Article: Hypocrisy of the Loony Left
Written by Bohemian
Some of you might have noticed the recent outburst from the Indian left opposing the inclusion of ‘foreign’ consultants as part of the consultative process of the Planning Commission. The avowed reason for the opposition is that the consultants are representatives of the multilateral agencies such as the World Bank and ADB, which are controlled by the US and other ‘Imperial powers’.
Five left-leaning economists (all of them from the bastion of Indian left, the JNU), members of the consultative committee of the Planning Commission, threatened to resign if the foreign consultants are not expelled. They stated in a press release: “The Planning Commission is not a ‘debating society’, but an organ of the Indian state. A sovereign state is necessarily exclusionary, in the sense, that its organs must exclude personnel owing allegiance to, or under the control/patronage of, a foreign sovereign state.”
One of the economists who threatened to quit is Jayati Ghosh of JNU who also happens to be the wife of Abhijit Sen, who is a member of the Planning Commission. The amazing fact is that both of them are western educated and in fact Prof Sen himself served on many international organizations as a consultant! The Commission website states:
Prof. Sen has also been Adviser/Consultant with International organisations, such as the United Nations Development Programme, New York; International Labour Organisation, Geneva; Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations, Rome; OECD Development Centre, Paris; the UN University World Institute of Development Research, Helsinki; International Fund for Agricultural Development, Rome; Asian Development Bank, Manila.
The fact is that in the past decade, practically every Indian state including West Bengal and Kerala, have accepted loans from the World Bank and other multilateral agencies. Just in the past week the WB government closed a loan of over $ 400 mn to fund highway improvements in that state. The World Bank has a significant presence in West Bengal as that state has a significant role in the Bank’s overall Country Assistance Strategy (CAS).
Yet, the left never uttered a word against the Bengal government. In fact the current chief minister Buddhadeb Battacharya is quietly undoing the damage caused by a quarter century of Jyoti Basu’s rule. He is practically doing every sensible thing that the left has opposed at the national level. He has opened the doors for foreign investment (in fact actively seeking), tried to reign in the trade unions and is undertaking many other reforms which will be termed ‘pro market’ by the Indian left.
What I gather from this hypocratic stance is that we ordinary morons cannot distinguish between right and wrong and hence have to be protected from the ‘foreign’ babus where as the ‘left’ babus with their western acquired wisdom should be trusted completely and blindly.
If you think that this is utter nonsense, wait for the clincher from the 90 year old senile and imperious destroyer from Bengal, Jyoti Basu. He had the audacity to call Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission as a World Bank man and questioned his loyalty.
Anyone who even remotely knows Montek Singh will tell you that he is one of the finest economists this country has produced and has served his country loyally for the past 30 years. He could have walked into any organization in the world and could have signed his own compensation cheque. Yet he served this country with distinction and integrity for a paltry civil servant’s pay.
I am seething with indignation at this affront by Jyoti Basu and his hypocritical colleagues from the left, who want the best of the West for themselves and their children, whether it is their Scotch or education or employment, but see it fit to question others credibility and patriotism.
The people that we should get rid of are not the foreign consultants, but these hypocritical ideologues who have neither concern for the country nor respect for individuals who differ with them.
A friend of mine who went on a recent trip to China is recounting how Chinese communist officials were telling him that the only people who believe in that dead ideology are in the Indian left. The Chinese have shed their ideological shackles and marched ahead and are indeed pulling the world along with them. We in India are stuck in an intellectual, cultural and political morass. The credit for this undoubtedly belongs to the Indian “loony left”.
The author would appreciate if any feedback could be sent to bohemian@greatandhra.com
