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India is a democracy. To a citizen, it should not really matter much which party forms the Government as long as national interests and those of the people are furthered towards development and progress.
The only concern is, events in the history of the subcontinent are replete with instances where kings have lost the war because someone from within opened the gates. Letting foreigners and foreign agencies to interfere in the nation’s affairs is dangerous, besides compromising sovereignty and integrity, one day they will demand their pound of flesh.
“If you wanna shoot, shoot. Don’t talk”. This is a famous dialogue in the Hollywood western of the 1970s, “The Good the bad and the ugly” by Eli Wallach from a bathtub talking to an intruder holding a gun pointed at him. While the intruder is still talking, Eli pulls out a gun from the water and shoots him dead.
The Hindenburg issue is all murky. Let us assume that there are issues with Adani group and SEBI etc. Doyens of investments, who usually put their money where their mouth is, continue to put money into the stock markets including in the Adani group of companies. The idea that Indians are incapable of bringing wrongdoers to the book, with in-house capabilities and initiatives is in the least damning. I am uncomfortable with the idea that Indians (media, professionals, “opposition” etc.) are helpless in bringing wrongdoers to the book, with in-house investigations, capabilities and initiatives instead of grasping at straws thrown up by dubious foreign media and organizations.
Are we to believe that there is nobody in India who would have noticed wrongdoings, if any, in Adani group and SEBI long before any outsider with vested interests did that? Why has nobody in India collected “evidence”, if there were any, and gone to the authorities? India does have a robust and open system to pursue such matters. If data can be accessed by Hindenburg, data can be accessed by Indians too. Why do we wait for a nondescript, dubious (self-proclaimed short sellers) foreign company to raise “issues”? And then, as if on cue, a section of the media and the opposition go hammer and tongs at the ibid group and the system.
Why are these “keepers” of conscience reactive to foreign media and not being proactive to cleanse the nation with their own capabilities? Are we to assume that the Indian opposition and purists are incapable of monitoring activities within the country? Are we to assume they can only talk and not shoot? Are they cowards or are we to wrongly believe they do not have the capacity to pursue such matters in-house? After all Adani is not a group that has sprung up overnight like spring mushrooms.
Can we see a totally Indian initiative to bring down the Adanis and such “erring” companies, if they really are in the wrong?. Else, the intent of the detractors will always, definitely be suspicious and questionable. Adani is a decades old group spanning many governments. So, now it will seem all these shenanigans are for talk (noise) and not for pulling any trigger.
Unfortunate. Luckily for the Indian economy investors and the markets have seen through the game.
It is time for all including the OPPOSITION to concentrate on development and progress and call for discussions on reforms like land, labor, farm, judiciary, economy etc… rather than lead the electorate up the garden path – just for power and political gains.
India dominated the game of hockey in the decades of 40, 50 and 60. Then in the 70s came Astro turf which left India struggling. Not for lack of skills or speed but for want of money. India did not have enough “wealth” to provide for Astro turf across the country, so essential for practice, tournaments at district level and universities to nurture budding players. It took the nation more than four decades to again consistently compete at the top level in field hockey.
Wealth creation is an essential process of nation building to ensure development and progress, especially for very big nations like India. Only capitalism and a market economy can create wealth. It is the people (like billionaire Jack Ma etc. even in “communist” China) who have to do it. In the process some will become very rich. Governments can only make right policies, if only we the people and the opposition let them do it. Wealth can’t be “distributed” without first creating it. Neither can a nation create jobs without investments. Just like development without jobs is bad, jobs without development are also bad.
Tailpiece: The political chaos in BD, ostensibly engineered from outside the county, has thrown the economy, among the fastest growing in the world (with a per capita GDP comparable with that of India), of the Nation in chaos. India, though a big nation, has reasons to be vary.
(The author is an Indian Army veteran and a contemporary affairs commentator. The views are personal. He can be reached at kl.viswanathan@gmail.com)