Page:Sharad Joshi - Leading Farmers to the Centre Stage.pdf/312

 in his theory of Division of Labour. It envisaged a world where countries would produce what they were best and most competitive at, leaving the other items to someone who might be more qualified in that area. By allowing for free exchange globally, all would get the best products at best prices; whether produced locally or imported. Joshi strongly supported Dunkel Draft despite almost every single politician, academician or journalist in India being dead against it. Joshi used to wonder whether they had read the Dunkel Draft in the first place. He felt that it was just their ageold phobia against free market which made them cry foul. So convinced was Joshi of the benefits of Dunkel Draft to the Indian farmers that he even said, ‘If I meet Mr. Dunkel, I will put the brooch of SS on his lapel!’ Joshi travelled through the country addressing numerous meetings and press conferences supporting Dunkel Draft and WTO. Communists, Socialists, Congressmen, right-wing parties like BJP; they all were united condemning the Dunkel Draft. All the central trade union federations, all industrialists, all NGOs, all journalists opposed Dunkel. Entire media was against it. Brought up on the tenets of controlled economy, freedom envisaged in liberalization was anathema to them. Even those in the government who were responsible for implementing policies entailed in liberalization did so only because they felt there was no alternative in the given situation. In the heart of their hearts they remained thoroughly against it. In those days, Joshi’s was perhaps the sole voice unequivocally supporting liberalization. For that audacity, he was severely attacked from all corners. Some called him a CIA agent, some called him a traitor. A woman colleague from Delhi told him that, “Supporting Dunkel, when not a single voice is being heard in his favour, is going totally against the current public opinion. No politician could ever take such a stand. You Search for New Ways

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