Aiyar, a minister in the UPA-I government and known for his open criticism of the Commonwealth Games did not mince words to criticise the present dispensation.
Rajya Sabha member Mani Shankar Aiyar today took potshots at the UPA government on reasons behind Naxal menace and the economic policies which were "leading to lop-sided growth favouring the rich".
"The home minister said in Parliament that 158 districts of the country are under Left-wing extremism, of which 35 have spun out of all control of the government. 123 more are threatening to spin out of control," Aiyar said.
He was delivering the presidential address at the 12th DS Borker memorial lecture in New Delhi today.
Aiyar, a minister in the UPA-I government and known for his open criticism of the Commonwealth Games did not mince words to criticise the present dispensation.
He said due to the Naxal menace there was a "revolt against the state in half of the country". Though the method being used (by Maoists) may be questionable, "the state has withered away" in these districts, he claimed.
Targeting the Planning Commission's approach of focusing more on growth and less on "participative development", he said, "accelerated growth is leading to accelerated disparity. There is tremendous GDP growth but also widening of
inequalities encouraged by growth. Economic advisers to prime minister Manmohan Singh like SR Tendulkar are more interested in growth."
"I want to be the party spoiler," Aiyar said adding that as a result of the policies of the government the voter only sought to "avenge" those in power and voted "Peter in and Paul out" and vice versa in each election.
Taking more potshots at the Planning Commission, Aiyar-who was Panchayati Raj, and sports and youth affairs minister in UPA-I said the "Elite of Calling" in the plan panel had got their policies wrong as was witnessed when the government allowed export of iron ore to China to make that country even richer and ahead of us.
Aiyar said the likes of Vedanta owner Anil Agarwal, RIL head Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata, steel magnate Laxmi Mittal, Korean company Posco and others were joining hands to "buy" the Niyamgiri hills from some "dirty, illiterate adivasis" of Dandakaranya in Orissa with the Central government's help.
Criticising the upcoming sporting event, the former minister said when UPA-I gave Rs70,000 crore to farmers in the country there was an "outrage" but it is "perfect" to give Rs35,000 crore for a "10-day circus like the Commonwealth Games".
On the issues of lack of growth in Human Development Index (HDI) in the country and price rise, Aiyar said, "In the last 15 years, government spending on social sector and anti-poverty programmes had gone up 15 times but India was still 134 in UN's Human Development Index list."
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