Indira 1968 saved India 2008: Sonia outlefts Left

When Left parties claim that by blocking what the UPA saw as financial sector reforms, they restricted the impact of the global economic crisis in India, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has gone a step further — by going 40 years into the past and fondly invoking the nationalisation of banks by Indira Gandhi.

When Left parties claim that by blocking what the UPA saw as financial sector reforms, they restricted the impact of the global economic crisis in India, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has gone a step further — by going 40 years into the past and fondly invoking the nationalisation of banks by Indira Gandhi.

“Our prudence has been most marked in the case of the financial sector. If you allow me the liberty of showing what is to you that proverbial ‘red rag to the bull’. Let me take you back to Indira Gandhi’s much reviled bank nationalization of 40 years ago. Every passing day bears out the wisdom of that decision. Public sector financial institutions have given our economy the stability and resilience we are now witnessing in the face of the economic slowdown,” said Sonia Gandhi at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here today.

At the same time, she underlined that regulation needed to be “sensible” and not “heavy-handed.” “We will not be thrown off-course by the winds buffeting us from abroad,” she said. “There is no need for over-reaction, let alone for panic. There is no need for us to get back into the era of controls. At the same time we cannot allow things to spin out of control…This means that liberalization must be pursued within a framework of sensible but not heavy-handed regulation.”

Both Sonia and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh acknowledged that country could not pretend it would not be affected by the global financial crisis. “We are in an interdependent world. We cannot pretend that we will not be affected by the crisis that is not of our making but is made elsewhere,” said Singh at the same function.

Sonia said the poor should not become the victim of “greed” of a few rich. “What concerns us most today is that this economic upheaval could grievously affect the most vulnerable sections of our society,” said Sonia. “The poor have had nothing to do with the hubris of the rich. Their lives are spent close to the edge…they have nothing to do with the fancy sounding financial instruments — derivatives and credit default swaps — that have ensnared so many…Should they then become the victims of the unchecked greed of bankers and businessmen? Should the avarice of a few be allowed to inflict misery on the many?” asked Sonia while adding, “It is our duty to ensure that whatever action we take in response to the turmoil protects them.”

She reminded India Inc that “the object of public policy is not only to facilitate their (industry’s) success, but also to ensure the well-being of the hundreds of millions of (poor) Indians.”