BJP's 'Vision 2025' could upset labour unions, may be put off: report

The long-awaited ‘Vision Document’ of the Bharatiya Janata Party, envisioned by the top brass as a medium-term party action plan for the next ten years, drafted by a team led by former president Nitin Gadkari, may have been quietly put on the backburner.

The reason being cited is the document’s overtly aggressive stance on the economy, especially on labour reform and public sector unit reform, issues that could directly impact voter sentiment, it is believed.

A report in The Economic Times says the ‘India Vision 2025’ document has been ready for some weeks now.

It reportedly bats for liberalising job retrenchments and “unequivocally supports privatisation or even shutdown of loss-making PSUs along with vigorous disinvestment.”

Spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman was quoted as saying the party was currently focused on releasing its “chargesheet against the UPA” and the manifesto, the other two documents the BJP has been working on.

“While talking about providing “reasonable safeguards to labourers and entrepreneurs”, it calls for “retrenchment of labour to be made liberal”. It also speaks about the need to redraft labour laws to make them simpler and less bureaucratic,” the report says.

The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi himself has been making only very cautious noises about the BJP’s economic policy, stating that he believes government has “no business being in business”, and that the role of the government in business should be that of a facilitator only.