Guruswamy was not an important man. Even so, he deserves an afterword. This is because he was obviously brought in with a purpose. Here lies the rub. The purpose of bringing in one with whom Swadeshi Jagaran Manch did not see eye to eye from day one is not clear. It may be he was brought in to sharpen liberalisation. But this too is far from certain. There are several stories about how the FM's advisor rubbed FIs and others, including bigwigs in the bureaucracy, on the wrong side. But the one story that seems to have sealed his fate is about the ire he aroused of apetrochemical magnate who has the ears of the finance minister. This was over the rescue package Guruswamy had prepared for Essar Steel. The petrochemical magnate is making a mega foray into petroleum refining. But what has this got to do with steel? Ah, the Essar group is seeking a toehold in oil refining.

Treat the above story as apocryphal. But the point should not to be missed that Guruswamy was doing jobs assigned to him. It is possible that he exceeded his brief. But this is unlikely. The chances are that his role was ambiguous. One day he was all for foreign investment and the next he was ticking off FIs for dealing with GE Caps.

Remember, Guruswamy was the FM's right hand man. It follows that he had to report to the FM. He could hardly have acted on his own. But the FM had left his role vague. It is easy to see why Guruswamy kept stumbling over trip-wires. Here lies the significance of the unlamented departure of the unimportant Guruswamy. His rise and fall stemmed from ambiguity.

Truth to tell,ambiguity is the hallmark of the present Government. It is difficult to spell out the Government's nuclear policy or understand where it stands on communalism. In the economic domain, the Government does not seem to have a unified view. It is all for insurance and patent liberalisation. But it is also for raising import duties to give protection to domestic industry. Even with respect to the special import duty, it displayed a lack of clarity: the 8 per cent duty was hurriedly halved.A unified view is necessary for clear-headed decisions. The ministers in charge and the bureaucrats who help them flesh out decisions, then have a reference point. The cabinet knows what it is clearing and, in case of doubt, can appeal to the referee, the Prime Minister. Since a unified view is absent, none of this is happening. This has given rise to anarchy of sorts, with each minister doing what he thinks fit.

Sinha's roll-backs are history. But was the Prime Minister briefed adequately on the recent proposed hikes in pricesof foodgrains sold through the PDS? Unlikely. The politically sensitive AB Vajpayee did not get a chance to thresh out the issue with the alliance partners. Or take the reduction in the selling price of diesel. This was supposed to be hiked (through a tax) to mop up the windfall from falling prices of imported oil. But the farm lobby had to be appeased.

Note that the farm lobby had been amply pandered to through stiff increases in the procurement prices of foodgrains (bloated by bonus). Simultaneously, the consumer lobby has been mollified with roll-backs in PDS foodgrain prices. Also note that domestic industry is being won over through (half-hearted?) import duty hikes, and foreign investment is being wooed. Sure enough, in a democracy, the Government has to contend with pulls and counter-pulls. But this does not mean that all vested interests have to be kept on the right side.

There are no unambiguous answers to the following questions: Is the Government for self-reliance, is it protectionist, or doesit want liberalisation, competition and aggressive export growth? The answer to each of these questions depends on the lobby pressure ascendant at a particular time. (Guruswamy learnt this the hard way). Everything is tentative. The Government blows hot and cold. It has no vision. It cannot do its own thing.