'Some Parties Have Tried To Communalise Our Foreign Policy'

Speculation about a mid-term poll perked up after the latest issue of theCongress Sandesh carried an editorial criticising protest by 'keyallies', along with this letter to the party workers from the Congress prez. Full text.

This month we have seen two remarkable andrelated achievements that will go a long way in making our nation a long-termand prosperous economy. The first is the budget that the UPA governmentpresented this year. The budget has focused on those areas of our economy thatstill need strong state intervention. These are the flagship programmes of theCongress Party and have also found agreement within the CMP. Ensuring thatresources are made available for their successful implementation is a majorachievement of the Congress Party. We have proved that economic integration withthe world and economic reform do not have to come at the expense of ouragricultural sector or our khet majdoor. We have ensured that education,health and employment for the rural poor, the need for credit faced by ourfarmers are all met. It also needs to be pointed out that we have been able todo this only because we have been able to take advantage of the excellentperformance of our economy and the willingness of our state and civil society tomeet the challenges of poverty that we still face. And this remains a realchallenge. We cannot claim credit for participating in economic reform if peoplein India still live below the poverty line. We cannot claim credit for a highGDP if only a few benefit from it. The goal of the Congress Party remains one ofequity with growth. Only an India that rises from the grassroot will be anempowered world power.

The second is the landmark agreement with the United States in the field ofcivilian nuclear technology. The United States and India are two vibrantdemocracies and we were happy to welcome President Bush as our guest. Thisagreement is extremely important for India’s future energy needs and for itsaccess to high-end technology that has been denied to us for the past twentyyears. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his team have worked in the mostpositive atmosphere with President Bush and his team and have ensured that Indiadid not compromise on national interest in signing this deal. Instead, India hasgained enormously. India is indeed proud of her atomic energy scientists whohave persevered to maintain our nuclear programme despite facing great odds.Today, we will be even prouder when they take their place as equals amongst theworld’s nuclear scientists and gain from vibrant academic and scientificexchanges at the international level.

India has always been wary of compromising its independence and the CongressParty and its leaders have tried to ensure that its principled commitment todemocracy and a multilateral world order is maintained. Those who accuse theManmohan Singh government of discarding India’s independent policy need tolook carefully at the enormous gains our new and equal relationship with Americawill bring our scientific, technical, agricultural and trade sectors. For Indiato meet the needs of employment creation and infrastructure, we need to betterintegrate ourselves in the growing sectors of the world economy, the sectorsthat will power tomorrow’s service sector, where India already has an edge.This can only be done if we also have equal access to the achievements ofscientific gains being made world-wide.

It is indeed sad that some parties have tried to communalise our foreignpolicy for short-term electoral gains. This is above all an insult to ourminorities and something that the Congress will never do. We do not think ourreligious minorities are any less nationalist than our majority. We do not thinkthat religion can or should be the matrix for national interest in a country aslinguistically and religiously pluralistic as India. We all fought together forour independence. We all fought as a nation in the face of all externalaggression and we will continue to do so. And like earlier, our minorities willcontinue to support the Congress’s desire to create an open and plural societywhere our democracy gives everyone the right to articulate their difference ofopinion. The Congress Party has always remained in the forefront of the fightagainst communalism and fundamentalism and we will never compromise on oursecular principles. We are only against violence and terrorism and MahatamaGandhi’s leadership during the independence struggle and its success has shownus the possibility of peace as a means for political gain.