After a long hiatus, populist politics is making a comeback, in the opposition as well as the ruling party. Throughout the 1990s, opposition politics meant castigating the government for raising the price of fuel and electricity and reducing subsidy expenditures.

Every privatisation measure was opposed for giving away state assets at ‘throwaway prices’, and the Independent Power Policy was harshly criticised by the first PML-N government for fixing tariffs too high.

This style kept successive governments hamstrung and unable to undertake the reforms necessary to adapt to a rapidly changing world. The results were disastrous.

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Every government struggled with a growing fiscal deficit, sagging growth and high inflation. The country had outgrown some of this style of politics in recent years, although echoes of it were still heard during the tax reform efforts of the previous government.

Today, we are back to the 1990s style of politics of opposing all reforms for the sake of opposing them.

For instance, the PTI says they oppose the government’s privatisation of state-owned enterprises at ‘throwaway prices’ even before any reference price has been generated.

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Some amongst their leadership have even dropped suggestions that some of the investors in the privatisation effort could be Indian nationals, without an iota of proof.

They are not happy with the decrease in fuel prices, saying the cuts should have been deeper, and promise that they will make electricity cheap if allowed to rule. This is vintage 1990s politics, of purely the sort that stalled our reform efforts for over a decade.

For its part, the PML-N is proving itself devoid of any skill and political instinct in dealing with this retrograde onslaught.

For example, announcing the fuel price cut from the platform of the prime minister is designed to give the impression that it is he himself who has ordained this decrease out of a spirit of benevolence and generosity.

Talk of a possible payout to power consumers, as well as gas allocations on political grounds speak to the populist posture the government is trying to adopt.

What is lost in all this is a coherent path forward.

A cut in fuel prices and an investigation into overbilling in the power sector were warranted, and not a favour to anybody.

Instead of competing on who can hammer prices down more, the parties ought to be competing on who has the more effective vision to do what we all know is necessary: disengage the state from the task of setting prices and generating investment, strengthen its regulatory capacity, and invite the private sector into the field with proper safeguards for the public interest.

It is not clear whether we were any closer to this path last year, but what is evident is that we are now being buffeted further and further away from it today.

The price will be paid by our future generations.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2014