At the same time, he said competition from foreign companies would in no way affect the growth of Indian industry.

Addressing a meeting arranged by SVL Institute of Management and Research and Development here, Jethmalani said that the swadeshi concept propagated by the Swadeshi Jagaran Mach (SJM), an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, was quite different from Mahatma Gandhi's swadeshi slogan.

The Union Minister was referring to the opposition from the Sangh Parivar to the BJP-led government's decision to allow foreign investment into the insurance sector and bring the Patents Bill into the recent Parliament session.

He dubbed as ``nonsense'' the opposition to entry of multinational companies (MNCs), foreign direct investments and privatisation of insurance sector in the name of swadeshi.

The concept of socialism enshrined inthe Constitution need not necessarily be achieved through public ownership of industry and abolition of private property, the minister said.

Pointing out that there were many ``half-truths'' being attributed to capitalism like it permitted only survival of the fittest, Jethmalani said capitalism could also ensure fair and equitable distribution of wealth.

He said it has corrective mechanisms that prevent people from serving their self-interests at the expense of public interest.

On relevance of Marxism, he said the dream of social equality which had inspired communist philosophy was still valid. Though communism had failed in several countries, it served a historical purpose of humanising capitalism, he said.

Defending the move to open up the insurance sector to foreign firms, he said there was no justification for denying benefits offered by a foreign insurance company to policy holders.

Deriding the swadeshi campaign, he regretted that former prime minister Chandrasekhar had also jumped into thefray.