Sjm Stand On Policies Irk Bjp

The BJP has distanced itself from the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, which had yesterday criticised the recent high profile postings of former finance ministry officials Montek Singh Ahluwalia and NK Singh. In the party's official briefing, vice-president KL Sharma criticised the SJM for taking a public stand against the government.The party thus sent out a signal of solidarity to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in whose office NK Singh is now based.

He is the nodal point there for the two new committees on economic policy and trade and industrial policy. The SJM had also criticised these as being loaded against the party's Swadeshi principle. Although there appears to be an apparent rift within the Sangh parivar on the swadeshi issue, it is likely that the contradictory statements are meant to signal the party's backing for government moves calculated to revive the economy and foreign direct and institutional investment. The new committees are meant in part to achieve that.

 

The Sangh parivar has often spoken in different voices through its different organs, using them alternately at different times to project a softer or more strident posture on an issue. Despite its public criticism of the government, the SJM's leaders remain in close touch with senior BJP and RSS leaders.

The parivar is evidently eager to take maximal advantage of the breather that it has got from the Congress' refusal to form a new government when AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha was about to pull the rug from under the current regime on August 16.

It has been particularly encouraged on the potential for reviving the economy after the Resurgent India Bonds recently earned more than US $ 4 billion, about double what had been planned. Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha has been touting that as a measure of international confidence in India despite the US-imposed sanctions and the subsequent downgrading of India by global rating agencies.