Free To the Brink and Back: India’s 1991 Story by Jairam Ramesh Page A

prime minister spoke, I recalled that in his speech to theCPP on 20 June, he had—drawing from the Congress’ own legacy—underlined that the relationship between the leader and the people is spiritual and not related to posts!
    That Narasimha Rao could draw from ancient wisdom to throw light on current issues is further revealed by his unpublished manuscript, ‘Liberalisation and the Public Sector’ (Annexure 9). In this, while reflecting on the perils of India falling into a debt trap, Narasimha Rao recalled Cārvāka philosophy, which proclaimed, ‘
Rinam krithva ghritam pibet
. (Make debts and enjoy yourself.)’ He went on to explain why this ancient school of Indian materialism said so: ‘
Bhasmeebhutasya dehasya punaraagamanam kuthah
. (Once your body is consigned to the funeral pyre, where is it going to come back from?)’ Rao concluded by saying that when it comes to a state or the nation, this reckless outlook is still more disastrous since the state and the nation will last forever, unlike the individual. I only wish I could have discussed this further with Narasimha Rao since I believe the materialist traditions in Indian philosophy have been unfairly downplayed and distorted in favour of mysticism and spirituality. 54 These materialist traditions, incidentally, are all-too-evident now.
    As far as the 15 July vote itself was concerned, it was a foregone conclusion once the Left parties and those that made up the National Front (like the Janata Dal) decided to walk out. TheBJP voted ‘no’, but was hopelessly outnumbered. While the non-BJP opposition was very critical of the Rao-Singh economic policies, clearly it did not want the government to fall.
    And so, we lived another day.

    53
Mahaprasthanika Parva
or ‘Book of the Great Journey’ is also the seventeenth of eighteen books that make up the Mahabharata and deals with the ascent of the Pandavas to Mount Sumeru.
    54 One of the most fascinating books I have ever read is Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya,
Lokayata: A Study in Ancient Indian Materialism
(New Delhi: People’s Publishing House, 1959).

14
----

TheK.N. Raj Interview
    he prime minister was quite sensitive to what eminent economists were saying about his government’s policies even though he did not show it. I witnessed this first-hand when, perhaps on 25 or 26 July 1991, I sent him an interview thatDr K.N. Raj had just then given
Frontline
(Annexure 10). As part of the interview, when he was asked what his views were on the finance minister’s assessment that there was no alternative to a large IMFloan if India were to tide over the economic crisis, Raj said:
    There are two propositions here. One, that there are certain conditions attached by the IMF to the extension of the loan. Second, that we have no alternative. I do not myself know what are all the conditions that have been imposed. But I have sufficient confidence inManmohan Singh because he has very wide experience. He is not another economist; he is a person who has worked in a very wide range of organisations so that he is familiar with the entire background. […] So I have no reason to question his assessment.
    Further, when asked if India would stand to lose her economic independence if she were to accept an IMF loan, Raj said:
    I am not terribly bothered about the leftist position because they have a high-minded, doctrinaire approach when they are out of power. If the leftists were in power today I know exactly what they would have done. They would have accepted these [loan conditions]. So that does not affect my judgment.
    Now,K.N. Raj had an awesome reputation both as an economist and an institution-builder, and—on his return from the London School of Economics, when he was only in his late twenties—he had singlehandedly written sections of the First Five-year Plan. In the early 1960s, he had headed a committee that had recommended major changes in policies regarding the planning and distribution of steel.K.N. Raj was