Aatmanirbhar Bharat different from Nehru's model: SJM chief Ashwani Mahajan

New Delhi: Amid the laptop import restriction debate, a new book edited by RSS affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch's head Ashwani Mahajan has argued that the Modi dispensation's 'aatmanirbharta' approach is radically different from the Nehruvian approach which slowed down growth.

He argues that while many feared that the current government's aatmanirbharta move of 2020 would be a return to the Nehruvian era license raj, it is now clear that the former is strategically positioned and clearly thought out.

He holds that while the Nehruvian vision aimed at 'self reliance through restrictive measures' constraining the private sector and 'strangulating' R&D and slowing growth, the Modi government's Mission 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' looks at encouraging domestic efficiency along with protection from unfair practices.

"It's all about bringing efficiency and competitiveness. It is a policy aimed at producing things which are currently being imported, and in the process building the capacity to produce for the world", Mahajan writes.

"Low rate of growth, caused by these restrictive policies, was mischievously termed as 'Hindu Rate of Growth', which should be termed as 'Nehruvian Rate of Growth'", Mahajan writes on the Nehruvian self reliance model, in an introduction to the book 'Aatmanirbhar-A Swadeshi paradigm'.