Ever since Prime Minister, Narendra Modi took charge, the grand old party, the Congress has repeatedly attacked him for allegedly being in the company of “corrupt” industrialists and businessmen even while accusing him of neglecting the farmers and the poor. To buttress its charge, the latter has blasted the former of waiving loans of the defaulting industrialists and showing no sensitivity whatsoever towards the mounting debt of the farmers.
All of this is encapsulated in the ever resonating jibe of Congress President, Rahul Gandhi ‘soot boot ki sarkar’ – a euphemism for a government that is obsessed with advancing the businesses of the industrialists.
In his first ever blunt rebuttal, while launching as many as 81 investment projects worth over Rs 60,000 crore on July 29, 2018 in Lucknow, Modi opined “he was not afraid of being seen with industrialists/business community as his “intentions” are clear.
Further, attacking critics for calling industrialists “chor and luterey” [thieves/robbers], he added “like farmers, bankers, government employees and laborers, industrialists also contributed to the development of the country”.
Modi’s observations are a clear pointer to the ‘clean’ and ‘transparent’ governance under the present dispensation and are very much in sync with his government’s philosophy of “Saaf Niyat, Sahi Vikas” – clear intention, rightful development.
Unlike the Congress who looks at industrialists and businessmen with contempt, Modi sees them as partners in development. A vivid demonstration of this can be seen in Uttar Pradesh [UP]. During the ‘Investors Summit’ held in February, 2018, the investors had promised to bring investment worth Rs 430,000 crore. Of this, in just about 5 months, projects worth Rs 60,000 crore are already under implementation [these will create 200,000 direct jobs whereas the indirect jobs will be many times more] and projects for an equivalent amount are expected to be kicked off soon.
The impact of the government – both at the centre and states – and the industrialists complementing each other can be seen in the rapid pace of development activities all over the country [not just in UP]. No wonder, the economy is gliding on to an accelerated growth path even weathering the disruption caused by reforms such as demonetization and GST [Goods and Services Tax].
Unless an industrialist takes the first shot at setting up a project and shepherds it through its life-cycle, the efforts of all other stake-holders viz. workers, employees, banks etc will be rendered redundant. It would be preposterous to single out the former and throw him/her in bad light simply because it suits the political narrative and propaganda machine of a particular party.
True, some industrialists have done wrong in the past. Acting in collusion with pliable political establishments, they have managed licenses [e.g. coal, spectrum] in an unauthorized manner, access to bank loans without offering collateral securities and so on. Modi has no sympathy for such persons and is determined to punish them [as also officials who colluded with them]. This is abundantly clear when he says ‘those who will do wrong will have to leave the country or spend life in the jail’.
This is not mere rhetoric. The present government has followed it up by taking both legislative and administrative actions to nullify the unjust enrichment of industrialists/businessmen who got away with licenses/contracts [e.g. cancellation of such licenses and their auction to bidders in a transparent manner] and even jail them following the due process of law.
To deal with bank loans [according to Modi while replying to debate on ‘no confidence’ motion on July 20, 2018, a mammoth Rs 36,00,000 crore were given during 2008-2014 as against Rs 16,00,000 crore given cumulatively till 2008] which turned into non-performing assets [NPAs], the government enacted a transformative law viz. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code [IBC]. It also amended the Banking Regulation Act [BRA] arming Reserve Bank of India [RBI] with necessary powers to force banks into action mode.
The action against defaulters under IBC is yielding good results with major banks such as State Bank of India [SBI], Punjab National Bank [PNB] recovering tens of thousands crore each. Besides, thousands of defaulters are coming forward – on their own volition – to return the loan due to the fear of losing ownership and control.
The most path breaking reform Modi has brought about is to put in place policy driven governance with maximum focus on decisions through electronic mode which eliminates physical interface with officials. It has put an end to lobbying by industrialist/businessmen in the corridors of power. In short, now projects/contracts can be secured based on merits only instead of connections as in the past.
When, Modi is going hammer and tongs after the cult of crony capitalism, triggering mechanisms to recover the resources looted by dubious businessmen in the past and setting new rules to ensure ‘probity’ and ‘transparency’ in all transactions with the state, Congress charge that he is working to further the interests of a few industrialists is baseless and preposterous. To level this merely on the basis that he is seen with them makes it laughable.
Having successfully countered all allegations against him and demonstrating that those are frivolous and malicious, Modi has also successfully exposed how Congress under its rule during 2004-2014, nurtured crony capitalism and handed out mountain of favors to select industrialists – all at the cost of national resources. This is captured so eloquently in his jibe at them “those who do not meet publicly and do everything behind curtains remain scared”.
Unlike him who does everything openly under public gaze – meetings/pictures with industrialists included, the powers that be under the erstwhile UPA – dispensation were doing things in ‘close doors’. While, the actions of the former are guided by paramount national interest, those of the latter were motivated solely by personal aggrandizement.
No wonder, the outcomes under Modi – regime are highly positive for the economy and people welfare in sharp contrast to the UPA – regime when it was afflicted by multiple ills and welfare of the poor was least priority. The public must see through this and not get carried away by the propaganda unleashed by Congress.