SJM hails govt's economic agenda

In a major jolt to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), an organisation affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has hailed the common minimum programme (CMP) of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

"The CMP appears to disseminate the message that the government is serious about welfare of farmers, artisans, and weaker sections of society," Muralidhar Rao, national convenor of the SJM, said. He added that the SJM welcomed the new government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The SJM also criticised the economic policies of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The criticism of the NDA government's economic liberalisation programme, especially the disinvestment of public sector units, comes at a time when the RSS and other Sangh Parivar units, including the BJP, have been introspecting over the reasons for the coalition's defeat in the recent elections.

The growing distance between the BJP and its ideological progenitor, the RSS, has been seen as one of the main reasons for the defeat.

In fact, a paper written by SJM ideologue DP Thengadi is scathing in its attack of the NDA.

Titled 'The Hindu View of Socio-economic Order', the paper says the CMP is "virtually an acceptance of the errors and faults inherent in the unrestrained economic reforms which has been pursued since 1991". The paper says "there is a need to give up the pseudo-ideological division between the Right and Left".

This is surprising as it comes from a party which says that the Muslim League, the Congress and the Communists are its arch enemies.

It also shows that the BJP will be asked to take a more 'back to the basics' line after the 'India shining' election campaign failed to deliver.

"Consumerism is not compatible with the spirit of Hindu culture," says Thengadi's paper and it is this Hindu spirit that the BJP is being asked to rediscover after being thrown out of power.