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Save your Words, Mr PM
 "Nine,
fight corruption at all levels. The cancer of corruption is eating
into the vitals of our body politic. For every recipient of a bribe
there is a benefactor and a beneficiary."
This was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, speaking from the pedestal
of personal integrity and talking down to India Inc. from the podium
of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
The country went into convulsions after the speech, and the media
and top business houses focussed heavily on the Prime Minister's
references to huge salaries that the top executives give themselves.
But in all this noise, what was missed was what the Prime Minister
actually meant. Read carefully the Prime Minister's own words again.
He is talking of bribery, and he is talking at the CII. Obviously,
the Prime Minister is not mentioning the Rs 50 bribe at the railway
station or Rs one lakh bakhshish to the local SHO. He is not
lecturing at the annual school function. This is the CII.
So, who is the mysterious recipient of bribes about which the PM has
to talk at the CII? Because if there were no recipient with hand
outstretched and powerful position, there will be no bribe giver.
People do not enjoy giving bribes, they will spend that money on
more accessories for themselves. So who is the bribe given to?
Obviously, the politician.
What has the honest Prime Minister done to curb corruption in his
government? His personal honesty can no longer disguise the fact
that money is being made at a rampant pace by politicians in his
party.
The Prime Minister has talked at length about "social unrest" and
the increasing gulf between India and Bharat. His words. But should
we have been the audience? Why did not the Prime Minister tell it to
the one man who could have done something about it?
P.C. Chidambaram has produced three budgets. Were these not the
budgets of the Prime Minister? How come no one told Chidambaram that
the Prime Minister Singh was interested in the welfare of the poor?
Why should the CII listen to the Prime Minister when his own Cabinet
could hardly care less?
All the Prime Minister needed to do was to read out his stuff to his
FM, stressing each sentence till there was no room for
misunderstanding.
Please bear with the repetition, but the PM was at the CII. He
talked of high executive salaries, and wanted to be taken seriously.
The latest issue of India Today informs us that in just one year,
2006-2007, Manmohan Singh's government permitted the shareholders of
1,100 companies to pocket Rs 40,000 crores in dividends. Did they
pay any tax on Rs 40,000 crores? Not a rupee. Take out a calculator
and do the math.
The PM handed out an untaxed Rs 40,000 crores a year to the members
of the CII. But objects to salaries of Rs 2 or 4 or 6 crores. And
wants to be taken seriously too!
""The operation of cartels by groups of companies to keep prices
high must end… It is even more distressing in a country where the
poor are severely affected by rising commodity prices. Cartels are a
crime and go against the grain of an open economy. Even profit
maximisation should be within the bounds of decency and greed!"
This was the Prime Minister. And what was he actually saying? Read
carefully into his words. (I believe the PM's words are carefully
chosen as his speeches are expected to be published and read).
This is what the PM was saying: 1: Cartels exist and control prices.
2: They are willing to push up prices even of basic commodities, the
bread line of the poor. 3: Cartels are a crime.
So what has his government, now in power for over a thousand days,
done to punish this crime? Even one gesture, executive or
legislative, would be worth knowing. When an ordinary thief steals,
the majesty of the law imprisons him and the less than majestic
baton of the police turns his back into a sore mess. When a criminal
cartel of businessmen, probably all CII members, robs the poor of
food, and exceeds the limits of decency and greed a polite (perhaps
even warm) letter to the couple being wed ostentatiously, wishing
them a very happy future but indicating that he would prefer not to
give legitimacy to such vulgarity by his presence?
Why preach about vulgarity when you do not have the courage to
reject it?
"India has made us," says the Prime Minister. "We must make Bharat."
That is a good two-sentence one-liner, which rather forgets to
mention that Bharat is no longer in any mood to be patronised.
Bharat is setting Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and
Bengal and Haryana on fire. Bharat lives in the villages of Punjab
where farmers are fighting to keep their land and teachers are
lathicharged in the esteemed presence of the Education Minister.
Bharat's young men are brandishing country pistols in preparation
for civil wars over employment. Bharat is indifferent to good
intentions, and impervious to statistics. Bharat is ready to torch
the super highways being built for the vehicles of 9% growth. The
capital of India is Delhi. The capital of Bharat is the home of the
farmer who has committed suicide.
And Mr Prime Minister, have no fear. People in Bharat do not give
themselves multi-crore vulgar salaries. And you won't even notice,
because they are normally not among the CII audience.
6 June, 2007
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