We Are Original Party Of Economic Reforms, Asserts Congress

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Spelling out its economic policy in the vision document released by senior party leaders, both former Union Finance Ministers, Manmohan Singh and Pranab Mukherjee, at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters here, the Congress blamed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for giving into vested interests.

The party also accused the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the centre of "fiscal indiscipline" saying the wrong economic policies of the coalition had led to "shrinkage" in employment and decline in industrial growth.

In a dig on the BJP-led coalition, which touted the growth figures in just two quarters, the party's vision document said it will revive the past capacity to grow at eight per cent.

Manmohan Singh claimed that no one in the world was "buying" the ruling party’s argument of higher economic growth and even quoted rating agency Moody's observation that the growth rate was not more than 6.5 per cent.

The Congress vision document also alleged that the BJP had opposed economic reforms when they were in the Opposition in the 1980s and 1990s.

"Unlike the Congress, the BJP had neither the heritage of modernising India, nor of championing the all round progress of the economy...At the time reforms were introduced, BJP leaders who are now heading the government were most vociferous in their opposition to the reforms," the document said.

It is worth mentioning here that as part of the party's electoral exercise, the Congress is putting out three such documents in the coming week, including its vision on India's foreign policy and internal security.

Earlier on March 22, the party released its manifesto for general election 2004 on the twin plank promise of more employment opportunities and a focus on development.

The 32-page manifesto identified six basic tenets for governance that the party would aim for if voted to power. These were promotion of communal harmony to ensure social cohesion (samajik sadbhavna), employment opportunities for the youth (yuva rozgar), rural development to improve the economic and welfare of farmers and agricultural workers (grameen vikas), economic resurgence (arthik navotthan), women empowerment (mahika Sashaktikarans and equal opportunities (aaman avsar) for the socially underprivileged sections of the society.

Describing the "Back to Basics" manifesto as action-oriented and transparent, the party's president Sonia Gandhi had then promised "a dignified place for every section of society."