From: pr2c+@andrew.cmu.edu (Prashant S. Rane)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: re: BJP
Date: 24 Jan 93 18:52:41 GMT
Article-I.D.: andrew.ofMr8NG00XsDMdAKJi
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA


In article "BJP" naga@jtown.Eng.Sun.COM (Ashok Nagarajan) writes:

>With a new US govt in place whose main objective is to prevent the spread of Islamic
>fundamentalism following the collapse of the cold war, India is uniquely well positioned to
>contribute to this objective along with Israel
>       << deleted>>
>To make the best of this situation, it is important that India take the following steps:
>
>   - stop being identified with losers like Arafat and Castro. We have had enough of the
>     pictures of the Indian leaders (Indira, Rajiv, etc) embracing these losers being
>     splashed on the US papers. (Most of pictures that I have seen of the Indian leaders
>     in the US papers in the last 12 years fall in this category). I leave, how a typical
>     american would react after seeing pictures like these, to the reader's imagination.
>
>   - recogize the fact that Israel is an important ally in that area. Stop worrying about
>     how other muslim nations would feel about this when they don't really give a hoot to India.
>     Co-operate closely with Israel in defence and economic matters. Israel is
a smart
>     nation and India can learn a lot from it.

PVNR is already doing it. Before the Iran-Iraq war, Iraq was probably the least
fundamentalist and progressive country among the muslim countries in the gulf.
Among the gulf countries, India had the best diplomatic relations with Iraq.
Over the period of gulf war, India gradually distanced itself from Iraq and alsoPLO.

>   - liberalize the economy and follow the milestones/goals set forth by the IMF and the World
>     Bank. So what if we have to dance to the tunes of these institutions when
we are being doled
>     out billions from them.

The liberalization is already on the way. Ain't nothin' new in what you write.

Do we really need to dance to any tunes? Our policies should be guided by
self interest. Does our self interest demand that we dance to the their
tunes? We need to analyze a lot of factors before we decide what is in our
best interest. We don't need no *simple-solutions-to-complex-problems-Readers'-
Digest-style*.

>
>   - work with the US to include India in the MFN category. Look what has happened to the
>     economies of Japan, S.Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, China, etc. All these
>     countries have become or becoming rich mainly by being on the right side.
India catered
>     to the Soviet Union's wishes for 40 years and look where it has got us into. Can you
>     believe India was expected to do better than S.Korea in the fifties following the Korean
>     war?
>
>   - vote along with US in the UN consistently. How do you expect the US to help you out when
>     you "sabre-rattle" it in the UN along with other third world nations and then go seek aid
>     from it?

When US or any other country gives aid, is it from altruist motives? Nope.
Their policies are also guided by self interest. They want to enter the
potentially large economies.

In any case, We need the capital investment more than the aid. We have to
show economic potential to attract foreign capital. We don't need to become
yes-men to attract foreign capital. Take the example of China.....

>       <<deleted>>
>   - stop being put in the same league as Pakistan and Bangla Desh. Pakistan, with its
>     excessive obsessiveness with India and fast declining literacy of its own
people,
>     and Bangla Desh, with its annual natural disasters and its utter poverty,
are going
>     no-where. India should change its image and make a full-fledged effort to
be identified
>     and compared with the asian tigers like Korea, Taiwan and yes, China where she belongs.
>     India's effort in Software is the first shot in meeting this goal.
>

How are you going to do it? Lobbying will not be sufficient to project the
image. So long as the only news about India is of the nature "100 died in
riots" we can not project a positive image.

>
>   Finally, which Indian party do you think is capable of making all this a reality?. You guessed it right.
>
>                           IT'S BJP
Yeah, Right!!!!

If BJP comes to power, it'll be a boost to the hindu extremists. They will
demand further concessions from the minorities. Since BJP will ride to
power on the back of the communal tiger, it will have to pay for the
Faustian deal. The result will be even more riots, anarchy and mayhem. How
will India attract foreign investment in the face of such massive instability?

BJP is not the solution. It is the problem.

The riots over the RJBM issue are going to hurt us badly. Potential investors
are being scared away by the instability. BJP has diverted popular attention
from the pressing economic issues, because on the economic front, BJP does
not have anything more to offer than Congress under PVNR and Manmohan Singh.

Prashant
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian