COMMENTARY
INTERVIEW
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

Manmohan lambasts BJP, Left

Former finance minister Manmohan Singh on Friday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Leftists for ''spreading misinformation" about the Congress policy on foreign investment.

Moving the economic resolution at the All-India Congress Committee session in Calcutta, Dr Singh said the Congress envisaged foreign investment with reasonable incentives only in the areas of infrastructure, large export potential, and transfer of new technologies.

''Whatever capital comes from abroad it should come on our terms and conditions,'' he said.

Dr Singh refuted allegation that the Congress had given up the principles of swadeshi and self-reliance and said all reasonable measures should be adopted to help Indian industry compete effectively with foreign investors both in the domestic and international markets.

The Congress, Dr Singh said, was aware of the important role that foreign investment could play in accelerating the pace of development. ''The Congress is a party of reforms and we always aim at a strong vibrant national economy," he declared.

He said it was essential to adopt effective policy measures so that foreign investment could add to the pool of national investable resources instead of being a substitute for domestic resource mobilisation.

"Every possible effort should be made to raise the rate of domestic saving and investment and the reliance on foreign savings and investment would have to be kept within the limits of prudence,'' he said.

Dr Singh called upon the partymen to ''expose'' the BJP and the Left parties for ''spreading misinformation' adding that the country's growth in all respects had always come down whenever a non-Congress government came to power.

RELATED REPORT: UF's economic failure has weakened nation

UNI