The PM of a Banana Republic?

When did it become more important for a PM to assuage ‘corporate nervousness’ than to address ‘national nervousness’?

The Prime Minister finally broke his silence to assuage the ‘nervousness of the corporate sector’ over phone tapping. Important as it was to send this signal, after all it is no one’s case that the Government should indiscriminately monitor phone conversations, it is even more important to worry about the signals Manmohan Singh did not send. He is not the Finance Minister of this country, he is the Prime Minister. The nervousness among some corporates is but one part (a minor part, despite attempts by some to selectively emphasise this aspect) of the fallout of the Radia tapes.

Did the Prime Minister not want to assuage the nervousness of the ordinary citizen on hearing these tapes? Did it not occur to him that concerns about India becoming a banana republic, thanks to phone tapping, actually conceal the fact that the tapes suggest it may already be one? Does it not occur to him that there is considerable reason to worry when people like Tarun Das, closely associated with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), boast of how they pitched “big time” for the ‘surface transport’ portfolio to be allotted to Kamal Nath?

Tarun Das has clarified that, “In exchanging ideas with people about a wish list of responsibilities, I did talk about ‘surface transport’ for him. When I used ‘big time’, I mean forceful.” What is not clear is who these ‘people’ were. On the very evidence of these tapes, Tarun Das is one of the few people in the country who has direct access to the Prime Minister.

On 4 July 2009 at 20:21:52, Tarun Das tells Niira Radia: “We need to clear this up because my point is that I met the PM today half an hour alone, one-to-one…”

On 8 July 2009 at 09:27:26, Niira Radia talking to Sunil Arora, former CMD of Indian Airlines, says, “Sunil, hi, listen because I have to quickly rush, woh Tarun mil raha hai Prime Minister… uske liye pointers bhej do Tarun ke liye [Tarun is meeting the Prime Minister… send some pointers for him], ki what has been ailing it and what have been the issues including the unions and all that…”

Taken together, these conversations indicate that Tarun Das is a man who had frequent access to the Prime Minister and was talking to him on a host of issues. It is also clear from several other Radia conversations already made public that at the time Tarun Das was keen to ensure that Niira Radia arranges a reconciliation between Ratan Tata and Sunil Bharti Mittal; in return, he was willing to help her to the extent of briefing the PM about Air India on her terms.
This raises two related and disturbing questions. Did Tarun Das directly lobby with the PM for Kamal Nath? (Tarun Das’ apology for his unflattering comments about the man says nothing about the veracity of the allegations they contain.) Did Tarun Das directly act on Niira Radia’s behest in some conversations with the Prime Minister? These are questions Tarun Das can perhaps answer, but how do we know we can trust those answers? What we need to know are the Prime Minister’s thoughts on these issues.

The Prime Minister’s own integrity and probity are besides the point here. These tapes reveal networks of influence that reach up to the Prime Minister without his being aware that there was an attempt to steer his responses. These tapes indicate a person charged with criminal conspiracy could access the highest office of the country on policy matters. Is this not a reason for worry?

Over and over again in these tapes, there is also evidence, direct and indirect, of attempts to influence the process of Cabinet formation by people who had no business being involved. This includes media persons who can now shout themselves hoarse about our naïveté in suggesting they could influence such a process, while failing to face up to the fact that they were involved in acts that do not fall under any reasonable and ethical definition of the term ‘journalism’.

This collusion between corporate interests, lobbyists and senior journalists (though it may well be time to ask if the term ‘journalist’ should apply to editor-owners or employees who own significant stakes in media organisations) worries people far more than any real or imagined concerns of a few corporate houses. Is Manmohan Singh not the Prime Minister of a country that extends beyond India Inc.?

The India growth story is not an end in itself. It will matter only if it delivers benefits to ordinary citizens. These tapes indicate that we live in a country where we have lost our right to influence policy to a handful of powerful individuals with vested interests. This is the hallmark of crony capitalism. Does the PM really have nothing to say about this? What kind of republic, then, are we living in?

Niira RadiaPrime MinisterX-Tapes