05-28-2007, 03:17 AM
Ambika Soni defends Prime Minister's premise
Special Correspondent
"You cannot have those who move forward and those who remain backward"
# The aam aadmi must be an equal participant in the growth structure
# Manmohan was touching the conscience of the rich
NEW DELHI: Union Minister for Tourism and Culture Ambika Soni has said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his speech to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on May 24, was ``touching the conscience of the rich'' and telling ``those who have benefited from the first three years [to] now please look at the others also."
Seeking to explain and amplify on the speech in an interview, she said ``the Prime Minister has to do this" because otherwise "there will be confrontation ... We've seen it not only in India but around the world that you cannot have those who move forward and those who remain backward aamne samne [face to face]. There will be confrontation. No, that's not possible. And the Prime Minister has to do this."
In the interview to Karan Thapar for CNN-IBN (broadcast on Sunday night and scheduled to be re-broadcast at 4-30 p.m. on Monday), Ms. Soni said the time had come for the Prime Minister to tell the beneficiaries of government policies over the last three years to do something for the aam aadmi. She said that as long as ``the man in the rural areas, the tribal, the vulnerable sections [and] the exploited lot" shed tears "we are still not in Mahatma Gandhi's terms truly independent."
She said: "It's time that either the Prime Minister or the UPA chairperson were to tell those who have benefited from the first three years that now please look at the others also... we came on the promise of giving a better deal to the aam aadmi. Now the aam aadmi must be an equal participant in this growth structure. It is not enough to say our growth rate is 9 per cent or we're doing so well or our industry has bought big business enterprises around the world. Fine, that's great as a nation, but somewhere down the line all of us must feel that it's coming to my doorstep also ... And he has the moral right, the stature and the leadership position to do that... Bharat means all of us. Bharat means the aam aadmi, the man in the rural area, the tribal, the vulnerable sections, the exploited lot. We are still not in Mahatma Gandhi's terms truly independent because there are still lots of tears being shed ... Sections of India, which have to be included. It has to be an all-inclusive growth. We can only move forward if all the 1.2 billion people know they are walking in step."
<b>
Where was BHARAT for the last 60 years?</b>
Propriety
Asked about the propriety of the Prime Minister telling entrepreneurs how they should act, the Minister asserted that if the Prime Minister's advice was not heeded "there will be confrontation." Ms. Soni said he was "touching the conscience of the rich."
Pressure?
Asked how much of what the Prime Minister said was under pressure from the Congress' Left allies, how much under the influence of Sonia Gandhi and how much on the basis of a realisation after the election results from Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh that unless there was a change of rhetoric the Congress may lose the next elections, Ms. Soni said: "No, I don't think this is election-oriented ... the Government doesn't decide its policies, its steps and its time schedules only looking at election results. And certainly not under the pressure of the Left Front. This is a programme the UPA has adopted ... "
Criticism
Ms. Soni criticised Minister for Panchayati Raj, Sports and the Northeast Affairs Mani Shankar Aiyar for raising his own concerns outside the Cabinet. She said that even though it turned out that his views were similar to those expressed by the Prime Minister in his CII speech, it was for the Prime Minister to express such views. She said: "That's the Prime Minister's prerogative ... I believe there's a certain propriety which one does follow when one is a member of the Cabinet."
She said: "When you are part of the Cabinet, as Mani [Shankar Aiyar] is and I am, we have a number of opportunities of voicing our concerns, raising issues which bother us, with the Cabinet. That's how it should be. I feel when you speak outside it shows that you are not in sync with what's happening. Which is not true because the Cabinet often discusses issues which Mani raised publicly."