With the swadeshi lobby acting tough, the BJP could keep its manifesto deliberately vague on crucial economic issues
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) might find it tough to satisfy the swadeshi lobby while finalising its manifesto for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.
The Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) has objected to several provisions in the partys 1996 poll manifesto.
The SJM, an arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has the backing of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, the largest trade union in the country, which has sent a memorandum to the BJP urging it to be careful while dealing with the role of foreign investors and other similar issues.
A member of the BJPs manifesto committee said he was sure the party would take the SJMs objections into account. There was every possibility that the manifesto would remain deliberately vague on many issues to leave the party room for manoeuvre later, he held.
The SJM had opposed the partys soft public attitude towards foreign investment and warned that this would compromise the countrys economic sovereignty. The memorandum rebutted many specific points of the 1996 manifesto.
That manifesto had welcomed foreign investment, saying we hold that it supplies knowledge, technology and know-how and sharpens the quality and competitive edge of our economy. The SJM interpreted it as an effort to prepare the ground to welcome foreign investment.
Since the manifesto said it invited foreign investment in infrastructure, there was no need to state it again by saying that the party welcomed it, the memorandum held. By doing this, the party had ended up echoing representatives of multinational corporations, it added.
The memorandum also opposed the partys stand that it would welcome FIs in high-technology. Making potato chips and ice-creams also involved high-technology, it pointed out, warning the party against using such vague words as high-tech. It further alleged that there must be a design in the choice of this word.
The SJM objected to the partys position that it did not consider consumer non-durables as a priority for MNCs. It indicated that these MNCs could enter these areas though it might not be a priority. The SJM wanted a ban imposed on MNCs entry in this field.
The memorandum described the proposed exit policy in the 1996 manifesto as the hire and fire policy of the US. The manifesto had said the party would not allow an exit policy without fulfilling corresponding obligations towards labor, thus hinting at the possibility of allowing labor to be fired.
This was exactly what foreign MNCs and western nations wanted, and the party had informally accepted this demand, the SJM charged.
