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May 5, 1998
SPECIALS
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How Readers reacted to Rajiv Shukla's recent columns
Date sent: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 20:47:52 -0700 Garbage, half truth, speculation. Why do you print such articles? Prasad
Date sent: Wed, 08 Apr 1998 22:20:08 +0530 This article says nothing. It is poorly written and badly argued. It provides no insight beyond common sense. Everyone knows the BJP has put the swadeshi programme behind. And what is the author trying to achieve? Convince the rich of this country and the multinationals that they have nothing to worry? They know it. It is the poor who are going to face a tough time. Vikas
Date sent: Wed, 08 Apr 1998 15:14:02 -0700 Rajiv's title is fairly biased. At this juncture, to stop the reforms which India has started will do no good. When globalisation is occurring, India should take part in the process to show its might. If we are not economically strong nobody gives a damn about us, which is why Vajpayee choose somebody who encourages internal as well as external globalisation. Rajiv put forth the arguments well, but the title portrays Vajpayee as though he doesn't care for swadeshi sentiments. Venkat
Date sent: Wed, 08 Apr 1998 14:51:53 -0600 Good sign. He proves the statement 'The right man in the wrong party'. T Srinivasan
Date sent: Wed, 08 Apr 1998 11:22:31 PDT First of all, all our "elite" journalists like Pritish Nandy and Rajiv Shukla have to get out of their "learned" brains that swadeshi is bad. Every country in the world makes it a point to protect its own economy. There is no nation more hypocritic in this regard than the USA, to which our elite classes look up as the seventh heaven. Products made in the USA carry the label "Proudly made in USA." People are urged to buy goods made in the USA. Huge store chains like Wal Mart claim they give preference to "Made in USA." But these people who look at the USA for all inspiration seems to have conveniently missed this point. Why is "Be Indian, Buy Indian" bad? Should not we be proud of our products? Agreed that they may not always be comparable to world class, but it is our first duty to try to bring them at par instead of opening our doors thoughtlessly to MNCs. No MNC comes to India for charity. And no country has survived without strong domestic industry. While exposing domestic industries to competition is necessary, there is no need to bring in MNCs in the blind hope that they will help improve our nation. Union Carbide and Boehringer Manneheim are two good examples of MNCs putting their interests foremost. Looks like Rajiv Shukla places utmost importance on what American businesses think of our policy decisions. People can't be blamed for thinking that these elitists with most of their kith and kin in the good old USA have a biased mind. It is sad to note that India has the biggest population who think all that is videshi is good and all that is swadeshi is bad. Rajiv's words like swadeshi-haters just reinforce this point. What we need are policies that protect our national interests. Something that worked for others may not work for us. Japan, even though in economic trouble, does not want to follow the American model because it thinks that that model does not suit it. Why are we greedily devouring all that come from abroad? The only lesson we need to learn from developed nations is that we have our eternal interests to serve. And we can do that diplomatically and by being firm. The world will come around when it realises that India means business.
Date sent: Thu, 09 Apr 1998 00:51:37 -0400 I can't understand how Rediff allows such cheap articles on its site. I have seen some articles but this one makes no sense and defies all logic.
Date sent: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 10:34:26 -0400 (EDT) Mr Rajiv Shukla has taken pains to point out that our PM is not all that of a swadeshi man. Now I am not writing to debunk his report, but I fail to see how mentioning the word lobby several times proves a point. Mr Shukla, please try and think for a second here. What do you think swadeshi means? Endless subsidies and rabid protectionism? Is that your interpretation of swadeshi? Maybe you could have tried to ascertain what the word actually means from a BJP standpoint. As far as I understand it, it means encouraging a liberal economic structure that is not prematurely devoured by the MNCs. That means an internally open economy. It also means opening up sectors to foreign investment where the technology is lacking. And please don't try and tell me that the economy is internally liberalised. It is not. Swadeshi is an untested economic model. In its unfettered and uncompromised form, it stands for encouraging the growth of the INDIAN economic machine. That has not happened yet. We have had a license-raj driven structure for as far as you and I can remember. I fail to see why people are so enthused with opening our economy to foreign investment. I feel it boils down to goals....a short term spurt in GDP growth rate by becoming a dumping ground for cheap labour like Indonesia, Philippines et al, or building our economy to a point where we can compete with others. If you still don't believe me, please try and ask Silicon Graphics to sell us one of its tera flop machines and you will have your answer. I'd like to get your feedback as to what your definition of swadeshi and videshi is. Ashish Chandra
Date sent: 09 Apr 98 10:01:59 -0500 Hi Rajiv, I suggest that you settle down in a foreign country. Your article praises Indians. India will be built by Indians. Better read the true Indian history. Only then start writing articles.
Date sent: Wed, 08 Apr 1998 22:32:08 -0700 Hello!!! It seems that Rajiv is a Congressman. No wonder he is anti- BJP. I do not agree to what he has written. Nischel
Date sent: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 09:57:38 -0400 Rajiv, You should make such comments only if you do not have a single thing which is foreign. As most of us know, we are dependant on loans from the IMF and World Bank. How can you act hard-core swadeshi when you are part of the globalisation process? I would say Vajpayeeji has done a very good job in allocating portfolios. He wants our industry to flourish with the help of foreign funds and loans from the IMF and WB. Installing hard-core swadeshi would have raised concerns in industrial circles. And if he had installed hard-core swadeshis like M M Joshi as the FM, then you would have written an article on 'Vajpayee under RSS remote control'. Why don't you take a break? |
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