Reports & Notes
Science Sustainability and indian national resurgence
The Telegraph
Issue Date: Saturday , May 3 , 2008
Joshi book reveals BJP’s economic divide
SANJAY K. JHA
New Delhi, May 2:Differences among top BJP leaders on the economic policy India should pursue will again come to the fore when Murli Manohar Joshi’s book hits the stands next week.The former human resource development minister pans economic liberalisation in contrast to L.K. Advani’s passionate support for the Manmohan Singh line.The book argues that the consequences of unlimited growth are frightening and could trigger global turmoil.
Science Sustainability and Indian Resurgence is a collection of Joshi’s old speeches, but the preface, in which he calls for complete replacement of the current economic model, was written as late as April 14 this year. Joshi heads a BJP committee on economic policy, but sources said he recently abandoned his work on the ground that he was not familiar with Advani’s economic vision. Advani had only a couple of days ago outlined his economic philosophy at the annual conference of the Confederation of Indian Industry, where he presented the BJP as a strong votary of economic reforms. He not only took credit for “unshackling the caged tiger” that India was but also promised to push liberalisation if the party came to power. “It is not my claim that we alone accomplished this (unshackling the caged tiger). The earlier government of Narasimha Rao also contributed to the unleashing of India’s development potential. In general, we in the BJP have been far more generous and open in acknowledging the Congress party’s positive contribution to nation-building than the other way around,” Advani had said.
The former BJP chief, however, blamed the current crises on the UPA government’s mismanagement.
Joshi counters this point, too, in his preface. “The ever-growing disparity is not due to any mismanagement of globalisation but due to the wrong fundamentals on which globalisation is operating,” the book says. Joshi argues that the present economic model should be dumped because it is based on a mechanistic and fragmentary worldview and propelled by market forces alone.
The book also stands out for its apolitical content. He dwells on sustainable consumption, global warming, food shortages and environmental degradation.Joshi harps on his pet theme of spiritual approach to material problems, calls for de-linking Indian solutions from western
thought and attacks both capitalism and Marxism.
The alternative model he wants is not clear but he stresses the need to bring the swadeshi flavour back on the BJP platter.The book, published by the Centre for Policy Studies, is dedicated to the “great rishis of India who saw and taught the way of sharing and harmony and to the Indian people who followed the way”. No politician has been invited to the book release tomorrow. Physicist M.G.K. Menon, a professor in the Indian Space Research Organisation, will do the honours. The other invitees are scientists S.K. Joshi, K. Kasturirangan and V.R. Panchmukhi, and journalist Hari Jaisingh. (From top) Joshi, the cover of hisbook, Advani
The book does not have the potential to trigger a political storm like Advani’s My Country My Life and Jaswant Singh’s A Call to Honour did. According to Joshi’s supporters, the book shows that “here is a leader who is dealing with real concerns and ideas”.
The publisher’s note, too, might raise a few eyebrows. “The book shall also establish that the political establishment of
