thiruvananthapuram that the food security law was a "revolutionary step" by the Congress-led UPA government.

Terming food security act as 'a revolutionary step' by Congress-led UPA government, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said it would not only ensure food for all, but also herald reforms in PDS and ration shops.