A Shameless Polemic Against the Nehru-Gandhi Dynasty

What is Jawaharlal Nehru`s legacy?

This hogwash to promote Nehru as a champion of ``pluralism`` and ``Secularism`` might have worked till the 1970s... but ever since the Transfer of Power Papers have been released, Nehru`s true role has been exposed... more so in the latest book by Stanley Wolpert ``Shameful Flight`` ....

As one reads more, one discovers that Jawaharlal Nehru was an unscrupulous and a corrupt politician with no sense of fairness or sense of dignity and fairplay. He was the typical narcissistic delusional megalomaniac who by his hunger for power is responsible for - along with his nocturnal buddies Lord and Lady Mountbatten and his British Masters- all the deaths at partition.

It was he who vetoed the Cabinet Mission Plan, it was he who insisted that independence date be moved from June 1948 to August 1947, it was he who forced the vivisection of Punjab and Bengal (please bear in the mind that his illogical scheme meant that all Muslim majority districts of India should also have gone to Pakistan) against all appeals of reason from Muslim League and others... it was he who vetoed Jinnah-Suhrawardy-Sarat-Kiran Shankar Rao plan for an Independent Bangladesh in 1947 (and his idiotic drudge of a daughter had the nerve to claim that 1971 undid Pakistan.... 1971 undid her stupid father`s ridiculous legacy)...


it was under his charge that the worst violence in East Punjab took place which accounted for 70-80% of all partition violence... while he was busy doing nautanki drama and shedding crocodile tears...


And lets not forget his most enduring legacy : Kashmir...

Jawaharlal Nehru wrote to Sri Prikasa:

``I was amazed that you hinted at Kashmir being handed over to Pakistan. If we did anything of the kind, our Government would not last many days and there would be no peace.... it would lead to war with Pakistan because of the public opinion here and warlike elements coming in control of our policy. We cannot and will not leave Kashmir to its fate... the Fact that Kashmir is of most vital significance to India... Here lies the rub.... we have to see this through to the end. Kashmir is going to be a drain on our resources, but it is going to be a greater drain on Pakistan. ``

Page 189- Shameful Flight by Stanley Wolpert.


The same Kashmir where he imprisoned his closest ally - Shaikh Abdullah - and lied about it to the Indian Parliament... The same Kashmir that continues to haunt India-Pakistan relations... while poor get poorer.

And then these digusting and corrupt fellows Nehru, Gandhi and Mountbatten had the nerve to blame everything on the one man - Jinnah- who was the most scrupulous and honest amongst them... and whose ideas they wrecked the destroyed? And you call these fellows ``leaders``... and we have people like Aparna Pande delivering tributes to this mass murderer maniac Nehru whose entire family ought to be tried for crimes against humanity.
In reality Nehru ranks amongst the top homicidal maniacs known to man... and the damage he has done by creating the Kashmir issue only because he was from Kashmir ...the selfish bastard that he was .. will be felt for years on...

So what is Nehru`s legacy...

1- Lust for power

2. Unscrupulous conduct and corruption.

3. Violence both at partition

4. Kashmir issue

5. 2 wars between India and Pakistan

6. Nuclear Arms race in South Asia.



These are the salient points of the legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru, the worst megalomaniac known to 20th century... And what is more... you guys can go on praising him, but history now being written will accord this bastard his due in full measure.

Ref sunstroke #92

I am not surprised that you took my questions extremely literally and answered them in that manner. One expects no less from a simplistic mind fed on propaganda and the Indian education system.

Here is some data on the growth of India`s forex reserves.

[2000 Country Reports on Economic Policy and Trade Practices
Released by the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs
U.S. Department of State, March 2001
INDIA
Key Economic Indicators
(Billions of U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated)
1998 1/ 1999 1/ 2000 2/
Gold and Foreign Exchange Reserves 29.4 32.5 38.1]

By the way, today the reserves touched $109 billion.

