http://www.countercurrents. org/naqvi100407.htm
Let’s see what Dr. Ashok Mitra has to say in his fascinating book, A Prattler’s Tale. The book translated from Bengali is an acid trip down memory lane. The octogenarian Mitra was economic adviser to Indira Gandhi and finance minister in the Marxist govt. in West Bengal. He has a startling revelation about the unexpected appointment of Manmohan Singh as P.V. Narasimha Rao’s finance minister in 1991. In his own words:
Foreign exchange reserves had shrunk to a point where they could cover only a fortnight’s imports. India was ‘fast approaching bankruptcy’. The US administration, in coordination with the IMF and World Bank, sent a ‘categorical message’ to Delhi through ‘secret talks’ that began as soon as the Lok Sabha results were known: obey and save yourselves, or object and go hang. Delhi agreed to obey. But wary of similar assurances that had been belied in Latin America, Washington sought an implicit guarantee. It was decided that ‘the IMF and the World Bank would nominate the finance minister of the country after consultations with the US authorities’… The prerogative of naming the new finance minister was also transferred to Washington”. And so the revolving door that links our leaders, be they democrats, dictators or bankers, continues to turn relentlessly somewhat like a wheel of fortune that could eventually define South Asia’s future.
BJP DEMANDS PROBE INTO KHATRI SICK APPOINTMENT
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/bjp-demandsprobe-into-book’s-allegationsagainst-manmohan/273775/
Yet another memoir, this time by economist and former West Bengal finance minister Ashok Mitra, has political circles in a tizzy. The book A Prattler’s Tale makes sensational allegations_about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s appointment as finance minister in the Narasimha Rao govt.
The BJP today (Feb.6, 2007) went to town over the allegations made in the book, which includes the outright suggestion that Manmohan had been the choice of the “Washington consensus” as finance minister.
Distributing excerpts from the book former finance minister Yashwant Sinha said that had the allegations been made by anyone other than Mitra, the party would have dismissed them.
The excerpts dealing with this episode allege that Singh was in fact the nominee of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank as well a powerful US interest.
Yashwant Sinha said that the allegations in the book were serious and raised questions over the PM’s patriotism and integrity. “We want not just the PM but also for Mitra himself to provide proof of his allegations,” he said. “These are serious matters and we feel that the sooner it is clarified the better,” he said.
Mitra mentions that Singh was in fact the second choice as finance minister. He does not disclose who the first choice was. “We want to know from Mitra who the first choice was,” Sinha said. When asked as to why Jaswant Singh, in his book, had not clarified who the mole in the PMO was, Sinha said that Singh had adequately clarified his position. “Even the weakest of governments have not had to face such allegations,” he said.
