Six and shining

Take, also, the issue of diplomacy. The NDA has used diplomacy as an effective tool to dilute tensions in Kashmir and has given new direction to the management of foreign policy. The steps that Prime Minister Vajpayee has taken in the context of Kashmir and Indo-Pak relations over the last two years are significant. He had the courage to announce from the ramparts of Red Fort that there would be free and fair elections in Jammu and Kashmir, despite the threat of terrorism. He followed this up by announcing at a Srinagar public meeting last year, that he would talk to Pakistan as a last effort to build peace in the region. After the SAARC meeting this January, he held talks with Pakistan, during which both nations agreed to start a dialogue process on the key issues between them, without highlighting any one “core” issue.

Talks have been started also with the Hurriyat. People-to-people contact with Pakistan is growing and sporting ties have resumed. From January 1, 2006, the SAARC region may be declared a free trade area, which will certainly provide a fillip to trade and commerce in the region. The dividends of normalcy are already being felt along the borders, including in the Kashmir valley. It only required a statesman and a visionary to resolve the biggest problem that the Nehruvian Congress left behind. All this would not have been possible had Prime Minister Vajpayee not been successful in building an effective team of key ministers who, along with him, have registered a credible record in terms of administration.

Let us now look at the alternative. The Congress Front and the Left Front are contesting elections separately. Their policies are at variance with that of each other and they can, at best, evolve a post-election adjustment. The name of such an alternative alliance is not known and efforts are being made to keep the leader of the alliance unidentified. There does not appear to be a possibility of any common minimum programme for such an alliance emerging, given the contradictions that beset it. Even though an alliance has been struck in Maharashtra between the Congress and the NCP, the latter’s reservations about Sonia Gandhi are only too well known. The Congress-RJD combination has only one credential: Its model of governance is that of the Bihar government. Bihar is the best reason why people must not vote for this combination. Adding Ram Vilas Paswan to this alliance can only provide the icing on the misgovernance cake!

What today is the functional difference between the Congress and the BJP? The BJP is like an energetic first generation entrepreneur. It has a confident, growth-oriented vision for India. It is a party driven by meritocracy and has instilled into this nation a cultural confidence, a confidence of a strong economy, a confidence of national performance. The Congress, in contrast, resembles a fourth generation family proprietorship, mired in the legacy of state controls and decay. The Indian economy is the toast of the world. Yet, the Congress keeps whining. It has failed to gauge the mood of the people and it will fail at the hustings despite its rhetoric because it is out of touch with the “aam” Indian. It is blind to the structural and positive changes that the NDA has brought about in the Indian economy. It remains blind to the vast improvement in the lives of ordinary Indians. Besides this, its dynasty- centred politics has resulted in the party reducing itself to a crowd around a family.

The BJP’s Vision Document clearly declares that it is committed to swadeshi, the philosophy of “India First”. Swadeshi, it defines as a “strong, efficient and high growth Indian economy in which Indian products, services and entrepreneurs dominate the domestic and global market”…”this can be achieved by making Indian products and services competitive on both cost and quality”. The BJP has further declared that it will continue its endeavour to defend Indian interests at multilateral forums. It is of the view that the shift in the global economy today favours low cost economies over high cost economies. The country must, therefore, be prepared to improve its competitive strengths in terms of cost, quality and technology.

The BJP’s vision is to see India as a developed nation by 2020. For this it is necessary that various poverty alleviation measures are put in place. We also need to ensure a second Green Revolution and create the required infrastructure to make India a global manufacturing and knowledge-economy hub. Our vision for an ideal Indian village of developed India is one in which the provisions and amenities, now available for urbanites, will start reaching those living in rural areas.

It is myopic to suggest that the growth in GDP is agriculture driven. If the manufacturing sector is growing by 7.5 per cent and services, by 9 per cent, it is an omen that the economy is firmly on the growth track. Although the services sector accounts for 52 per cent of India’s GDP, the Congress manifesto is curiously silent about it. On the manufacturing sector, it merely suggests the need to strengthen the public sector and make the FDI clearance more transparent. Clearly, the Indian economy needs much more than that to rejuvenate itself.

In the past, sitting governments had had to reckon with the anti-incumbency factor. The Vajpayee government, thanks to its record of good governance, faces only a feel good factor!

The writer is a union minister and a spokesperson for the BJP. In the run-up to General Elections 2004, these columns will feature similar comment from representatives of political parties