SJM too sings peans to Atal

The contrast between SJM’s last demonstration, organised in November last, and today’s rally couldn’t have been more stark. Whereas the mood in the previous rally was decidedly anti-Vajpayee, encomiums were heaped on the Prime Minister this time round for his leadership qualities. The target of the speakers today was the previous governments which had forced the country to join the WTO regime and the United States.

The lead was taken in this direction by senior RSS leader and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh founder Dattopant Thengadi. He was all praise for Vajpayee’s performance in the G-15 summit held recently at Jamaica. “There is now a growing feeling across the world that Vajpayee should take over the leadership of the developing countries,” he said.

A memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister by a SJM delegation led by its co-convenor S Gurumurthy in fact congratulated him for the initiative to lead the efforts of the G-15 countries for evolving a common approach for the ensuing WTO ministerial conference at Seattle in November this year. It also urged him to resist the pressure of the WTO, IMF and the World Bank and refrain from enacting GATT-compliant laws and installing GATT-compliant economic regime in India.

He called upon the people and the political parties to sink their differences for the time being and rally behind Vajpayee in order to evolve “a joint strategy” to fight the challenge thrown by the US and the WTO on the eve of the Seattle Conference.

“There have been such instances in the past in the trade union movement, where trade unions cutting across ideological barriers have come together for specific purposes,” he said.

Vajpayee, according to Thengadi, had already taken the initiative in this direction during the G-15 summit, where he took a middle-path by favouring greater south-south cooperation. “The fate of the developing countries is going to be sealed in the WTO conference,” he pointed out, adding, “Aware of its implications, Vajpayee has rightly convened a preparatory conference at New Delhi in August. The developing countries should utilise the opportunity for evolving a joint strategy.”

But the veteran RSS leader simultaneously cautioned Vajpayee to be wary of his advisers. “It is surprising that a Government which could take a strong position on the Pokharan blasts, the CTBT and the NPT should surrender itself in the economic field. The reason for this is the wrong advise being tendered by his advisers,” he said, adding, “These are the same people who misled the previous regimes.”

Among those present on the occasion were RSS joint general-secretary Madan Das, senior BJP leaders K N Govindacharya, Mahesh Chandra Sharma, Virendra Singh, SJM organising secretary P Murlidhar Rao, BMS president Ramanbhai Shah and ABVP organising secretary Dattatreya Hosbole.