NEWS & MARKETS
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

The Rediff Business Interview/S Gurumurthy

'India has never had swadeshi economy'

In this age of globalisation, can we shut ourselves and remain isolated?

First, you tell me, which economy in the world is open?

Certainly countries protect their economies.

Then, why do you talk about opening here? When everybody else is protecting, let us also protect. I ask the globalisers to find out, is the American economy open? It has 150 per cent duty on sugar. Is Japanese economy open? 860 per cent duty on rice. No economy is open. It is only a slogan. Only in India, people are fooled by anti-nationals. I make bold to say that people like Chidambaram are disguised anti-nationals. They have no faith in this country, they have openly no respect for this country, and they love only the foreigners.

Dr Manmohan Singh?

Dr Manmohan Singh is a sophisticated person, but definitely unlike Chidambaram.

Do you think he also feels the same way about India?

If the man who wrote the South Commission report favours globalisation, his conscience is shallow.

What do you say about the present finance minister's remark that they would not send any wrong signal to the MNCs?

You have built up a system based on such things, so you can't suddenly relax. Everything has to be gradual.

Will you object to their continuance here?

I am not saying that the BJP government will do what I want. My view is, it cannot be doing what Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram prescribed. It has to do something different.

What exactly do you expect from them?

First of all, I want them to start with agriculture which I think they will do. I want them to start with non-corporate sector. These are all the largest employment providers and it will provide fundamental strength to our economy.

We were a closed economy till 1991. What went wrong in the last fifty years?

We catered only to the 100 million people in India because they are educated, they speak English, they are in position and they control the establishment and the press. We catered to them as they produced a lot of sound in the country. They can give certificates that this fellow is secular, this fellow is communal, this fellow is forward looking, this fellow is conservative, etc.

Our economy till now was swadeshi.

Who said it was swadeshi?

It was cut off from the outside world.

You mean being cut off from the world is swadeshi? Socialism and laying the foundations of swadeshi are different. Swadeshi is not defined by a particular soap is produced by India or outside India, swadeshi is defined by the sum total approach to human life. There has never been a swadeshi economy in India. It is being talked about now because the multinationals are providing the context, not the cause for swadeshi.

The BJP government is talking about investment from MNCs in infrastructure. Do you agree with that?

We are now concentrating on one and half per cent, that's all the investment so far. Why don't we talk about the 98.5 per cent? When the BJP is thinking of increasing the national savings to 30 per cent, why are you not asking questions on that? Why are you again talking about foreign investment which is only one and a half per cent of the total economy? Why do you give so much importance to them? If it comes, it comes, if it doesn't come, it doesn't come. 98.5 per cent of our investment is Indian investment. Why don't you talk about it? Why waste so many millions of pages of printed material on this one and a half per cent?

Why are we then bothered about that one per cent?

Because the English educated people have destroyed the conscience of this country. They have no faith in India, they have faith only in English, Englishmen, and western standards. They have only contempt for this country. Those who are saving and putting their investment in India have no value. When a foreigner comes, the establishment garlands him. This is due to lack of self confidence. That is what has made this country like this.

Who is responsible for this state?

The English educated Indian is responsible for that. English instead of being used as a language is being used as a status in India. We are responsible, you are responsible. Many of us have only contempt for our people.

S Gurumurthy, continued

Back