Competitive economy based on market can never be people-friendly—Dr MM Joshi

On Financial Probity in Public Life: Relevance of Pt Deendayalji
 “IF we have to save the country and humanity from total destruction, we must turn the Indian as well as world politics to the principle of integral humanism propounded by Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya and also to our ancient spirituality. There is no other way out,” said senior BJP leader and former Union HRD Minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi. He was speaking at a seminar organised at Mavalankar Auditorium in New Delhi on Financial Probity in Public Life: Relevance of Pt Deendayalji by Pt Deendayal Vichar Pravah Sansthan on September 14.
Senior journalist Shri Ram Bahadur Rai, former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Shri Shanta Kumar, vice president of BJP Shri Bhagat Singh Koshiyari and national convener of Pt Deendayal Vichar Pravah Sansthan Shri Devdas Apte were also present at the seminar. Shri Roop Chaudhary conducted the proceedings.
Referring to recent coal scam, Dr Joshi said the coal is for the consumption of all and not for just a few people. “The natural resources are for the coming generations also. What do we want to leave behind for them? We should take only whatever is required and not an iota more than that. When we abandon this fundamental principle of life, the problems start surfacing. The solution of many of the problems the world is facing today lies in this principle of balanced consumption, as stressed by Deendayalji,” he said.
Dr Joshi further said if we ruin all our natural resources today, what will the coming generations eat, as it takes lakhs of years to generate  new iron ore, coal, fossil fuel, aluminum, etc. The competitive economy based on market can never be people-friendly. The height of corruption and scams that we see today is the outcome of this market-based competitive economy. Unrestrained money corrupts ethics too. Majority of the wars fought for some decades in the world were fought only for oil, because it is prime source of energy, which ultimately runs the market. Deendayalji had said when money and market become important everything including the respect in life, politics, etc is occupied by money. It was said about 50 years back, but is equally relevant even today. We see that the entire world politics today is controlled by money. The corporate and business houses have power to make ministers and even to constitute cabinets, he said.
Talking about growing election expenses, Dr Joshi said contesting election has become too much costly that it requires 5 to 10 crore rupees for contesting even an assembly seat. Being the follower of Deendayalji, it becomes our responsibility to work for reducing election expenditures. Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh workers, some time back, built new headquarters in Delhi. They collected contribution from lakhs of workers but did not take even a single penny from any corporate house, businessman or industrialist. When asked the reason they said it is simply because if they take contribution from any these people, they would not be able to fight for the rights of workers and labourers tomorrow. This shows the way we should work. Until we return to our basic roots, the scandals will continue to surface. The life of the people like Deendayalji and Sunder Singh Bhandariji should be example for us. The probity flowed by them in their life should be our ideal, he added.
Shri Ram Bahadur Rai said the country is passing through two main crisis today—crisis of ideology and the crisis of trust. It is seen not only in the political parties including the BJP, Congress and the communists, but also everywhere whether it is society or any other field. Political parties have lost trust of the people. There are contradictions on every front. All the parties are acting against the principles and ideals of their founding fathers. He said Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya is an ideal for politicians. His Political Diary and the speech delivered in Trivendram conclave should be read by all politicians as a Hindu or religious person reads and imbibes the religious books like the Gita. The philosophy of Deendayalji provides answers to many political ills, Shri Rai added.
Presiding over the seminar, Shri Shanta Kumar said what Shri Ram Bahadur Rai said forces for introspection. He said the situation in the society is fast changing. Once dharma dominated the society, but now politics dominates everything. Politics has been a part of life but now the whole life has become part of politics. The politics has swallowed our entire life. Devaluation in politics is today’s biggest challenge. Therefore, probity in politics has become eminent. He said Deendayalji is more relevant today than yesterday. If we followed his ideals, we would not have been at the crossroads, where we are seen today.
Earlier, Shri Devdas Apte pointed out that two similar functions were held in Patna and Jabalpur in the last month by the Sansthan. In Patna, the scholars discussed the views of Lohiaji, Deendayalji and Jaiprakashji. The second function was held at Jabalpur University Auditorium. He said the overall objective of all these functions is to make the people realise the importance of the views of Deendayalji’s and other scholars.
—Pramod Kumar