P.Chidambaram, former Congressman, now Finance Minister
A profile of the man who started as
a leftist, went on to be an architect of the Congress
government's economic reform strategies as Rajiv Gandhi's right
hand man, and has today ascended to the post of India's Finance
Minister with the new United Front Government, after yet another
affiliation shift. All eyes are upon him for the upcoming Indian
Budget 1996-97.
 |
He is the darling of Indian
industrialists who were relieved when the United Front government
chose him to become the new Finance Minister. But very few know
that P Chidambaram, the US educated votary of free enterprise
and unbridled economic reforms used to be a hard-core leftist arguing
in favor of the command economy in the late 1960s.
Since then he has come a long way. A scion of a prominent
industrialist family from Madras, Chidambaram chose to stay away
from the predictable path of joining the family business and went
into politics. He joined the Congress after it lost power in 1967
and remained with Indira Gandhi when the party split in 1969.
As a young lawyer he boasted an impressive array of clients-even
now, whenever he has been out of the government, he has been
consulted by top notch firms including the controversial US
company Enron which ran into trouble in India because of a power
plant project. Chidambaram came to the attention of the youthful
prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1984 and since then has had a
meteoric rise to the top. He was Rajiv’s emissary to the
Tamil Nadu leadership during the crisis of Sri Lankan Tamil
refugees; after Gandhi was assassinated in 1991, Chidambaram was
out of power for a short while but came back as Commerce
Minister in the new government. He fitted in well with the
new pro-reforms lobby and his ministry was responsible for doing
away with several red tape regulations which boosted Indian
exports. Ironically, though he played a big part in writing the
Congress manifesto in the 1996 elections, a disagreement with his
party’s decision over political alignments led to him
resigning and setting up a new political outfit. He won his
parliamentary seat handsomely and now finds himself in
opposition to the Congress.
But for many people, especially investors both domestic and
foreign, Chidambaram’s presence in the government in such a
sensitive post is a positive signal and they are all looking
forward to what his budget proposals will be.
Left to himself, Chidambaram will come out with a pro-growth
package which will welcome foreign investment. He has candidly
invited foreign capital to India and said there would be no
barriers to their entry. But this budget will be a political
balancing act as much as an economic one-so Chidambaram, for
all his suavity and smoothness will not be able to give free
reign to his ideas.
Sidharth
Bhatia is a senior Indian journalist who
runs a well known television program on Indian business and
current affairs. A former newspaper editor and foreign
correspondent, Bhatia has written for several publications in
India and abroad.
Copyright © 1996-97 MediaWeb India,
except where otherwise noted.
Latest Updates | Advertising Info | About
this Site | Web Development