It is with s good reason I asked you not to step out by yourself.

In case you get into a minor accident, doctors are likely to diagnose brain death and start harvesting organs.

Stay home. And out of the sun.

#94 by harimau
Then tell me who was in power in Dec 1990 when gold had to be transferred to London because of the payments crisis.
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The UF was in power and Yashwant Sinha (now foreign minister where he is doing a much better job) was finance minister

Who was in power from 1947 to 1990?
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The Congress - but the fact that when Narasimha Rao and Manamohan Singh came to power in 1991, they were quickly able to solve the foreign exchange reserves crisis shows that if Yashwant Sinha had been competent, he could have solved the crisis as well (which he didn`t).

If the increase in reserves took place during the Narasimha Rao administration, why was there NO publicity for that event?
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Increase in reserves has been taking place steadily since Narasimha Rao`s time. There was no publicity for any of this since the BJP understands the value of publicity better than anybody else since Rajiv Gandhi. The only parallel to the ``India Shining`` campaign I can remember is Rajiv Gandhi`s campaign just after Indira Gandhi`s assassination.

I suppose it took 10 years for the Manmohan Singh-Narasimha Rao reforms to bear fruit but the BJP managed to fcuk up the economy in a few months in office.
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From Businessworld: 16 Feb 2004: Educating Mr Vajpayee http://www.businessworldindia.com/feb1604/coverstory02.asp
1998, when the first NDA government took office. The BJP and its allies had angrily railed against globalisation in the preceding years. The World Trade Organization (WTO) was the devil incarnate. The need for foreign direct investment (FDI) was grudgingly accepted, but only in a few high-tech areas. ``Computer chips yes, potato chips no,`` went the evocative slogan of the times. Even essential legislation - like the one proposed by the United Front government to set up an insurance regulator - was blocked in Parliament by the BJP.
Swadeshi was the magic word. And its ideologues were immensely influential. (...deleted...) Yashwant Sinha became finance minister. His first budget was, in his own words, rooted in swadeshi. Taxes were increased, protection levels were hiked and fiscal discipline was ignored. The markets were stunned. The economy was drifting towards stagnation.

Business Standard: 1 March 2003: A positive act indeed http://www.business-standard.com/budget/2003/union/evedisp.asp?Menu=0&story=2543
There is something purely subjective about the transition at North Block from Yashwant Sinha to Jaswant Singh. Many saw the former as simply bad news; whatever he did turned out to be adverse.
Correspondingly, many see the latter as simply auspicious; whatever he does turns out to be a positive act. This feeling is likely to be strengthened by Jaswant Singh`s first budget, particularly when you compare it to Yashwant Sinha`s last Budget.

Times of India: 11 January 2004: Jaswant versus Yashwant http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/416074.cms
A successful finance minister typically has three characteristics: good luck, political savvy, and wisdom. Yashwant Sinha was neither lucky nor politically savvy, though he showed flashes of wisdom.
...
He (Yashwant Sinha) was finance minister of an unexpected coalition in 1998, whose longevity was in grave doubt. He did not dare risk a collapse of the coalition.
And so when coalition partners criticised several measures he had proposed to reduce the fiscal deficit in 1998, he rolled them back. This earned him the nickname Rollback Sinha, which dogged him ever after

``#86 by harimau on March 7, 2004 6:27pm PT
Ref yogiraj #82

[Now tell me economically... it is a sail.]``

Point well taken. You have solid stats to prove your point.

You simply skipped the second point though. Judiciary. That is ok.

Even on the first one. Economy. I think things happened not because of our shining ``sons`` or ``suns``. It happened in spite of them.

If you say Govt should not have any undue right to meddle... and let the business grow/die..... They should simply create a climate, where all have a fair chance. Agreed and accepted.

But then they should state why are they there for ... The pathetics that I vote in are there for power play. Mosquitoes who will suck just a little blood and see I live on... so that they can suck it again... just a little more ....gosh

They should be there to define their role. What they will do, and what is out of scope.

