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A. Surya Prakash
Editorial
The Pioneer
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Speaking at a function to mark the 125th foundation day of the
Congress last month, party president Sonia Gandhi said that over the
next year, the party "will recall those remarkable men and women
without whose sacrifices and contributions, we would not be where we
are today; we will also mark those events that have defined
contemporary India, events shaped by our leaders that have left an
indelible imprint on the nation's social, political and economic
history". According to her, the party has been extraordinarily
fortunate "to have had men and women of courage, integrity, sagacity
and dedication to lead us".
During her speech, Ms Gandhi showered fulsome praise on Jawaharlal
Nehru, Mrs Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, �generously' devoted two
lines to Lal Bahadur Shastri (lest her partisanship become obvious)
but made no mention of PV Narasimha Rao, who was one of our greatest
Prime Ministers. Since we are celebrating the 60th anniversary of our
republic, all citizens who take pride in India becoming an economic
powerhouse in the 21st century will be doing a signal disservice to
the real heroes of India if they allow Ms Gandhi's deliberate
omission of Rao's name to go unchallenged.
The facts are as follows: Rao became the Prime Minister on June 21,
1991. The country's economy was in a shambles when he entered office.
Foreign exchange reserves had plummeted to precarious levels and the
rate of inflation was 13 per cent and eventually rose to 17 per cent.
The predecessor Government, headed by Chandra Shekhar, had pledged
gold to the Bank of England to raise $ 200 million because India was
on the verge of defaulting on payments. We had just Rs 2,100 crore in
foreign exchange -- barely enough to pay the import bill for two
weeks.
When Rao passed away in 2004, the country's foreign exchange reserves
were $140 billion (Rs 6 lakh crore). In the last week of December
2009, when Ms Gandhi felt that Rao was not worthy of a mention at the
Congress's 125th anniversary, India's forex reserves were close to
U.S $285 billion (Rs 13 lakh crore!). Apart from this remarkable
turnaround on the forex front, the country has achieved spectacular
results in terms of per capita income and GDP growth. The media and
communication boom that one sees today has its origins in Rao's
decision to end the Government's monopoly in these sectors. India is
now the second fastest growing economy and every nation in the world
is keen to have a slice of the action. In short, Rao was ahead of Mr
APJ Abdul Kalam in igniting the minds of Indians.
The second but equally commendable achievement of Rao was the grit
and sagacity with which he tackled the problem of militancy in
Punjab. The seeds of separatism were sown in Punjab during the tenure
of Mrs Indira Gandhi and continued unabated during Rajiv Gandhi's
prime ministership. The situation in Punjab appeared to be spiralling
out of control when Rajiv Gandhi demitted office in 1989. It needed a
cerebral and gutsy Prime Minister like Rao to retrieve ground. But
for the firmness displayed by him, Punjab could well have become the
first State to secede from India. Yet, Rao is not worthy of a mention
by the Congress president.
The Nehru-Gandhis have always been parsimonious in acknowledging the
contributions of national leaders other than those who belonged to
their family. This is a trait that is obvious from the days of
Jawaharlal Nehru, when everything was done to suppress the
contribution of Sardar Patel, who successfully integrated 564
princely states and gave us a united India, and BR Ambedkar, who
presided over the Constitution Committee.
The same trend continued when Mrs Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were
at the helm. Ms Sonia Gandhi is obviously carrying forward the family
tradition. That is why although she says the party will remember
leaders who have left "an indelible imprint on the nation's social,
political and economic history", she makes no mention of Rao.
Further, although she says that the party has been fortunate "to have
had men and women of courage, integrity, sagacity and dedication to
lead us", she lacks the grace to acknowledge the contribution of a
man who displayed both courage and sagacity at a crucial time.
But, the suppression of Rao's achievements is not the only thing as
far as this speech is concerned. The bigger problem is the attempt by
her to credit Rao's signal achievements on the economic front to
Rajiv Gandhi. There is another family trait, it appears, to
appropriate the achievements of others, be they those of Sardar
Patel, Ambedkar or Rao. She makes the extraordinary claim that Rajiv
Gandhi ushered in the information revolution and that the party's
manifesto of 1991 became the basis for economic policies over the
next five years, "which imparted new strength and direction to our
economy and society", meaning thereby that Rao deserved no credit at
all for what he achieved as Prime Minister.
We need to examine this claim. Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister for
five years from October 31, 1984. Just a year after he demitted
office, India was desperately pledging gold to the Bank of England
for a measly $ 200 million and Ms Sonia Gandhi wants us to believe
that he ushered in our economic recovery! Yet another claim made by
her is that "he brought peace to troubled parts of our country".
Nothing can be more fatuous. Rajiv Gandhi defended the pogrom against
Sikhs in his infamous speech at the Boat Club in New Delhi in
November 1984. During his prime ministership, Punjab militancy was at
its height and there were scores of killings and bombings. In those
days, it required real courage to venture into a cinema hall or to
travel by public transport in Punjab and Delhi. The man who saved
Punjab for India and brought back peace to that State was Rao.
Finally, although Ms Gandhi's speech at her party's anniversary is
loaded with omissions, it may have its uses. It can enter textbooks
dealing with the law of evidence as a classic example of �suppressio
veri, suggestio falsi'!
http://www.dailypioneer.com/231835/Congress-bigger-than-dynasty.html
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Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
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P. Rajah
> Congress bigger than dynasty
>
> A. Surya Prakash
> Editorial
> The Pioneer
> Tuesday, January 26, 2010
>
> [...]
>
> During her speech, Ms Gandhi showered fulsome praise on Jawaharlal
> Nehru, Mrs Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, �generously' devoted two
> lines to Lal Bahadur Shastri (lest her partisanship become obvious)
> but made no mention of PV Narasimha Rao, who was one of our greatest
> Prime Ministers.
Odd, but I recall The Pioneer attacking PVNR in its editorials when the
man was PM, as a lackey of the Italian catholic mob, etc. When did he
suddenly become "one of our greatest Prime Ministers"? F**king
opportunistic hypocrites!