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| HOME | NEWS | COMMENTARY | ASHOK MITRA | |||
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April 8, 1998
SPECIALS
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Ashok Mitra
How Readers reacted to Ashok Mitra's recent columns
Date sent: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 01:29:21 -0500 Mr Ashok Mitra's brilliant articles, written in sardonic style, document the "marvels" of the "free-market" economy in India. These economic policies, touted by the past and present finance ministers and the ruling elite, have been deliberately forced down the throats of Indians in true "democratic" style. The results are there for everyone to see -- wholesale pauperisation and degradation of human life and environment, misery, joblessness, violence by the hired mercenaries of the ruling class (police, army) to quell the people's protests against the "free-market" system and "economic liberalisation", gangster and hoodlum politicians, comprador Indian bourgeoise and imperialism looting the country high and dry, etc. Readers should be aware that such "economic liberalisation" has failed uniformly throughout the world wherever they have been tried, failed that is, for the majority of the people, and have led to great economic polarisation in society. Even the fabled East Asian tigers in their heyday rose due to massive state intervention in their economies. All of the Western countries including Japan have followed the route of development through huge state aid which continues to this day. So the con game of the "free market" is reserved solely for the countries of the Third World in order to loot them more efficiently. In this, of course, a most dastardly role is played by the local comprador business people and their political representatives. One final note: The CPI-M or the parliamentary "Marxist" party is not much better. It has formed a "united front" with the other corrupt bourgeois parties and has gone along with many of the economic policies of P Chidambaram. In fact, it has been highly amusing to watch Chidambaram come up with more and more brazen doses of anti-people economic "liberalisation" and the Marxists forced to swallow their own "revolutionary" bile and go along with them. One cannot remember Mr Jyoti Basu, who annually visits the West with a begging bowl hoping to get some crumbs from the NRIs, uttering any revolutionary slogans or Marxist speeches which will upset the sentiments of the ruling class. That Mr Ashok Mitra, a most perceptive person as evident from his articles, should be the MP of such a party is curious. S Chatterjee
Date sent: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 12:56:13 -0500 The author is right in his analysis of the polity of India. Churchill, that rabid colonialist, said India is a geographical term like the Equator, it is not a unified country. We realise now that his words contain some truth, though not in the way he probably meant. India is diverse, and that is its glory. However, the author fails to understand that when people talk about stable governance, they do not mean single party rule. The citizenry he castigates just wants a government to get on with the business of governing, so that Indians can get on with life. When will our "liberals/intelligentsia" realise that representation and governance is not the same thing? I would be the first to stand up for equal representation for all parts of the Union (though I strongly differ with Mulayam Yadav on the idea of letting in Pakistanis and Bangladeshis so that they can also be represented through the likes of Messrs Yadav and Yadav). However, these representatives need to look after the needs of their constituencies, while the executive needs to look out for the needs of the country as a whole. A separate executive and legislature will ensure that the country is governed and represented. The legislature will keep the executive in check, so there is no concentration of power, as the author fears from a Presidential system. (By the way, I don't see Clinton acting like a dictator, and his executive seems to be functioning far better than India's ever has!) Let the intelligentsia understand that India cannot afford instability, as much as it cannot stomach the Congress-type single party rule. We need to change the system, not tinker with it through elections (which the author seems to favor as an annual/biennial event!) India needs to think in new ways now that the old system has proven a failure. Ruchira Raghav
Date sent: Tue, 03 Mar 1998 22:05:13 +0530 Ashok Mitra is very correct. Very well written.
Date sent: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 08:29:09 -0800 Your column on Iraq is interesting and such a possibility is very much alive. The UN has turned into Utter Nonsense. America does not think that all countries should have an equal say in the UN. The Security Council countries are in majority ruled by the Whites. Saddam is goddamn stupid and does know how to play his cards. Israel never followed any UN resolution and nothing has ever happened to them. So where is the justice in running after Saddam? Well, America's foreign policy is pro-Jewish and will remain so as long as America is rich. India should take a lesson from what is happening, and could happen, if America's snooping requests are denied. China is the only country that can challenge America.
Date sent: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 19:15:04 +0400 Schizophrenic. But why did Mr Ashok Mitra exclude sanctions & trade boycott against India? If we have to praise Iraq, which is essentially praising Saddam Hussein, we should also consider praising the likes of Col Qaddafi and LTTE Prabhakaran.
Date sent: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 07:15:08 -0800 The report is one sided, praising Iraq's dictator and condemning the US and UN. Saddam had attacked Kuwait and killed his own countrymen in gas attacks -- and still he is praised! S S Gill
Date sent: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 13:58:11 +0200 The column is an obvious exaggeration. Iraq played into the hands of America by attacking Kuwait without any justification. It paid its price for this act. I do agree the price it is paying today is unjustified, and it deserves a break now (the Iraqi people, not Saddam). To that extent I agree with Ashok that the international community is unjustifiably quiet (though Russia and France have voiced dissent). But adding all this up to inspections of Rashtrapati Bhawan is sheer fantasy. I bet the BJP loves Ashok! Such a situation as Ashok has painted would be imaginable if, say, India were to mount a sudden attack on Nepal with the open intention of annexing it. America-bashing can be an enjoyable sport, but let there be some logic behind it.
Amlesh Kanekar
Nicosia, Cyprus
Date sent: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 18:25:32 -0500 By an analogy between dictator-fundamentalist-egoist Saddam Hussein and a democratic country like India, you have proven that you have no logic. India did not invade Pakistan and say that it invaded Pakistan because it was after all part of an ancient India. Saddam invaded Kuwait and said that it was the 19th province of Iraq. India did not use biological or chemical weapons against Kashmiri or Punjab militants, unlike Saddam who did use them against Kurds. This is not about supporting US for whatever it does, there is no denying the fact that it acts like a big brother in every issue. But your analogy is faulty and ridiculous. Editors should take note and publish sensible articles here. Hari Srinivasan |
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