Yogiraj Patil

Ref sunlight #88

[This is a tremendous over-simplificiation. In fact, until about a year or so ago, it could be claimed that the BJP`s contribution to economic progress in India was negligible. Today, there is a swell of support for the BJP, because it appears to have decided to firmly back the reforms, whereas the Congress is short-sightedly waffling.

Actually, most of the reforms that resulted in economic growth were the result of the Narasimha Rao-Manmohan Singh combine. Yashwant Sinha`s first budget for the current government (prepared under pressure from the Swadeshi faction of the BJP) was a disaster that brought down India`s growth rate from >8% to 4.5%, if memory serves. In fact, Yashwant Sinha has the distinction of being the only finance minister in Indian history who in three consecutive years was forced to make three major modifications to his own budget. Yashwant Sinha was also the finance minister during the time that India nearly went bankrupt and had to airlift gold to London (just before Narasimha Rao-Manmohan Singh), and could possibly be the most ineffective finance minister in Indian history.]

I suppose it took 10 years for the Manmohan Singh-Narasimha Rao reforms to bear fruit but the BJP managed to fcuk up the economy in a few months in office.

Here is the lsit of Prime Ministers. You can guess which party was in power during those years.

Jawaharlal Nehru Aug. 15, 1947 - May 27, 1964

Gulzari Lal Nanda May 27, 1964 - June 9, 1964 (Interim), January 11 - 24, 1966(Interim)

Lal Bahadur Shastri June 9, 1964 - January 11, 1966

Indira Gandhi Jan. 24, 1966 to March 24, 1977, Jan. 14, 1980 to Oct. 31,1984

Morarji Desai March 24, 1977 to July 28, 1979

Charan Singh July 28, 1979 - Jan. 14, 1980

Rajiv Gandhi Oct. 31,1984 to Dec. 1,1989

V. P. Singh Dec. 2,1989 - Nov. 10, 1990

Chandra Shekhar Nov. 10,1990 - June 21, 1991

P. V. Narasimha Rao June 21, 1991 to May 10, 1996

Atal Bihari Vajpayee May 16 to June 1, 1996

H. D. Deve Gowda June 1, 1996 to April 21, 1997

I. K. Gujral April 21, 1997 - Nov. 28. 1997.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee March 19, 1998 - till date

Read the following article. Then tell me who was in power in Dec 1990 when gold had to be transferred to London because of the payments crisis. Who was in power from 1947 to 1990?

If the increase in reserves took place during the Narasimha Rao administration, why was there NO publicity for that event?

Let me give you the advice I normally give to people of your abilities: do not go out by yourself.



Forex reserves cross $100-bn mark
PRIYA RANJAN DASH

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2003 02:22:46 AM ]

NEW DELHI : A Century and going strong. India crossed the historic landmark of $100 billion in foreign exchange reserves on Friday. It marks a ``Period of Great Confidence,`` finance minister Jaswant Singh declared on Saturday.

``Self-reliance, for which we worked for decades since Independence has been reached,`` Singh said, pledging to push ahead with ``bolder economic reforms`` to achieve significantly higher growth.

The current level of reserves keep India firmly on the course to full convertibility of the rupee. That is when the remaining restrictions on overseas investment by Indian citizens and companies will go.

The rupee, however, is not going fully convertible tomorrow. With the reserves, an important condition has been met. Other crucial tests such as a low level of public debt and a strong banking sector have to be passed, chief economic advisor P K Lahiri said.

Days were when forex shortages made government impose draconian controls over India `s entrepreneurship and ingenuity, creating criminals out of perfectly good citizens.

Just 13 year`s ago, in December 1990, forex reserves plummeted to less than $ 1 billion, insufficient to fund even a fortnight`s imports.

The foreign exchange crunch, following the first Gulf War and the oil crisis, forced an external payments crisis for India . The Reserve Bank of India was even compelled to mortgage reserve gold abroad.

