Wednesday, May 18 2005 13:29 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president L K Advani today (May 18, 2005) took objection to dubbing low economic growth rate in 70s and 80s as the 'Hindu rate of growth'.

"It is deeply offensive and hurting that the epithet Hindu be used to describe something that denotes low achievement," Advani said addressing the Confederation of India Industries (CII) Annual Session and National Conference.

Speaking on the topic of 'Achieving Double-Digit and Inclusive Growth', the BJP chief and leader of Opposition said, "Calling the three to four per cent rate of growth the Hindu rate of growth hurts me a lot. I am proud to be a Hindu and I am proud to be an Indian."

He said the Soviet model of economy followed by the Congress Government in the early decades of our independence was responsible for the "legendary entrepreneur spirit remaining chained".

"In the early years of our independence, the GDP growth rate was dismal and no one else is to be blamed but one party, which dominated the scene for over four decades," he said.

He, however, praised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for starting economic reforms in the early 90s.

"As I have often said from several public platforms, the credit for initiating this transformation goes to the then Finance Minister and present Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh," Advani said.

Advani said the Soviet model "excluded" the private sector, looking at it as an "exploiting class", and considered "profit" a dirty word.

"It is also principally because of this that the growth of our infrastructure, agriculture, industry, trade and services suffered and India came to be seen as a country of low achievement," he said.

Advani said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government did its best to see that the Soviet model was discarded and the system became more "inclusive" of private enterprise.

The former Deputy Prime Minister said if India is to become a developed country by 2020 it will have to focus on achieving double-digit growth, for which it was essential that both the Centre and State Governments continue to lay stress on expansion and modernisation of our infrastructure.

The work on ambitious infrastructure projects must continue, he said and expressed concern that the implementation of many of these projects has slowed down, especially the power sector reforms.

"We must especially consolidate our gains in Information Technology and other areas of the knowledge economy," Advani said.

He also said the economic reforms must be accompanied by social justice and attention to the needs of the SCs, STs and OBCs.

"Good governance should not be confined only to Raisina Hill; it is also needed in Nariman Point," added Advani.