The fears expressed by the then Finance Minister John Mathai about the Planning Commission encroaching on the role of the finance ministry have turned out to be true. The political resentment against the Planning Commission reached its peak during the regime of Nehru’s grandson, Rajiv Gandhi, who called the Planning Commission members a ‘pack of jokers’. It is time the ‘holy cow’ that is the Planning Commission is put to pasture. I hope the Modi government will take the bold step of jettisoning this Nehruvian political baggage.