A virtual import ban ensued, not letting even necessities to be imported. A 200 per cent bank margin was slapped on funds for imports.

India had to rush to IMF for getting contingency loan. The country also had to go in for steep two-step devaluation of the rupee.

The reserves hitting a Century signifies the long way India has travelled since then. ONGC Videsh had to let go its privileged rights on a highly potential Vietnamese oil and gas field only because it could not get a meagre $7,000.

Today, it does not stop to think before putting in billions of dollars in oil fields around the globe.

The country has added $94 billion to the reserves since March 1991. The reforms that began then have unleashed the entrepreneurial spirit of Indians and made the country an attractive investment destination for foreign direct and equity investors.

The reserves have not been built by hot money, nor by foreign borrowings.

In the last 13 years, India `s foreign debt have increased by only $ 20 billion but the reserves are up by $ 94 billion.

India is Asia `s third largest economy and it now has the fourth largest forex reserves after China , South Korea and Japan .

The reserves, as the FM said, will contribute to national security and will provide much greater autonomy to conduct public policy. They will also enable Indian corporates and banks to tap resources abroad on more favourable terms than ever before.

#85 by harimau
Under Rajiv Gandhi, the Central Minister for Telecommunications ordered a cross-bar switch from Sweden... a technology that has been outdated for years
...deleted...
A friend of mine wanted to make telephone instruments in India. He was denied a license during the Rajiv Gandhi ``technocratic`` regime
...deleted...
So much for the myth of economic liberalization under Rajiv Gandhi.
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I think we are in agreement; Rajiv Gandhi was not effective in economic liberalization because he was too naive and inexperienced in politics; I myself noted that Ericcson (a Swedish company) was able to beat out CDOT. However, there was no doubt that Rajiv Gandhi had some good ideas such as the establishment of CDOT. As another example, when he used a laptop everybody laughed at him for being out of touch with the comman man; nowadays Chandrababu Naidu uses a laptop all the time and everybody applauds him for being progressive.

#62 by kaurasach
The green revolution was brought by the hard working farmers and some farsighted progressive officials than these credit takers and parade jumpers.
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An army needs both soldiers as well as generals. So yes, the hard-working farmers (soldiers) made a tremendous contribution but so did Indira Gandhi (the general) as well as the Agriculture Minister and the scientists who developed the agricultural technology.

#64 by hossp
I don’t see any problem with emotions, how can we from the subcontinent ignore emotions, as we are the products of emotions. Sometimes emotions show that how much you care, so don’t laugh at them. :)
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OK.

Anyways, what you missed that he pointed out certain conditions that are part of the new Indian economy.
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I think they were always part of the Indian economy, and do not really have anything to do with outsourcing.

Recently the economies in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and China (still going thru this) have experience the sweatshop phenomenon and have turned the leaf. The point is whether India can do it or not?
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I would say India cannot completely avoid sweatshops. There are three stages for workers: unemployed, sweatshop labour and skilled labour. Skilled labour will always have good working conditions. However, the pre-requisite for skilled labour is education and training, and given the huge population, it would be difficult to train everybody.

Unskilled labour will always have poor working conditions since the workers do not possess any skills which would allow them to bargain with their employers. The situation can be improved by (i) passage of laws; however, both in India and other countries including the West, there will be evasion of laws (ii) encouraging rural entrepreneurship (e.g., setting up of small mechanic`s shops, small factories, etc).

What we can aim for is that the children of the people working in sweatshops will not have to work in sweatshops.

Look forward to see more of your posts.
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Thanks, and look forward to seeing your responses.

Addendum to my post #89
Bofors, IMHO, is a classic example of irresponsible journalism and the way the press can be manipulated.
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You could check the history of Bofors and see that the campaign against Rajiv Gandhi on Bofors was led by Frontline and the Hindu, well known magazines with Leftist leanings which were interested in raking up the issue since Rajiv Gandhi was not a Leftist. It was opportunistically taken up by Rajiv Gandhi`s other opponents.

