S. Gurumurthy’s sympathies lie with the RSS and that’s one of the reasons we never get to see many of his op eds in our prestigious secular dailies. The fact that he is also part of the BJP think-tank makes matters worse for our secular media. Only his “harmless” pieces do get published. As an aside, why have we come to such a pass that the moment we hear somebody’s affiliation, we close our minds and when we do read what they’ve written, try our best to detect the “dangerous,” “saffron” agenda?
But go ahead and read this sensible piece he has written no matter whom your sympathies are with.

Manmohan Singh is back… But since when he last framed national economic policies, the Indian psyche has changed almost unbelievably.
[...]
But the new Indian understands what that patriotic monk said. He understands that the world respects power. So the new Indian is seen as an aspirant, aspirant for his due place in the world. He is aggressive, no less than those in the West. He is confident. No longer begs for foreign aid. Instead he says ?no? to it.
[...]
The world recognises what he says and predicts that China will lose to India in the long run only because foreigners, not Chinese, and foreign investment, not Chinese investment, are developing China. In contrast India is being built largely by Indians and Indian investments.

This aspect about the nation’s psyche is what I strongly agree with. Good leadership, along with molding the economy, molds minds first. It is impossible to deny that any person is the sum of his influences. Look at how our nation’s psyche was influenced. During the Gandhian days, millions of Indians genuinely practised the non-violence in letter and spirit. Contrast this with the damage done to the Indian mind during Indira’s days. This has continued to a state when not being corrupt is not okay. Stifling policies crippled millions of dreams and the only way to even obtain the basic requirements of life was by taking the corrupt way out.

This psyche, this feeling that we need to be resigned to our miserable lives is what is evaporating albeit at a slower pace thanks to the feeling of “Indians are condemned to be poor” that runs through a lot of us till date. This psyche played methinks, a large role in ensuring that nothing succeeds like poverty as an election plank. Self-respect and dignity are qualities that are hard to acquire.

While national politics can be successfully played with poverty as the political agenda, global geo-political game cannot be played with national poverty as a global issue.
[...]
We continued to present India as a poor nation that needed, and wanted, aid and help. This psychology has changed in the last few years. The new image of India is today built on Pokharan power, Kargil victory, technical manpower, the skills of our young IT professionals, our industry?s new-found confidence and not on the notions of poverty and illiteracy.
[...]
The truth is that we have poverty, but we are not a poor nation. We have illiteracy, but we are not an illiterate country. We have problems but our nation is not the problem. Yes it is true, the India that Manmohan heads today is very different from the India whose economy he managed eight years ago.
[...]
Manmohan will realise all this and more.
[...]He knows that the world respects power, but merely sympathises with poverty. While respect yields trade, investment and stature, poverty gets aid in return and also the image of being a burden on the world. But Manmohan?s problems will come from his new colleagues, the Marxists. For them India?s poverty, not power is to be projected and exploited. China exploding atom bomb is for them show of power against imperialism, but the Indian bomb is a show of chauvinism.

So there! The extracts from the article written obviously with a “saffron agenda.” Because the fresh-out-of-the-orchard CMP promises to continue the reforms, but with a human face, and Gurumurthy doesn’t is patently against it.
So is Swaminathan Iyer (thanks, Ravi for the wonderful link).

Tags: Commentary