Oil disinvestment: George protest gets RSS support

Sangh spokesman M.G. Vaidya said that after a series of meetings among top RSS leaders, including Sarsanghchalak K.S. Sudarshan, his second-in-command H.V. Seshadri and former Sarsanghchalak Rajendra Singh at the Jhandewalan office, the RSS had come to the view that defence production, Railways and oil were areas of strategic importance. The Government should not disinvest its stake in these sectors, it feels.

When asked if the RSS had conveyed its views on disinvestment to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, he said the Sangh had made its stand clear. ‘‘It is for the Government to take a decision,’’ he added. Regarding any discussions between the Government and RSS joint general secretary (BJP affairs) Madan Dass Devi on the issue, Vaidya maintained that there had been no talk as far as he knew.

The RSS, Vaidya added, has no problem with privatisation of sectors like hotels and tourism or with disinvestment in principle. ‘‘We don’t have an ideal socialist model before us. We are against governmentalisation of all means of production and distribution, which is the essence of socialism,’’ Vaidya said. However, he added: ‘‘We don’t rule out a government role in the economy. There are strategic sectors — Railways, defence production and oil — in which the Government alone should have a role.’’

While engaging in public sector privatisation, the Government should answer certain important questions. According to him, these were: One, should profit-making PSUs be privatised and public revenue be allowed to go into private hands? Two, is the Government careful enough not to create private monopolies? Three, is it taking into account the interests of PSU workers? Four, is it sufficient to take into account only the share value or market value of a PSU while fixing its reserved price.