#75 by harimau
Bofors has admitted paying bribes to get the contract.
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Bofors has only admitted to paying commissions to third parties, which is normal in any arms deal. They did not admit to paying bribes. After 30 years, including 5 years of a BJP Government, there is no evidence that anyone in the Indian Government received any bribe. In contrast, many of the allegations made at the time (such as the allegation that Amitabh Bachchan had secret Swiss bank accounts through which money was funnelled) have been proved to be false.

The effectiveness of the Bofors guns was never questioned, and as is well known, the gun proved its effectiveness during the Kargil War.

I am by no means a sympathizer of Rajiv Gandhi, but I do not believe in blaming people for sins they did not commit. Also, Bofors would be just an amusement if not for the fact that it had the unfortunate side-effect of paralyzing the Indian Defence Ministry. Defence deals now take much longer than they should because people are afraid of being named in a scandal like Bofors. Bofors, IMHO, is a classic example of irresponsible journalism and the way the press can be manipulated.

If Rajiv and his widow Antonia are so interested in clearing his name, why is the middleman Quattrachi hiding in Kuala Lumpur?
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(1) There is no evidence that Sonia Gandhi and Quattrochi were close friends. As Italians living in New Delhi, they knew each other. As a South Indian living in Calcutta, we knew large number of other South Indians in Calcutta. If tomorrow one of them turns out to be a criminal, are we automatically implicated?

(2) Why should Quattrochi bother? The Hindujas have large business interests in India, and were eager to clear their name. Why would Quattrochi be interested in participating in a tamasha? If you were Quattrochi, and knew you were innocent, would you be interested in travelling to India, facing hostile questioning, and being treated like a criminal, all for no good reason?

#80 by Harimau
Life is easier today because Congress is NOT in power. India would only get better under the BJP... there is enough support from the middle class so that the Swadeshi crapola of some of the lunatic fringe of the BJP would be completely ignored.
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This is a tremendous over-simplificiation. In fact, until about a year or so ago, it could be claimed that the BJP`s contribution to economic progress in India was negligible. Today, there is a swell of support for the BJP, because it appears to have decided to firmly back the reforms, whereas the Congress is short-sightedly waffling.

Actually, most of the reforms that resulted in economic growth were the result of the Narasimha Rao-Manmohan Singh combine. Yashwant Sinha`s first budget for the current government (prepared under pressure from the Swadeshi faction of the BJP) was a disaster that brought down India`s growth rate from >8% to 4.5%, if memory serves. In fact, Yashwant Sinha has the distinction of being the only finance minister in Indian history who in three consecutive years was forced to make three major modifications to his own budget. Yashwant Sinha was also the finance minister during the time that India nearly went bankrupt and had to airlift gold to London (just before Narasimha Rao-Manmohan Singh), and could possibly be the most ineffective finance minister in Indian history.

Jaswant Singh (who has a confusingly similar name) has done much better as finance minister, but he has been finance minister for only about a year or so. The NDA government`s main performer on the economic front apart from that has been Arun Shourie, who has been pressing ahead with disinvestment. Arun Shourie also straightened out the telecom mess that was created by Pramod Mahajan. Another important contribution is from Vajpayee himself, who signed an important agreement with China, leading to great growth in India-China trade.

The Narasimha Rao-Manmohan Singh reforms led to the growth of the software and services industry. They also led to the restructuring of Indian industry to become more efficient. However, the benefits from the restructuring were not immediately apparent as they need a gestation period, and have become visible only now (which is why people credit them to the BJP).

Anyway, the important thing is that the BJP appears to have become convinced of the need for economic reforms, while the Congress has not conveyed a clear message. But there are danger signals. For example, just about a year ago, BJP leader and Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma tried to push through a bill reserving 20% of the seats in the board of directors of all companies for union representatives. The unfortunate situation today for the Congress today is that even though it initiated the reforms, it has put itself in the position where a victory for the Congress will be seen as a defeat for economic reform.

