P.V.N also called the " Chankaya", i guess would go down as an architect of libera
lized India. Being a strong leader, he could implement all the reforms which was then perceived as anti poor by the socialists. He is not given his due as he was not a sychophant of Nehru- Gandhi family. Not even in the wildest of dreams did people imagine that a bureaucrat would be named the finance minister (Dr.Manmohan Singh), who was an Ex RBI Governor, Planning Commision Deputy Chairman, and advisor to the Prime Minister.Since 1996 , the mandate has been way too fractured for our liking.Regional parties have grown from strength to strength. In 1996,when the vajpayee government could not prove its majority in the parliament, a set of opportunistic parties with no vision joined hands with Janta Dal being the core party with just 46 MP's led the United Front government with the support of the left and Congress from outside.United Front government had just 117 MP's with the left (46MP's) and congress (140MP's) supporting from outside. It's only aim was anti Congress- anti Bjp government and nothing else. There was nothing in the interest of India. Deve Gowda became the prime minister with just 16MP's. This proved detrimental to India. We had policies which were drafted with the consent of the left which lacked any sense whatsoever. It hampered our growth to a great extent. It was upto the next government headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee to clean up the mess created by the united front government.After the fall of the United Front, people voted for BJP led NDA. It was for the 1st time BJP got as many as 182 seats. We had around 26 parties in a coalition led by one of the tallest leaders Independent India has ever produced, Atal Behari Vajpayee . Stability is never at stake when you have a mazboot neta heading a coalition. Instability can arise in 2 cases. One being when the coalition or the government is led by a weak leader, ex: Deve Gowda, Gujral and the second being when you have too many mazboot netas in a coalition or government, Like in the case of Janata Party in 1977 which had way too many mazboot netas like Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Vajpayee, Jagajivan Ram and so on. The Coalition collapsed due to internal bickering. The only reason UPA crawled for a span of 5 years was because Manmohan Singh is a gentleman. As Chankya says " To run a successful coalition, you either have to be a strong leader or a gentleman. A gentleman strong leader is a self defeating combination". Strong leader not being a gentleman in this context does not mean he should be a criminal. When I say strong leader, its about being decisive and not relenting to coalition partners at times.
Many economists and people across the board hailed Vajpayee's leadership and his vision for a 
modern India. He moved to open the economy to foreign and domestic competition and to build country's infrastructure. It was the first time ever where a government had invested so heavily on infrastructure. Golden quadrilateral is one such brilliant initiative. There were reforms in the form of removing import licencing of consumer goods,reducing tariffs, tax reforms, revolutionazion of telecom sector, privatization. For the first time India had a disinvestment minister in the form of Arun Shourie, who did a fantastic job. He was rated as one of the best CEO's. On a macroscopic front, interest rates were brought down,greater competition in Banking through allowing both domestic and foreign private banks to enter into the fray. From a agricultural stand point, kissan credit cards were introduced, which was the first time farmers could have credit cards for buying essential commodities. What stood out during his tenure was successful nuclear test at pokhran under the sterwardship of Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam even when the country was facing economic crisis. It took the world by surprise as even the American satellites could not detect our test, whereas it did detect Pakistan's nuclear test. Vajpayee too faced opposition from his socialist coalition partners. He had to contend with a staunch socialist like George Fernandes who took a horrific decision to drive out Coco Cola and IBM as a Industry minister in Morarji Desai's Government in 1977. Being a strong leader,Vajpayee was firm in pushing these reforms and was successful.
modern India. He moved to open the economy to foreign and domestic competition and to build country's infrastructure. It was the first time ever where a government had invested so heavily on infrastructure. Golden quadrilateral is one such brilliant initiative. There were reforms in the form of removing import licencing of consumer goods,reducing tariffs, tax reforms, revolutionazion of telecom sector, privatization. For the first time India had a disinvestment minister in the form of Arun Shourie, who did a fantastic job. He was rated as one of the best CEO's. On a macroscopic front, interest rates were brought down,greater competition in Banking through allowing both domestic and foreign private banks to enter into the fray. From a agricultural stand point, kissan credit cards were introduced, which was the first time farmers could have credit cards for buying essential commodities. What stood out during his tenure was successful nuclear test at pokhran under the sterwardship of Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam even when the country was facing economic crisis. It took the world by surprise as even the American satellites could not detect our test, whereas it did detect Pakistan's nuclear test. Vajpayee too faced opposition from his socialist coalition partners. He had to contend with a staunch socialist like George Fernandes who took a horrific decision to drive out Coco Cola and IBM as a Industry minister in Morarji Desai's Government in 1977. Being a strong leader,Vajpayee was firm in pushing these reforms and was successful.To Be Continued..........
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