HVK Archives: Cong to revert to socialism
Cong to revert to socialism - The Observer
Observer Political Bureau
()
23 July 1997
Title: Cong to revert to socialism
Author: Observer Political Bureau
Publication: The Observer
Date: July 23, 1997
In pursuance of the Congress efforts to revert to the 'socialist' line, the
economic resolution of the party - to be adopted at the plenary session in
Calcutta - is being drafted in a manner that the required changes are
suitably incorporated.
The economic resolution is incidentally being drafted by the very person
responsible for ushering in an era of open market economy during his tenure
as the Finance Minister between 1991 and 1996, Dr Manmohan Singh.
This time around, however, Dr Singh has been asked to improve upon his own
policy so as to give a 'pro-poor' and socialist image to the party's
economic thinking.
The current party leadership's view being that the party had in recent
years deviated too much from the socialist line as enunciated by Jawaharlal
Nehru and consistently pursued by successive Prime Ministers until P V
Narsimha Rao.
By having Dr Manmohan Singh counter-argue his own economic thinking the
party leadership evidently wishes to make a convincing political statement
for the benefit of predecessor of Rao.
The political resolution of the Congress for the session is incidentally
being drafted by Rao's arch rival Arjun Singh.
The political resolution will seek to identify the reasons leading to the
disenchantment of Muslims and backwards against the Congress. In order to
win back the support of these sections, as the political resolution is
expected to emphasise, the Congress would need to immediately shed the
image of being pro-rich.
Sources however, maintain that while Dr Singh could be persuaded to
slightly alter his position in respect of his economic philosophy, he would
not agree to bring about structural changes in the resolution that he is
drafting.
Circles close to Dr Singh said he would prefer to dump the assignment
rather that be compelled to author something that he was not convinced
about or which militated against the grain of his own convictions.
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