After gaining freedom for India in 1947, the Congress Party was our savior, partly self declared and partly because the people of India wished it. There was, however, one man, a strange man who wanted this political party dissolved immediately after Independence. His name was Mohandas Gandhi.
People who had been in jail, and people who had not seen the inside of a jail, jostled for power. Nehru’s ideas of socialism soon established a socialistic pattern of society and ushered in the License Raj.
It did not take long for cronyism to flourish all over the country. Government managed companies were inefficient and almost always in the red. The government, however, had a ready-made explanation; they provide huge employment. The quality of the goods and services, it must be noted, were way below international standards. With the state owned companies attempting to produce everything under the sun in India, and the government not having a technology with a competitive edge, political connections were of great importance as India sowed the seeds to become a backward and sheltered market economy.
When PM Indira Gandhi got into the driver’s seat after the death of her father she nationalized the banks, making small loans accessible to India’s exploding generation of educated unemployed and potential entrepreneurs, and this did worked successfully as it was a cure some for some of the ills of the economy. India’s problems, however, were on a much larger scale. The giant wheels of a socialist state were still in the hands of the Congress Party as they gave licenses to people who supported this in-group of Indians who were slowly but steadily leading the country downhill.
Looking back, it is easy to see how Indian leaders and policies messed up the economy. Looking forward, however, is a much more difficult task! With the BJP moving fast in the twentieth-first century when everything is also accelerated, some not-so-happy signs are already visible. We cannot, presently, say much although definite patterns are emerging without fail. While the Congress Party created a double economy of black and white money, the BJP is creating a Brahmin and Sudra economy. While PM Narendra Modi is portrayed as a once-a-upon-a-time tea boy who made good and is now the prime minister of India, is the agenda his own? And, if so, for how long? Will PM Narendra Modi become something similar to our former PM Mohan Singh? Is he a mascot? Only time will tell.
I hope CM Parrikar will be able to keep his promise when he said he would like his government to be remembered for agriculture, and the Party will not get in his way. He has made a great start, and with an Opposition in Goa who is more than willing to go into hibernation, he has a golden opportunity. I believe he will not waste it.
