Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi kept the Lok Sabha spellbound yesterday with the philosophy behind his idea of `swadeshi. Even PV Narasimha Rao and other Congress leaders nodded approvingly at Joshis convincing arguments.
Like Rao on Thursday, Joshi targetted the US most, saying it was out to impose its way of life on the rest of the world. India, he said, must look inwards - for talent, for R&D and technology that suited Indian needs rather than chase the mirage of foreign technology. Joshi quoted from the 1997 foreign policy magazine of the USA which said that Americas was the most just and good system. He referred to policy papers which called for spreading the US way of life, the English language and the US concept of environment in the world.
What did we achieve during the last five years of foreign technology hype but technology for soft drinks, lip stick and nail polish, he asked. In areas where technology really matters, developed countries promised the latest, negotiated for the second generation technology and finally transferred only the first generation technology. Developed nations would never share their technology with India as they considered it a competitor, he said.
In areas in which India decided to stand on its own, it succeeded. Joshi gave the example of space reasearch, rocket techology, even nuclear technology. He regretted the U-turn in Indias nuclear technology and programme after 1972. We should have made nuclear bomb in 1972 itself. We would have gone places if we did that, he said. India would have been a world power, a permanent member of the Security Council, no one had dared cast an eye on it, and investment would have come easily.
Earlier, initiating the days debate, leader of the House and Railway Minsiter Ramvilas Paswan said that the main cause for Indias backwardness was the deep rooted caste system and unless the caste system was done away with, the problems of fundamentalism would also not be tackled.
Paswan said that that the large population of Muslims, Christians and Sikhs were not outsiders but were mainly low-caste Hindu converts. And unless the caste system was done away with the such reflections of anger of low caste people would continue. In a purely election meeting, Paswan did not leave out anything that could be good to the ears - good education for all, eradication of poverty, leaders leading ideal life and and providing example to the ordinary man, jobs for all.
