By Mayank Chhaya-
Even factoring in the fact that news cycles these days are rapid and that a large number of the Indian broadcast and online media is owned by entities unabashedly pro-government, the general silence on an extraordinary case of political grandstanding by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is quite troubling.
At an election rally in Karimnagar in Telangana Modi for the first time claimed that the country’s two top industrialists, who have the reputation of being his staunchest supporters, are bankrolling the opposition Congress Party using unaccounted cash.
He named the two businessmen (Mukesh) Ambani and (Gautam) Adani and virtually accused them of transporting trucks and sacks full of cash to the Congress Party. Modi said for the last five years Rahul Gandhi, a former president of the Congress Party, had been chanting the Adani-Ambani mantra “but ever since the elections were announced, they have stopped abusing Ambani and Adani.”
“I want to know how much cash they (the Congress Party) have taken from Ambani and Adani. How many sacks full of ‘black money’ (illegal cash) have they extorted?” he said and went to the extent of saying in Hindi “Daal mein kuchh kaala hai” meaning there is something fishy going on.
For his part, Gandhi responded in a video saying, “You have spoken for the first time in public about Adani and Ambani. Do you know from personal experience that they give money in trucks? I want to reiterate to the nation that the amount of money Modi has given to them, we are going to give the same amount to India’s poor.”
By any measure, these are stunning allegations even if one offers the extenuation of election season rhetoric. For the country’s prime minister to say that India’s two most high-profile businessmen are funding his opposition using unaccounted cash packed in sacks and trucks should have caused a media earthquake. However, a cursory reading and viewing of the media revealed a virtual absence of any major coverage.
Even if Ambani and Adani’s unbridled and uncritical support for Modi personally is set aside for the sake of an argument, the prime minister’s assertions are baffling. Inevitably, Congress Party leaders responded by saying if Modi knew that the two businessmen, routinely seen hobnobbing with and pledging fealty to the prime minister for the last ten years, had started bankrolling Gandhi and his party using illegal cash, why was no legal action mounted against them.
The question is especially potent for a prime minister who has had no compunctions unleashing state law agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against his political opponents. From any angle, sacks and trucks full of cash being ferried to a political party should have been one of Modi’s most important investigative tasks, particularly when he has cast himself as the ultimate nemesis of corruption in public life.
For the country’s prime minister to publicly name India’s two biggest industrial giants and say they have given unaccounted cash to his most strident opponent and his party should have been to be a staggering political event. That he did it so explicitly in unprecedented in India’s political history.
It is hard to comprehend the political strategy behind Modi’s naming Ambani, who is Asia’s richest man, and Adani at this time unless it is a calculated move to throw them under the bus at this juncture. On their part, both businessmen would find it not just profoundly embarrassing but exacting to explain as well defend themselves in the face of such allegations. There has been no comment from either.
One explanation could be that worried about a likely reversal in his electoral fortunes the prime minister is going for broke. As a result of that he has embarked on an extreme political strategy of even sacrificing his two closest business allies.
However, if the Indian media reports and polls, such as they are, are any indication, Modi’s victory is a fait accompli. If that is the case, is the prime minister clearly signaling the end of his very public entanglement with big business in his third term?
The answer to these questions will become obvious on June 4 when the results of the elections are announced. Until that point Modi appears to have painted himself into a corner as far as his friendship with Ambani and Adani is concerned. Of course, being pragmatic and even ruthless businessmen the two may choose to treat the allegations as nothing more than election season braggadocio. After all, irrespective of who wins they both still have gigantic financial stakes to guard. They cannot afford to be emotional about Modi’s direct attack.
