Congress Chief To Back Liberalisation

Soon after being unanimously elected as the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) yesterday, Sitaram Kesari reiterated his faith in liberalisation, saying an open economy was good for the nation, but added that it must be based on ethical values and not lead to corruption.

The party had run a good economy, but could not take its advantages to the poor, he held in an acceptance speech that pointed the MPs towards a return to serving the minorities, Scheduled and other backward castes and a promise of returning with a majority after the next elections.

Kesari referred indirectly to the demolition of the Babri mosque during the Rao regime, saying that the Constitution guarantees protection to the places of worship of all religions, and also social justice, individual freedoms and social and communal unity.

Kesari asked the MPs to increase their contacts with the Dalits, minorities and other backward castes. Wipe the tears from their eyes, he said, and those eyes will turn to you.

The Congress had lost whenever it had given up its commitments, he said, and won whenever it stood by its commitments. Thus, the party under Indira Gandhi won only 152 seats in 1977, but 352 in 1980. He added that, though the party had won only 140 seats owing to its weakness, there was no reason why it could not win 340 if it strengthened itself. He prefaced that by recalling that, Gandhi had been accused of speaking for big businessmen, the mill owners of Ahmedabad, the rajas and maharajas, when he went to the Round Table conference in 1921. But the Mahatma, along with Nehru and Azad, understood the nations character and its composite culture.

He repeatedly invoked the name of Mahatma Gandhi and, almost as often, of B R Ambedkar. He also spoke of the legacy of his favourite historical trio, Gandhi, Nehru and Maulana Azad. Recalling his association with the freedom struggle and the Congress through the decades, Kesari began his speech by saying that another page of Congress history was being turned during the fiftieth anniversary of independence. He told the MPs that he was their trustee, both as the party president and as leader of the CPP. In a related development, Sharad Pawar, who was yesterday nominated leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, said the partys support to the United Front government would continue.

Informally talking to newsmen soon after the general body meeting of the CPP where he was nominated as the partys leader in the Lok Sabha, Pawar said that support to the Deve Gowda government would continue and simultaneously Congress policies and programmes would be made more effective.

He said that the party would make concerted efforts to solve the problems of the minorities and the youth.

The former Maharashtra Chief Minister described as challenging the new responsibility given to him by Kesari soon after being elected as the new CPP leader.