August 21, 2004
FROM THE RAJ TO REAGANISM:
India needs to take hard decisions, shun populism: PM (www.chinaview.cn 2004-08-21)
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Saturday his three-month-old government will give top priority to tackling inflation and that "hard decisions" will have to be taken, eschewing "competitive populism".Posted by Orrin Judd at August 21, 2004 5:08 PMAddressing the All India Congress Committee, the party convention, which was the first since the dramatic Congress win in the national elections, Singh said his government was committed to pursuing "higher economic growth" that will also be "equitable and people-centered," the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) reported.
"(But) we will give highest priority to taming inflation," IANS quoted Singh as said.
From a strategic and geopolitical view India and the US ought to be natural allies. From the US viewpoint India can help counter China, fight against Islamofacism, and show other developing nations in the region the way towards capitalist democracy. In return India could increase its influence on Washington.
The question is whether India has enough political maturity to be able to shake off its nagging tendency towards populist socialism. Until India gets a Gandhi Reagan or a Mohandas Thatcher, it will remain another wanna-be country.
(I was rooting for Sonia Gandhi but the Hindu nationalists chased her away.)
Posted by: Gideon at August 21, 2004 6:35 PM