“Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee dedicated his whole life for the nation,” said Shri Arun Jaitley, leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha. He was delivering the keynote address at a seminar “India at 2020: Challenges for the Future” organised by Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation on August 24. Organising Secretary of BJP and member of the Foundation Shri Ramlal in his introductory remarks reminded Dr Kalam’s vision 2020 and said that 19th and 20th century may have been of any other nation but the 21st century will be of India. At one time India was called Vishwa Guru and Sone ki Chidia (sparrow of gold), and this was achieved not by arms but by knowledge and it will happen again.
Shri Arun Jaitley touched upon all aspects of nation building. He expressed great concern for security of women. At the beginning of the century, we as nation envisaged our journey for the next 20 years. The way we started, it was believed that BRICS as an organisation, of which India is also a member, will counter the superiority of the USA and European Union by 2050. He said that we have wasted last 9 years because of corruption, inflation, internal security and foreign policy, the present Government is suffering from policy paralysis and common man are paying, the price for losses due to corruption.
Elaborating on his vision of 2020, Shri Jaitley identified two areas, namely tribal and North Eastern regions of India where special attention is required. He also said that historians must analyse the views of Nehru and Dr Mookerjee on Jammu and Kashmir. If we focus on the people who have not lost their direction on the lines of separatism, we can solve the problem of Jammu & Kashmir.
Further, he criticised that Maoists are not social reformers and they should be dealt with hard hand and there is need of concrete policies to solve the border problems with Pakistan and China. He negated the possibilities of coalition and third front government.
While concluding, Sri Jaitly said that now the discussions and debates must be focused on economic, social and leadership issues and decide whether the biggest democracy of world will be ruled by a leader with capability or a leader with a ‘family background’. The youth are raising persistent questions and there is a strong anti-Government sentiment and this will decide the future course of our Journey.
Sri Arun Singh, secretary of the research foundation and joint-in charge of Orissa, BJP did comparing for the session and Dr Anirban Ganguly, Director of the foundation conceptualised the event.