Ref plats8 #69

[The bankruptcy of the Congress leadership is transparent in the manner Narasimha Rao has been treated lately.]

Narasimha Rao ran a Congress government at the Center for 5 years... giving the lie to the perception that a South Indian cannot be the Prime Minister of the country AND run a long-lasting government. During Nehru`s time, it was ``After Nehru, who?``. During Indira`s time, it was ``Indira is India``. Fortunately for Indians, Sanjay Gandhi didn`t have the brains to realize that there are certain laws that even he couldn`t ignore... such as the Law of Gravity. Otherwise, we would have been stuck with that thug for decades.

The Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty don`t want people to know that there are alternatives to them. So, just like in Communist countries, they are writing Narasimha Rao out of history.

Ref sunlight #52

[Rajiv Gandhi wanted to jump-start India`s growth in software and telecom. In telecom, he picked Sam Pitroda and set up CDOT to develop telecom equipment.]

Under Rajiv Gandhi, the Central Minister for Telecommunications ordered a cross-bar switch from Sweden... a technology that has been outdated for years...at the most, useful for small rural telephone exchanges... where of course then it cannot be maintained for lack of capable technicians.

Proving my point that Rajiv Gandhi didn`t know his arse from telephone switches.

A friend of mine wanted to make telephone instruments in India. He was denied a license during the Rajiv Gandhi ``technocratic`` regime because 7 companies were already licensed to produce telephone handsets... each authorized to make 50,000 sets a year. A Taiwanese company was cranking out 500,000 sets a month and you would get a phone free in the US if you got an oil-lube-filter job for your car.

So much for the myth of economic liberalization under Rajiv Gandhi.

Ref yogiraj #82

[Now tell me economically... it is a sail.]

Let me give you ONE example of what improving the lot of the middle calss does for the lower classes.

Just one software company employing about 2,000 persons in Chennai has a food bill of Rs. 1.5 crores. (Meals are free because there aren`t enough restaurants to seat 2,000 persons and the company has to provide food!)

Now consider Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, EDS, IBM Global Services, TCS, Polaris. iGate, Cognizant (the giants) and a hundred smaller companies (amounting perhaps to another 5 giants). What is their food bill? How many persons are employed in cooking and serving the food?

How about the mechanics who repair the two wheelers and cars that these high-tech workers own?

A rising tide indeed DOES list all boats.

#71 jung

``You dont like dynasties. What do you make of Bal/Uddhav/Smita Thakre inc? Is that just plain mafia?``

A dynasty is characterised by a transfer of power from one generation to next. Lets see if Uddahav/Smita are able to fight it out when Balasaheb kicks the bucket.

I think not, being a true mafia style family we`ll see a battle (with blood in the streets) once the old man goes. The big mafia will be split between several local ``dons`` (who are already asserting themselves) who will go to the mattress fighting each other.

Ashish says

``My sarcasm is strong and my polemic is bitter because I am suspicious of the BJP and my natural home should be with a genuinely secular minded party``

And I and a lot of other people I know agree with him, who dont just worry about the `secular vs communal angle`` but are concerned with the attempted control of insitutiions of excellence, the complacency over ``india Shining`` which seems to ignore all Human development Index statistics, the blind belief that all is hunky dory with reforms. However there seems to be no alternative to the BJP. The problems are two fold.

1) The BJP has hijacked everything the congress had. Economic reforms, dynamic state level leadership. aging film stars even Navjot Singh Sidhu, you name it they got it. Strategically the congress has no vision of its own, it only seems to react to the BJP.
2) Ideologies of any sort seem to have disappeared. No one except the Left really has any ideologies to speak of. All the other ABCD combines either claim to represent a region (DMK, Biju Janata Dal, Trinamul) or a community or caste group (BSP). All manifestos, especially since the BJP purged its saffron stamps seem to read the same. So why do we really prefer any party over another.