By Aloke Tikku (Hindustan Times)

New Delhi: As Finance Minister in 1991, when he set about dismantling the licence raj to free industry from a plethora of regulations and state control, Manmohan Singh had rather more than his share of critics who prophesied that he would end up de-industrialising India.

Fifteen years later, as he stood at the crossroads once again over the India-US nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh remembered his critics and how they had been proven wrong. “If we had dithered, if we had yielded to our critics, if we had not been firm in our resolve, if we had been overwhelmed by self-doubt, we would have taken the country into a whirlpool of despair,” Singh told the HT Leadership Summit.

India did not end up in this whirlpool as the government was not afraid to think ahead and take actions that have served the country well. “Many worried that our policies would lead to de-industrialisation of India. On the contrary, those reforms unveiled a new era of enterprise and creativity for India,” Singh said. “Enveloped by crisis, besieged by political uncertainty, surrounded by anxiety, we imagined an India that can be,” he said, echoing the theme of the Summit, ‘Imagine the India that Can Be’.

“Our dream has not yet been realised in full measure. But there is no doubt in my mind that we helped create an environment that has encouraged subsequent generations to dream more boldly, imagine more creatively, aspire more confidently. The India we imagined two decades ago is now within our reach,” he said.

Singh did not directly refer to the nuclear deal or the Left opposition in his speech. But he did not deny suggestions later that the deal was playing at the back of his mind at various points in his speech: for instance, when he suggested the country could not move forward if the government’s energies were dissipated in meaningless controversies. “If all our time and energy is spent battling ghosts of the past, how can we hope to do the day’s work efficiently? And I dare say, there is a lot to be done.”

The PM capped his speech saying politicians tended to become short-term maximizers, and called for wisdom, strategic thinking and self-confidence. “We need people who can think for the nation, think into the future.”

Email: atikku@hindustantimes.com