Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi (MS)
New Delhi, Oct 14: Parakala Prabhakar, noted political economist and husband of union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, opined that the BJP should follow the economic policies of former PMs Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh in order to uplift the economy of the country which is in shambles now.
The former communications adviser to the government of Andhra Pradesh also said that it is not right on the part of BJP to always criticize the economic policies of Nehru period. Parakala Prabhakar said that BJP does that more often as a political assault and it will never come up to the level of actual wrong economic policies of the time.
Prabhakar further said, "The BJP should come out of limiting agenda and follow the Rao-Singh economic architecture to revive the country's economy. In the modern world that is driven by market and globalization, 'Integral Humanism' is not practical,"
When asked about her opinion on her husband's statement, union finance minister Sitharaman said that BJP has done fundamental reforms from 2014 to 2019 like GST, Aadhaar card and delivery of cooking gas.
"If Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel could become the icon in the political project of BJP, they can take former PM late P V Narasimha Rao as their model for economic revival," said Prabhakar.
The economist further added, "By following the Rao-Singh model of economy, the union government led by PM Narendra Modi can still take the economy out of the doldrums as it is at present. If this is not done, then the union government will have to hear continuously from the analysts on television shows, WhatsApp and social media."
According to Prabhakar, though the government is still not accepting, it is a reality that the every industrial sector is facing an uphill task of staying afloat as per the data provided on the public domain. He also says that the government is still not serious enough to know the graveness of the situation. It is also doubtful that it has any concrete measures to deal with the economic challenges of the future.
Prabhakar further says, "The Rao-Singh policy structure has remained largely the same in the last quarter century. The path-breaking repositioning started by P V Narasimha Rao and his economic advisor Manmohan Singh is not challenged till date by anyone. Every political party has supported the government in the center that considered the repositioning. But the reluctance of the BJP to develop its own coherent set of ideas about the country's economy has brought the situation to a grave danger."