Talk to anyone who grew up in the 70s. Chances are more that
they talk about the dismal economic conditions they were living in than they
talk about the affluent or at least middle class lifestyle. That was the
condition in which most of the Indians languished till the economic reforms
gave them some kind of respite and hope.
Agreed, India of the 70s was just over two decades since was
free from the colonial clutches. But many countries which were erstwhile
colonial colonies, once got freedom in the 40s and 50s were marching ahead in
the economic growth while majority of the Indians were paralyzed by penury. If
you go to the main causes of it, it’s not hard to find the reason – the
flirtation with socialism to usher in the dreams of a utopia.
I had said in one of my earlier posts – most of the problems
that are plaguing the contemporary India can be traced back to congress. In the
same way, many of the mindless economic policies that caused unnecessary delay
of economic progress of India can be traced back to one man – Jawaharlal Nehru
and of course, his progenies.
Those were the times when the world was swayed by the spells
of socialism. Nehru, who was a Fabian socialist was immensely influenced by the
success of the then USSR, wanted to replicate the same in India. So, all these
centralized planning, the five-year plan, control of the state on key
industries are the results of the socialist principles. But, thank heavens he
did not choose the way of Lenin, Stalin or Mao.
If you by any chance remember studying the kind of economy
India is, you might remember studying it as a mixed economy – that is the one
which has both the traits of socialism and capitalism. But before the reforms
of the 90s, India can be rightly called as a quasi-socialist economy. There is a well known joke in the Former Eastern Bloc – Capitalism
makes social mistakes, socialism makes capital mistakes.
The legacy of Nehru continued unabated – first through his
daughter and then through the dynasty. In my assessment of the man I can
ascribe naiveté for him but not malignancy. The same can’t be said about his
daughter Indira. She was dictatorial, having little respect for the democratic
principles. For these kinds of leaders naturally socialism becomes dearest. So,
during her reign, socialistic policies went unchecked. To understand how
diabolical the policies were of the Indira’s rule, just sample this – India’s personal income tax had eleven tax brackets with highest marginal income tax rate of 97.5 per cent! Now, with that level
of taxation, who would want to be an entrepreneur? It was just discouraging for
anyone who wanted to be an entrepreneur.
That’s just the repetition of the same old story of Robin Hood we knew about: Rob from the rich and give it to the poor. But usually the
latter never happened. No country can ever be in the path of progress without
entrepreneurial spirit. But with the existing principles, the spirit of
entrepreneurship was nipped in the bud.
Now cut to present day, current UPA government – we hear the
same sloganeering, the same social engineering, the same high decibel projects
(NREGA, and other such loathsome likes) – in short, all vestiges of the bygone
dark socialistic era. They have brought down India from a level in which it was hailed as the next economic power to a crippling economy where
food inflation runs close to 13%.
It was a rude shocker for the BJP and NDA when the Congress and its allies got the
mandate to form the government in 2004. It was too much to give it a second
chance in 2009. It continued doing what it did in the first term – to bring
India down by several notches. Now we stand at the doorstep of a much needed
change. If we make a mistake of re-electing the UPA again, the mistake would be
too costly to correct. So, the mistake would be at our own peril and might
create the socialist dystopia yet again.
