New Delhi: P V Narasimha Rao may be credited for liberalising the Indian economy but in a hitherto unpublished article written 14 years ago, the former prime minister had raised concern over selling government assets to private sector citing national interest.
Noting that it is “not at all difficult to imagine the cut-throat competition among MNCs to grab our PSUs”, Rao felt the common man would not appreciate the then NDA government's plans to disinvest PSUs “when they eventually come to know of it all in its stark details”.
To buttress his point, Rao cited the importance of national assets like airports remaining in public sector by referring to how taking control of Srinagar airport in 1947 thwarted the designs of Pakistan in annexing Kashmir. He also went on to rhetorically ask how a government can think of selling Air India, “which carries the national flag”.
03/09/15 Deccan Herald
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Noting that it is “not at all difficult to imagine the cut-throat competition among MNCs to grab our PSUs”, Rao felt the common man would not appreciate the then NDA government's plans to disinvest PSUs “when they eventually come to know of it all in its stark details”.
To buttress his point, Rao cited the importance of national assets like airports remaining in public sector by referring to how taking control of Srinagar airport in 1947 thwarted the designs of Pakistan in annexing Kashmir. He also went on to rhetorically ask how a government can think of selling Air India, “which carries the national flag”.
03/09/15 Deccan Herald
