Crony capitalism, thanks to pliant Governments, has been India's curse for decades. By acting against those who would sell India out, the Modi regime is trying to show that the rules of doing business in India are changing
Some news items tend to build up over time. On the very first day of the event, its import and scale escapes most media persons and even the authorities. This was the case with the notorious December 16 gang rape in 2013. The outrage level built up to a crescendo several days after the event was first reported. It appears that the same thing is now happening with the ‘corporate espionage’ case which involves the leak of hundreds, possibly thousands, of crucial Government documents over the past few years.
The sheer scale of the operation is only becoming apparent now. Even closely-guarded papers relating to the Union Budget, which will be delivered on February 28, were also found in the possession of the perpetrators. It has been argued by some that several of the papers were not necessarily secret, but the perpetrators ensured that their clients or employers got access to information well before it entered the public domain.
This information could have been potentially used to move markets and change strategies to better suit upcoming Government decisions. For years, lobbyists and others in the employ of large corporate houses have been moving around in the corridors of power with impunity. This had become common knowledge, so much so that many of those involved boasted about their access. The investigation by Delhi Police and the Intelligence Bureau not only busted this club but, much like the secret papers, put this open secret into the public domain.
The fact that such activities have been occurring with impunity for years is disgusting. The culprits have mostly been low-level clerks who possibly had little understanding of exactly how they were selling their country out. In previous eras, these low-level clerks, who employed fairly sophisticated means to access this information — from switching off the closed-circuit TV cameras to faking accreditation to enter supposedly secure areas — would have been taken away by the authorities while the those who controlled their strings, the real culprits, would have laughed all the way to the bank.
The very fact that the authorities have arrested and are currently questioning high-value suspects in this case shows that this Government is intent on sending out a stern message. That message, clearly, is that while India is open for business, business as usual in India has to end. Of course, what is also surprising, are the massive security implications of the crimes that have now been exposed. Despite the Parliament attack of 2005 and the horrific events in Mumbai in November 2008, it appears that lessons were not learnt.
The ease with which fake documentation has been produced and the ability to turn off monitoring devices in a building, or buildings as it could turn out, where senior Ministers and bureaucrats sit, is extremely worrying. What if terrorists used similar means and models to attack the seats of our Government againIJ That said, the economic terrorism of some large corporations in India is equally bad, even if no lives may have been lost, at least directly.
The investigation might have taken four months, but its revelation to the public just a few days before the Union Budget for 2015-2016 is to be tabled in Parliament, is a clear indication to businesses as well as the general public. One must understand that the public at large in India is extremely upset with corporate interests. While the average man has been squeezed by rising prices, large industrialists are sitting on gigantic sums of unpaid bank loans, invariably from public sector banks, and continuing to live the good life.
The failure to act against such freeloaders was a factor in the dramatic defeat of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in the Delhi Assembly poll held earlier this month. By now acting against corporate espionage as well as large bank defaulters in the recent past, it appears that the Modi Government is trying to highlight the fact that it will not stand for corporate interests over-riding public interests.
This does not mean that this Government should succumb to pressure to keep the large subsidy regime alive in the Union Budget that will be presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley this coming Saturday. Mr Jaitley will have to demonstrate that the Government is committed to Mr Modi’s flagship scheme, Make in India. Only then can the Government also ensure that infrastructure projects get the big push ahead that they desperately need.
India needs to manufacture a lot more in the coming years if it is to re-start the economic growth engine. The country cannot be satisfied with the level of growth that it has been achieving of late. The sad fact is that members of the Opposition, many of whom are beholden to corporate interests, may not let Parliament function this time as well. They are determined to show Mr Modi as a failure. These are people who have only thought about themselves and the perks, such as a lutyens’ bungalow, that comes with power. They go to voters claiming to represent the poor and downtrodden but have rarely done much for the poor other than the occasional handout. These are the people who celebrated an agrarian society all this while instead of realising that India’s largest growing class of people was an unrepresented and unloved urban under-class.
Mr Modi came to power because he promised Indians a different vision of India to the one that they were used to. He promised an India where everyone would develop equally, he promised an India where the legions of urban youth would get jobs. To fulfill these promises, it appears that he understands that, there needs to be inclusive development and not just the development of the bank accounts of the rich and famous. The actions taken by Mr Modi’s Government in the past week against corporate espionage is a welcome sign that he does plan to keep his promises, but until 10 in morning this Saturday, it remains to be seen just how serious that intention really is.