Indeed, in the case of the patents bill, for example, the need to movetowards introducing `product' patents and giving `exclusive marketingrights' for inventions -- that's what the BJP's Patents Amendment Bill isall about -- is part of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement thatwas signed in 1994 by the Congress government at Marrakesh. The Congressshould also know that, both the US and the EU had appealed against India atthe WTO last year, arguing that India had not begun the process offulfilling its obligations under the treaty. India lost both cases, evenafter an appeal, and has been given uptil April to rectify this. If, byApril, India does not have a system in place for this, our trading partnersare free to declare open season on us, and put up all manner of barriers toIndia's exports.

So, if the Congress doesn't allow the patents bill to be passed in thecurrent session, it will have to wait till the budget session in February.And if, for some reason, it doesn't get passed then, India is in for serioustrouble. Who knows, if the bill goes to a standing committee or a selectcommittee of Parliament, it's not certain that a quick consensus will bereached. The Congress knows all this, and that is why it had agreed to helpget the bill passed initially -- its leaders Sharad Pawar and Manmohan Singheven met Prime Minister Vajpayee to convey this to him. But then somethinghappened, and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is now believed to be of the viewthat the Congress shouldn't be aligning itself so closely with the BJP. Ameeting of Congress MPs will now meet on Monday to debate the issue.

Similarly, in the case of insurance, opening up the sector has been animportant plank of the Congress, even though the first piece of legislationon the matter was introduced by the United Front's P. Chidambaram when hewas the country's finance minister. Indeed, if you go by the note circulatedby the party's economic cell last week, the Congress was expected to supportthe bill since it was in line with its own election manifesto.

By Monday, something happened, and the Congress decided to do a volte face.It muttered that it had not been shown the bill in time, and that the billwas dramatically different from Chidambaram's one, which they had seen andapproved of. Sure the Congress supported opening up of the sector to privateplayers, its leaders said, but, they alleged privately and in sombre tones,the bill was full of holes, serious flaws which would jeopardise the entireprocess of opening up the insurance sector. Much better, they argued, soresponsibly, to correct the flaws now, by sending the bill to either astanding committee or joint select committee of both houses of Parliament.

A closer examination of both Chidambaram's as well as the BJP's bill showsthat this is just so much hogwash. Clause for clause, word for word, thebills are mostly the same. The only difference is in the fact that the BJP'sbill goes a step further, and actually opens up the entire insurance sector,as opposed to a partial opening up by Chidambaram. Obviously then, its billhas additional clauses which deal with amending the LIC and GIC Acts whichgave the public sector a monopoly over the country's insurance business.

That's the problem, the Congress leaders pounce. In making these additionalclauses, the BJP's made serious drafting blunders. A charge that's easy tobelieve, given the government's history of such blunders, right from thepetrol price drama in the budget to the CVC ordinance. The problem, however,is that this time the BJP hasn't blundered. So, when the Congress says, forexample, that the BJP's bill will encourage fly-by-night operators to set upinsurance companies, this is a wild distortion. It's true that the BJP'sbill does not amend that section of the Insurance Act of 1938 which saysthat a company wishing to enter the business must have a minimum capital ofRs 50,000. But what the Congress doesn't talk about, is that details likethe minimum size of firms is something that comes within the purview of theInsurance Regulatory Authority -- once the IRA is set up, it will notifyrules governing the sector. Sure the BJP could have put in a clause sayingthat any firm will have to have a minimum capital of Rs 100 crore forentering the business, but then it would also need to put in hundreds ofother clauses relating to how these firms are to be run, where they are toinvest the premium they collect and so on. All of these are to be notifiedby the IRA, and are not meant to be part of the bill.

But then, the Congress already knows that. Its top leaders were met bysenior BJP leaders as well as top bureaucrats who deal with the insurancesector, and this was explained to them in great detail. The idea was just toplay football. The BJP, unfortunately for it, can't complain too much. It'sbeen guilty of worse, when it ensured that Chidambaram's bill died anunnecessary death last year. The only reason why one expected better fromthe Congress is that this is a party which hopes to be in power soon. Surelythis attitude will ensure that others do the same with it when it comes topower. Unless, of course, it's confident of getting a brute majority.