Verbal gaffes by ministers hurt policy-making

Finance minister P Chidambaram began his Budget speech on February 28 on a very clear note: “I intend to keep my speech simple, straightforward and reasonably short.”

Simple and to-the-point it was, but the jury is still out if it was straightforward enough. For, even as the minister was speaking, markets began to tank, as traders panicked at the phrasing of a clause about overseas tax residency certificates. It took the FM many, many hours of airtime later to convince people that the particular paragraph had been shoddily drafted and investors need not run scared.

The tax residency one is only the latest in a series of gaffes that seem to plague ministers of UPA whenever they open their mouths. In Parliament on Friday, home minister Sushilkumar Shinde read out the names of victims in a rape case, seemingly unaware that he is not allowed to do so by law. The report had to be physically redacted before copies could be distributed.

Earlier, former chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu created a furore when he supposedly told a group of people in the US that India’s growth would not recover till 2014, which went against the grain of the official policy stance.

SM Krishna, during his stint as foreign minister in UPA, went to the United Nations and started reading out the speech of the Portuguese foreign minister, until he was stopped by someone in his entourage. Through 2011-12, as growth slowed and inflation soared, Planning Commission boss Montek Singh Ahluwalia insisted that prices would start cooling next week — every week.

It is perhaps innate caution and awareness of this propensity for gaffes among his colleagues that makes prime minister Manmohan Singh keep his mouth closed most of the time. But even that has not saved him. Speaking to some editors, he once said that 25 per cent of Bangladeshis were followers of the Jamaat-i-Islami and were anti-Indian.

Things can be done to set things right. Competent aides must check that speeches have been drafted well, and vet them for accuracy. Every minister must exercise restraint while speaking in public. And, most important, dear ministers, before unleashing a volley of words, pause, and think of what you’re going to say.