Need leaders who can speak fearlessly to PM, says Murli Manohar Joshi

Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi feels that the country needs a leadership that is based on principles and express views clearly without worrying whether the Prime Minister will be pleased or angry, and argue with him. Speaking at a memorial meeting for Congress leader and former Union minister S Jaipal Reddy, who passed away on July 28 in Hyderabad, Joshi said that the practice of holding discussions cutting across party lines on issues of national and international importance is “almost finished” and there is a need to revive it.

“Mein aisa samajhta hun ki aajkal aise netritva ki bohut aavashyakata hain jo siddhanton ke saat bebaaki ke saat aur bin kuch is baat ke chinta kiye hue pradhan mantri naraaz honge ya khush honge, apni baat saaf saaf kehte hain, unse bahas karte hain. (I feel there is an acute need for such a leadership today that can, based on principles, without fear, express views clearly without worrying whether the Prime Minister will be pleased or angry, and argue with him),” he said.

He recalled that when Reddy was a minister, he was part of a key forum for discussions on Intellectual Property Rights in the 1990s. He said that Reddy would often agree with the other members irrespective of the government line.