Slowing reforms still on track: Advani

Economic reforms will not be abandoned despite the lack of political consensus on certain issues. This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani in an interview with Business Standard.

"It is an experience other democracies have gone through in their pursuit of the right economic course," Advani explained. "Everything that is economically correct may not be electorally popular."

Political parties engaged in economic reforms in states ruled by them have traditionally opposed reforms in states where elections are due. "We too face this dilemma," Advani admitted. "The pace of reforms has been affected. Labour reforms could have been effected earlier, and now they will be slow."

The deputy prime minister clarified that he was not averse to divestment per se. His statement in Mangalore a few weeks ago that privatisation was not the only way to economic reforms was taken as a sign of the government's disenchantment with the process.

Asked whether the remark of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that he would retire if his latest peace initiative with Pakistan failed would have an impact on domestic politics, Advani said, "I don't think so."

The statement, he said, suggested that Vajpayee would not make another attempt to forge peace with Pakistan. "Although I have not spoken to the prime minister on this, the statement should be seen in the context of his peace initiative," he pointed out.

Advani denied that External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha's comment on India's right to pre-emptive strikes on Pakistan indicated a difference of opinion with the Prime Minister's Office.

"A move for peace with Pakistan could either have been initiated collectively or by the chief executive (the Prime Minister). Once Vajpayee took the decision, everyone supported it," he said.

On the issue of pre-emptive strikes against Pakistan, Advani said Sinha's response should be seen in light of the US attack on Iraq. "It was a rhetorical response to a question," he said. "There is no move" to shift Finance Minister Jaswant Singh to the external affairs ministry, he added.

Asked if the recent Cabinet reshuffle had reflected muddled thinking by the government, the Deputy Prime Minister clarified that the changes served a "practical purpose". "A large portfolio like rural development was ignored," he said.

Although it was proposed that the burden of dual responsibilities on Arun Shourie and Arun Jaitley be reduced, Advani advised Vajpayee against it.

"I don't think there will be much change in portfolios in the near future," he said, dismissing speculation on a mini-reshuffle soon.

Advani, in the first interview ahead of his United States visit beginning June 7, made it clear that he would focus on internal security and efforts to strengthen Indo-US relations.

He endorsed the prime minister's view on the double standards of the US-led coalition against terrorism, but said every country had its own foreign policy concerns.

"We should not complain about not receiving support, but we do expect the nations not to support those promoting terrorism," he said. "Of course, they respond to any kind of terrorism directed against the US."

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