t during that time. When Rao took office in 1991, he sought to mend the relationship through liberal ideology. His plan was to increase trade between the world’s two largest democracies and, as a result, turn the existing tension into mutually beneficial alliance.In 1994, Prime Minister Rao and Finance Minister Manmohan Singh (architect of the economic reform), visited Washington DC. This strategic visit attempted to relieve tension between the two states. During their stay in the United States, Rao and Singh met with many American businesspeople and made agreements to increase approved U.S. investment in India from $2 billion to between $20 and $25 billion in the following few years.During the 1990’s, there has been a continual increase of foreign investment in India by many nations. As a matter of fact, the May 23, 1994 issue of Forbes magazine picture India on the cover with text that said, “India may be the best emerging market of all.” Foreign interests in India have been increasing exponentially and, as a result, India has moved far away from its swadeshi years to an age of global interdependency.The Opposition to the ReformThe reforms of 1991 have not been widely accepted by all Indians. Much opposition to the increasing liberalization of the Indian economy exists. This opposition has been mainly led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP, a nationalistic, swadeshi, Hindu party, claims that India is shifting in the wrong direction; moving towards a mirage of liberalism only to realize that their developing nation is being exploited by neo-imperialism.According to the BJP Election Manifesto, when Rao entered the political scene as Prime Minister of an almost bankrupt India, he became a subject of the Postwar Liberal Order by accepting funds from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and was, as a result, forced to agree to their conditionalities. Thus, India reduced its protectionism by reducing tarif...
