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Talking
to the new prime minister of India
By
Jonathan
Power
TFF Associate
since 1991
May 24, 2004 -
This is the Prime
Minister's first interview since taking
office.
NEW DELHI - Has the Indian Congress
party, in electing Manmohan Singh as the man to lead the
nation, in a stroke won for India a leader attuned to the
voices of the rural poor as well as those that "shine" in
the information technology sector, a leader who happily
and uncomplicatedly embraces Hindus, Moslems, Sikhs,
Christians and non-believers, one who will exert all its
strength to make peace with Pakistan, and one who is
determined to put India's economy on course to overtake
China's within a couple of decades (and maybe before if
China's precarious system of economic and political
governance breaks down)? For now these unanswered
questions are just hopes, although widely touted ones.
The biggest question mark over his head is will his
communist allies give him the room for maneuver he needs
on the vital economic liberalization on which all other
progress hangs?
Just over a year ago Singh and his
wife invited me for breakfast and for over an hour and a
half we talked about his views of Indian political life.
On Sunday I was invited back to the same house- the first
foreign journalist he has talked to since his swearing
in- where for over a week he has only averaged three
hours sleep, often as last night, meeting with Mrs Sonia
Gandhi, the president of the Congress party, until 3.30
in the morning. As much as one can discern, it is very
much a co-government between the two of them. But the
long-standing relationship is, by all accounts, an easy
and comfortable one.
"It helps having a European mind",
he said of Mrs. Gandhi. "She likes to be told things
straight, not in the Indian roundabout way." He credits
her with having helped the Congress party recover from
its underdog position. "It's her stamina, her interaction
in parliament. She has grown with the responsibility and
she has been a unifying factor."
I asked him what was the most
important issue. "The mass poverty of India. Our economic
reforms are half incomplete. We have to take these
reforms to their logical end. 70% of our people are in
the rural areas and we have to give them good water,
primary health care and elementary education." Although
Singh thought land reform is impossible "without a
revolution" what is important is for "sharecroppers to
get their rights established so that they can invest in
their land with security. We need to be like the
communist government in West Bengal".
Can India turn an economic growth
rate of 8% every year, I asked? "8% would require a
Herculean effort. Our investment rate is too low. But
perhaps in five years' time we can do it. If we can
attract the same foreign investment flows as China does
we can do it. But we have to change the mentality of
foreign investors. And we can do that if we have stable
policies. Meanwhile, if we can have economic growth at an
annual 6.5% in a sustained manner we can make an impact
on poverty and unemployment. China's long range rate is
probably nearer 6%, not the higher figure they claim".
"We have to find a way to stop
talking of war with Pakistan. This is stopping us
realizing our economic potential. Two nuclear-armed
powers living in such close proximity is a big problem.
We have an obligation to ourselves to solve this
problem."
I pushed him on how far he himself
would accept compromise with Pakistan over Kashmir.
"Short of succession, short of re-drawing boundaries, the
Indian establishment can live with anything." Meanwhile,
"we need soft borders- then borders are not so important.
People on both sides of the border should be able to move
freely."
I reminded him that Nehru had
always promised Kashmir a plebiscite. "A plebiscite", he
replied emphatically, "would take place on a religious
basis, it would unsettle everything. No government of
India could survive that. Autonomy we are prepared to
consider. All these things are negotiable. But an
independent Kashmir would become a hotbed of
fundamentalism".
Corruption is endemic in India and
already with his cabinet appointments coalition politics
has compelled Singh to give office to Laloo Yadav who
heads a regional party. In 1997 Yadav had to give up
being chief minister of the impoverished state of Bihar
on charges of corruption which are still pending. Singh
won't comment on Yadav but he does say that in recent
years, "political power has been passing into the hands
of a new type of leadership. And they don't make a
distinction between state and private property.
Government officials have large discretionary power. We
have to de-regulate even more so that this discretionary
element is much reduced."
For the shy, self-effacing,
uncorruptable, ex-economics professor the premiership is
visibly overwhelming. He cannot talk more, he says
apologetically, "I have to get on top of the issues."
Copyright © 2004 By
JONATHAN POWER
I can be reached by
phone +44 7785 351172 and e-mail: JonatPower@aol.com
Read also Power's
interview
with Sonia
Gandhi and his
comparison of India
and
China.
Follow this
link to read about - and order - Jonathan Power's book
written for the
40th Anniversary of
Amnesty International
"Like
Water on Stone - The Story of Amnesty
International"
Här kan
du läsa om - och köpa - Jonathan Powers bok
på svenska
"Som
Droppen Urholkar
Stenen"
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