The Hindu : Front Page : Keep Left sensibilities in mind, Manmohan tells economic advisers

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Tuesday, Sep 14, 2004

Front Page

Keep Left sensibilities in mind, Manmohan tells economic advisers

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 13. The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, is reported to have cautioned his economic advisers that they will have to be necessarily mindful of the Left parties' sensibilities.

This word of advice has come in the wake of the Left's opposition to the Planning Commission's move to seek the advice of the World Bank consultants.

It is learnt that Dr. Singh is not exactly happy with the manner in which the Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, handled the controversy.

Dr. Singh has told his advisers that "2004 is not 1991." All decision-makers will need to get adjusted to the demands of a coalition government, which is critically dependent upon the support of the Left parties.

Basu's protest

Alarm bells rang when the senior Marxist leader, Jyoti Basu, publicly voiced his unhappiness over the induction of foreign consultants. The suggestion now is that Dr. Singh will like to invite Mr. Basu for a discussion.

Prior to Mr. Basu's public disapproval of the policies being pursued by the United Progressive Alliance Government, leaders of the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the All-India Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party demanded that the Government reconsider the step to bring in representatives of the World Bank and an American consultancy group in the plan body.

Joint statement

"To include representatives of international agencies and foreign private companies, who have their own agendas and who are in no way accountable to the Indian people in the planning process, is an unwarranted step," the leaders said last week in a joint statement.

Earlier this month, the CPI general secretary, A.B. Bardhan, said that the UPA Government was taking the Left parties "too much for granted." His remarks came after the Union Commerce Minister, Kamal Nath, had released the new foreign trade policy. Mr. Bardhan took objection on the grounds that neither were the Left parties consulted nor were they even informed about the impending move to release the new policy.

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