JHANSI: A realignment of political forces which will witness a consolidation of left of center and centrist forces minus the BIP is definitely in the yards”, according to the human resources development minister, Mr Arjun Singh, Blaming the former prime minster, Me V.P. Singh for the Ni misadventure in supporting the unsuccessful BJP move to defeat the Narasimha Rao government in Parliament last week, Mr Ari Singh, in an interview said “now they are beware that they will be unable to topple this government So ideological compulsions will come to the fore”.
He felt this would be to the benefit of the Congress and the situation since it would further isolate communal forces like the BJP.” When his attention was drawn to talk of a coterie within the party and the government which sought today sustenance from Mrs. Sonia Gandhi’s establishment in 10, Janpath, Mr Singh said: “Delhi has yet to get over some of its imperil hangovers. One of these consists of the system of whispering campaigns. There is no debate no discussion, only whispers to monarch which then become the input for decision making. We have a democratic system, and a cabinet style government, There is no such thing as a coterie and there is no indication that Mrs. Sonia Gandhi is seeking to influence decisions and the course of politics either in the country of in the Congress party.”
He said the idea of fielding Mr Rajiv Gandhi’s secretary, Mr V. George, as a Rajya Sabha candidate “did come up but ultimately he was not given a ticket.” This arose in normal discussions within the party and the final decision was also taken in similar fashion. It had nothing to do with a coterie which does not exist
Mr Singh, who served as governor of Punjab and played a major role in formulating the Rajiv Longowal accord, felt the best course that could be followed in Punjab at present was for the newly installed Congress government to adopt a low day approach” and to “quietly build bridges with everyone.”
Admitting that “some of us” had expressed apprehensions about the apparent lack of concern of people living below the poverty linen the living below the poverty linen the new economic policies of the government, Mr Singh said “unfortunately this has been interpreted as opposition to these policies.”
He went on to add “we cannot allow ourselves to fail into a situation in which we lose sight of people living below the poverty line, The social security net so far focuses attention more on the organized labour forces. Therefore, antipoverty programmes must be strengthened. The question of resources comes in here. The Prime Minister has said the government will ensure that the antipoverty programmes will not suffer. The expansion of the public distribution system in 1700 blocks selected on the basis of economic and social backwardness will play a far reaching role in this endeavor since food is a basic necessity.”
When reminder of Rajiv Gandhi’s statement thoroughly 19 paise of every rupee that the government disbursed on development programmes actually reached those they were meant for Mr Singh id “Micro planning as required. We have many schemes in which a large part of the resources are eaten up by administrative costs. We pay little attention to ground reality. We must see that antipoverty programmes do not remain mirage; otherwise we will be in serious trouble. We cannot afford bread riots.
“The state governments play a vital role in this and we need not only coordination between the Center and the states but the commitment of state governments towards these programmes. For example we need action against boarders and black marketers and the Madhya Pradesh government is not making meaningful efforts in this direction because the BJP is made up of these elements.”
Mr Singh said the assumption that the Congress had abandoned its platform of equity and was almost embarrassed to make references to poverty and the need 10 address the problems of the minorities was incorrect. “We may not be repeating these words and ideas ad nauseam but the concern and commitment of the Congress to such concepts is still very much central to our approach towards public issues. The Congress never abandoned its programme of equity. It may not be as highly visible as before, it may have weakened somewhat but it has not been given up. What Mr V.P. Singh was trying to say earlier was that he could implement it better. He has now shown that he cannot.”
In a strong defence of the Narasimha Rao government’s economic policies, Mr Arjun Singh said: “A s I see it, these policies are slimed at accelerating the process of capital formation, You need capital to industrialize. That was the Nehruvian rationale behind building up the public sector earlier. The private sector lacked the resources to establish steel plants, power stations and heavy industrial units. So the capital had to be generated from within the public sector without the Nehruvian framework nothing would have been constructed. We are not abandoning the Nehruvian framework; we are merely seeking to build on it to expand. The new economic policies are designed to generate fresh capital for this,
We are not a abandoning the crore sector, we are expanding it with the help of the private sector. The idea of privatization is to generate capital. We are reducing all regulations governing the process of capital formation and how that capital is to be utilized for industrialization to minimum, Over the years, the public sector proliferated into areas which could not be considered part of the crore sector. We try to disinvest from those. However, the process must be closely monitored and we have cabinet committee doing precisely that.”
Responding to a suggestion that the Indian private sector had not exactly covered itself in glory in the years since independence, Mr Singh said: “There was no competition, “The private sector was highly protected. A lot of people took advantage of that milk that projects dry and move on to other projects realties is one example of that, now we are in the process of introducing competitions. This will mean if a private organization fails to succeed in one area it will no longer find it easy to divert resources to another since there will be other already in the sector.” He admitted that little efforts were said to explain the objectives of the new economic policies to ordinary members of the party and to common people when they were first introduced. This was possibly because of a hangover from past experience in which “the economic aspects of national political always attracted peripheral attention.” He went on to add that “over a period of time, the need to do this has been clearly felt. Since then, everyone concemed, from the Prime minister downwards, has been putting across the male and the parameters of these policies to the public at large.”
Asked about the Prime M idea of a Narrative camp to discuss all the implications of government policies, Mr Arjun Singh said: “I think this would be a very good idea. We should have brainstorming session which would help to brush away the cobwebs in our minds. If the Prime Minister wants such a meeting, all of us will ensure that circumstances are created to allow him to hold one. Once it takes place we should have an open session.
Talking about the future of the Congress, he said: “If the Congress fails I rebuild and consolidate, it will be disastrous for a nation such as ours which is faced. The Congress is the only stabilizing force in the country and has to be straightened. With all due modesty I wish to say that this is what have been trying to do through meetings and rallies No single person can be responsible for any scenario which may develop within the party. It depends upon kind of leadership it has, The Prime Minister wants practical intraparty relationships to develop. The cabinet functions democratically. The Prime Minister has never asked me about anything concerning my ministry unless I have taken then up with him.”
MR Singh who has held a series of public rallies to highlight the shortcomings of the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh and U.P. admitted that the purpose of these rallies was to resurrect the party organization in Northern India in general and in U.P.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 27, 1992
