The U.S. administration officials have gone out of their way to commend Narasimha Rao’s one year in office as India’s prime minister, Much is being made of a series of measures aimed at economic liberalization in that country. It has been stated that India’s foreign policy underwent sweeping changes during Rao’s mule “without causing any upheaval at home.” A few pro-administration Congressmen mentioned during the debate on human rights in India the revealing fact that India’s representative at the U.N. voted along with the U.S. in “one hundred per cent of cases” during the past few months. The only unflattering aspect of the Rao regime being seen is the government’s failure to politically tackle the Punjab and Kashmir problems which are still being viewed as law and order problems.
The U.S. assessment of India, in our opinion, is superficial, The authorities look at India mostly from the standpoint of the immediate economic and political interests of the U.S. Long-term U.S. interests cannot be ensured by an unstable India, The changes in economic policies the Rao regime introduced during the past one year are more cosmetic than real. India is nowhere near an economic recovery. India’s economy will remain sick so long as that country pursues a policy of militarization, The International Monetary Fund announced with great fanfare a fresh loan of 7 billion dollars of this amount most has been earmarked by India for procuring defence hardware from France. Defence and security establishments are multiplying at a break-neck speed. This is inevitable because India’s ruling class is in no mind to introduce liberal political changes corresponding to the so-called economic liberalization measures. Thus, on one hand there is talk of globalization of India’s economy and convertibility of the rupees, on the other the Rao regime refuses to permit the country’s print media to contract for free flow of information from international news agencies. The government insists that foreign news agencies should continue to distribute news through India’s semi-official news agencies which make it possible to block and control information from world sources. In short, India stubbornly refused to introduce political reforms to allow federal states more freedoms. Even in Punjab and Kashmir policy of armed suppression is being preferred to political concessions to Sikhs and Muslims. In the case of Punjab, even the existing provisions of the Indian Constitution such as those relating to river waters are not being applied because these benefit Sikhs.
Militarization and economic liberalization cannot go hand in hand. This situation is leading to numerous distortions in the system. Defence deals run into thousands of crores of rupees. Cutbacks are the order of the day. In one case alone, India’s former prime minister who was painted by the controlled media as Clean pocketed as much as Rs 64 crore. The latest in the series is the share market scandal which cost the state-controlled banking industry as much as Rs 3542 crore. These scandals coupled with the failure of the government to wisely handle such minor problem as the truckers’ strike have resulted in prices sky-rocketing. India must be the only country in the world where stock exchanges remained closed for more than a month at at stretch.
Much against the superficial sentiments expressed by the U.S, administration, political opinion in India is increasingly crystalizing against the Rao government. Even the unscrupulous Indian Communists who announced their support to Rao’s presidential candidate are now feeling compelled to join hands with the B.J.P. to table a motion of no-confidence against the Rao government, The share market scandal as well as the Rao government’s efforts to cover the Bofors scandal along with failures on other fronts are becoming rallying points for the country’s public opinion to seek a change.
In the face of this scenario, what is the worth of the U.S. administration’s appreciation of the Indian government’s pro U.S. performance? In our opinion, the Rao government’s clever manoeuvres on the foreign policy front are indicative of its isolation at home and its inability to handle politico-economic problems without external assistance. The more administration’s support to the Indian prime minister, the greater the risk of its isolation with in India.
What the U.S. administration could do in the circumstances is that it should insist on India to match its economic liberalization with political liberalization; introduce vitally needed political reforms in its polity; to release thousands of political prisoners held for years; to come to terms with Sikh and Kashmiri militants; to demilitarize the system by cutting its armed forces by half; to allow human rights groups to investigate human rights abuses in India to permit free flow of information from foreign news agencies; to abrogate anti-democracy laws such as terrorist law forces an munity law and to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 17, 1992
