India First | How in Modi's regime rules cannot be circumvented to favour anyone

Even when he was the Prime Minister, Chandra Shekhar never rebutted his friendship with coal mafia Surya Deo Singh. It did not dent his image as a young Turk. It did not matter when Mulayam Singh Yadav openly supported the Sahara Group chairman Subrato Sahara. Many eyebrows were raised when Atal Bihari Vajpayee as Prime Minister attended the wedding anniversary of Subrato Sahara’s son in 2004. This is because social and political lives of people were different and mutually exclusive. There was a fine demarcation that allowed social interaction. One was not sure if the rules were as strong as they are today to deny favours. Rahul Gandhi’s attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for closeness to Adani sounds hollow more so since the Prime Minister has maintained a discreet distance from those who are in business. And Modi’s India is completely different where manipulation is extremely difficult and public scrutiny has multiplied. I would not comment on the Hindenburg Report against Adani Group since it is for the Adanis to explain and come clean of the various allegations. Of course, every Indian would be interested to know if Hindenburg is batting for some foreign hands or someone within India. The way it has been timed with Parliament’s Budget Session and the way the Congress and other Opposition parties have joined hands, there appears to be yet another tool kit to undermine the credibility of Narendra Modi. The Prime Minister rightly treated these allegations with the contempt that they deserved. This is not the first time that the Congress and Rahul Gandhi have drummed up such allegations. That Modi has favoured Adanis has been Rahul’s pet theme. The Congress had brought out all these when Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat. But Modi checkmated them by appointing a judicial commission to look into the charges levelled by the Opposition. One of the 17 allegations against the then Modi Government in Gujarat was the Government’s closeness to certain business houses. Modi was sure of his ground and appointed Justice MB Shah Commission to look into all the charges. The Commission was appointed in 2011 and after years of investigation, it gave its report in 2017 and trashed all charges against Modi as untrue and without merit. Besides questioning allotment of land to Adani, the Congress had alleged that a concession of Rs 33,000 crore was given to the Tatas to bring the Nano to Gujarat. The Commission found that no such concession was given and every decision was taken as per the industrial policy formulated by the Gujarat Government. Those who know Modi, can testify that he would not misuse his position to favour anyone, however close he or she may be. This explains why many who were once close to him turned hostile when they did not find the favour they had expected to come. He frames policies and gives everyone a level playing field. Those who fit in the criteria would get the government contracts. It is natural that those who have the money to invest would benefit since the new projects with long-term gestation period need massive investment. The BJP’s policy has been to liberalise and open the economy to the private sector, provide jobs to people and take care of the needy and the poor. While affirmative action needs to be pursued vigorously, every individual must get the right opportunities to excel. These explain why many degree holders from the IITs and IIMs are finding it more challenging to work in the start-up ecosystem. India is close to having 100 Unicorns today because of this liberated business environment. If the country has to progress and reach a five trillion dollar economy you cannot look to be anti-rich. The country needs more and more wealth creators. Only when we have more such people, the country would get more resources in taxes to take better care of the poor. The Sarkari Raj of the PSU dominated economy did not allow the country to breathe properly. The allegations would be correct if the rules have been tweaked to favour a particular company. If banks are giving loans against collaterals, unlike in the regime of the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) when rules were disregarded dole out favouritism, there should be no reasons to complain. Rahul’s barbs against Adani’s rise due to right political connection is a mere insinuation to provoke the Prime Minister and his supporters. Tell me which businessman would not like to be closer to the ruling establishment. Look at the history of most big business houses. In Modi’s regime, the saving grace is that the rule can’t be circumvented to favour anyone. Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders must understand that such attacks may create an optic of strong opposition, but it would not be able to dent the image of Narendra Modi. He has successfully come out of the fire not once or twice but every time whether it was the issue of corruption or nepotism, Gujarat riots or the Rafale deal. It is one man standing against all. But this one man has unstinting support of his people. The writer is the convener of the media relations department of the BJP and represents the party as a spokesperson on TV debates. He has authored the book ‘Narendra Modi: The Game Changer’. The views expressed are personal. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.