India's road to leadership

Given its size- both physical features and demographic profile, civilization heritage, composite culture, long historical continuity, successful secular democratic institutions, original signatory to GAAT agreement and abundant skilled personnel and a substantial workforce, India must have emerged as a great leader long ago and shaped the world affairs.

In the early stages of freedom and partition, we were much mesmerized by Soviet brand of command model. The result: Nehruvian vision of keeping distance from western influence via non-alignment and also the embrace of import substitution led industrialization model aimed at self sufficiency in all fields of economic activities. It is quite unfortunate that Indian planning experiment was more dominated and frustrated by an all encompassing state to the neglect of individual initiatives and enterprise. Despite the diversified industrial base which India built up under the planning era, Nehruvian post office socialism and to be precise the congress brand of bureaucratic socialism as late Prof. S. Ambirajan of IIT Madras aptly put it, did not help alleviate the sufferings of the poor. This command model did not have the crucial provision for land reform and other structural changes needed to lift the poor from the rut of poverty.

The alternative hindutva view of BJP was a matter of no consequence in so far as improving the conditions of the poor although it made a huge noise of difference from the monopoly congress and there was not much ideological difference in the matter of economic reforms as they appeared to be two sides of the same coin.

After opening up of the economy, liberating the markets and deregulating the economy, there is now a new vision of global finance and also growing nexus with US, with an assumption and heightened expectation that they will make our country a super power eventually. Will high growth and subtle strategic relations with US make a turn around in our economic and political fortunes and make us leaders?