A letter to Dr. Manmohan Singh - Part 1

                                                  A Letter to Dr. Manmohan Singh

Respected Dr. Singh,

I do not know if you will read this letter. Most probably you will not. Because the medium through which we share what we write on the Internet consists of users who are not ready to acknowledge whatever good is written about you. With this statement I have in a way disclosed that I will not be writing anything bad about you. The reason is simple – I am not writing a critical letter. Instead, I am writing a letter to thank you.

You won’t be sitting on the Prime Minister’s Chair in a couple of months. I am not aware which party will win the elections but you have declared that you won’t be in the race for the top post. Hence I take this opportunity to thank you for what you have done for the country. For what we are today, in terms of a solid economic power at the global level, it is all because of you.  Yes, perhaps we are not aware of what happened in the country way back in 1991. Or maybe we have conveniently forgotten that.  ‘Dr. Singh opened India’s economy’ is what we are taught. But we do not know that it was you and your party that brought back India’s lost glory and accelerated the growth and brought us to where we are now.

Times have changed since 1991. An entire generation has grown up. We are imbibed with opportunities and ready to face the world. But with this we have become more reactive rather than becoming responsive. Calm, encompassing personality has lesser takes now. Gradual decisions are less cool. Being flashy has a greater appeal.  Long term decisions are not given due consideration.  The nation today wants everything on the plate in a single day and it does not bother them if it comes by snatching someone else’ plate. We react. We do not respond anymore.  I belong to this very generation but over the years I have become aware of your contribution in building a new India. And yes, this awareness entered within me way before I gave those theoretical presentations in my MBA class.

Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first Prime Minister was accused of not opening up the country’s economy and hence resulting in a slow economic growth.  The opposition then demanded the economy to be opened and criticized the socialist tending policies of the Congress government. Nehru insisted that the government did not oppose the private sector as ours was a mixed economy; however the nation being new, the government had to think from the point of view of the masses.  However in 1991 when you decided that the time was ripe for opening the economy – due to the ‘balance of payment’ crisis and also to unleash the potential of India as a nation, you were again opposed. Such has been the sorry state of the opposition party which is eyeing for power in the coming elections!

However, it becomes essential for me to make my countrymen and especially my generation aware as to what was happening in the country when you were appointed as the country’s Finance Minister.  Many of us were under the age of five, some of us were under the age of ten, and some of us were not even born!

 Around 1991, there was a crisis in the country. Foreign Exchange Reserves depleted greatly. The image of India was that of a closed, restrictive state with an over emphasis on socialist principles of economy.  The gulf war in the late eighties swelled the import bills as the petroleum prices grew by leaps, exports slumped and the general investment sentiment in India was low. This problem became so severe that by the mid of 1990, India only had 3 weeks of foreign exchange reserves left for its imports! In short, the nation had no money for its survival and it was heading towards a default! The then Prime Minister Chandrashekhar had to pledge the nation’s gold to the Bank of England and Bank of Switzerland to borrow money. How insulting it is for a nation to undergo such a situation! And in this critical situation, P.V Narasimha Rao became the Prime Minister and you were appointed as the Finance Minister.

 Your opposition party always cries ‘loss of National pride’ when the enemy attacks our soldiers at the border. But the same party opposed your policy of liberalization which ultimately made us recover this gold and hence recover our national pride! Alas, this scary chapter is forgotten and is a part of student presentations in all the management schools of the country!  You were called a ‘world bank agent’ by the opposition and your initiative to join the WTO was opposed! The funny thing is that the governments that followed you did not change the policy initiatives taken up by you but continued their opposition when you were heading the government. This fact is enough to prove that it was only you and Mr. Rao who had the vision to lead the nation. No one from the left or from the right had the vision as to how the country would stand after decades. They continued their opposition for the computers, for WTO, for liberalization and for every good initiative you took!

As eminent journalist Kumar Ketkar remembers that there were strikes in government institutions when the computers were first introduced! The trade unions were represented by whom? The communists and the BJP! These parties delayed the entry of technology into Indian minds and the result is that a lot of Indians post-50 years of age struggle at computers as compared to their counterparts in the western countries!   

But what happened post-liberalization? A lot of foreign investment turned up in our country. We brought our gold back and so also the lost national pride! A diversity of jobs was created in the country. Opportunities increased by leaps. Different industries set their foot in the country. Cities other than the usual metros gained prominence and are now on the verge of expansion. Different brands entered the country.  Travelling to other countries for studies and work did not remain a new thing and had an increasing trend! Unfortunately, the people who made it to the foreign countries for work or otherwise are the ones who are very critical about nothing happening in this country! Same can be said about the people working in the top hierarchies of corporate! Irony, right? But you have seen this all.  We have slowly become a nation of people getting the benefits of your visionary policies but never acknowledging that they got it!

The Narsimha Rao government did not get a mandate for the next five years. But you had set the ball rolling! The governments later did not reverse the decision of liberalization; they did not cancel the membership of the WTO. The accusation that you are a WTO agent, an IMF agent and you will be bringing the East India Company back to rule India had died out! Political parties opposing you followed the same policies and that’s where your vision was proved.  The nation saw your prominent presence when you became the Prime Minister later in 2004.