The Editor, People's Voice

Sir,

I am writing to draw the attention of the readers of People's Voice to the recent statements made by the Prime Minister, Mr. Manmohan Singh at the Annual General Meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industry where he appealed to `Captains of Industry’ to show large heartedness and share the fruits of the near 10% annual growth with the less fortunate. Around the same time Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar, Minister in the UPA Government, has called for a 'mid-course' correction, presumably as a response to the debacle of the Congress Party in the UP elections, and with an eye to the 2009 General Election, a sentiment echoed by the Left parties, including the CPM. On the other hand, Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, noted economist and Dy. Chairman of the Planning Commission has stated that the PM’s remarks have been misunderstood and are not a sign that the UPA Government is in favour of slow down of reforms. At the same time, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal has stated that any upperbound on the salaries of company CEO’s would be illegal, and reports in BBC say that Mr. Mukesh Ambani is planning to construct a highrise residential tower costing about Rs. 4000 crores in the heart of Bombay.

The question is what lesson is to be drawn by the working class from all these events. Are the working people of the country merely to appeal the good nature of capitalists and leave to it to them to throw a few crumbs? There are others who argue that those in whose hands the reins of the economy lie today should merely carry out their `social compact’ so that the society may be more equitable. Others will debate the `moral precepts’ of the present day aegis and argue this way or that for the movement towards equitability, and others will debate the `good’ of the suggestions from the Hon. PM. It is evident that through the good offices of the `reforms’ initiated by none other than Dr. Singh and his worthy colleagues such as Mr. P. Chidambaram when they occupied important cabinet posts in Governments a decade ago, continued by the NDA Government and revitalized even further by the present UPA Government, that the situation has come to this pass. At the philosophical level, these reforms have paved the way for the supreme transcendence of private capital and its free rein in the sphere of the economy, with the complete abrogation of any social responsibility on part of the state. The state will merely play the role of keeper of order and law so that private capital can maximize its profits at the expense of the working peoples, and indeed of all the peoples of India. To turn around now to demand large heartedness of these big bourgeoisie is a further abrogation of the duties of the state. The pathetic appeal of the Left Parties in this context for a mid-course correction is no more than a confession of their total impotence and incompetence. By toeing this line of the bourgeoisie, they are further entrenching the return of medeivalism where the rich shall take care of the poor, rather than all the people having a command of their own destiny. It is only through a scientific programme of the kind advocated by the Ghadar Party and through communism that the working people shall come to command their own destinies and not through this or that mid-course correction or through the largesse of an Ambani, Tata or a Mittal.

Sincerely,
A. Narayan, Bangalore