Sharad Pawar’s recent statement supporting Gautam Adani was widely reported. Most of the reporting, both from pro and anti-Congress media has been focused on its politics. Whether Rahul Gandhi will be damaged by this or if Pawar has overplayed his hand. While that is no doubt an interesting topic my focus is on the economics of it.
Put briefly, it is a rare politician in India that stands up for a businessman. It is time to salute Pawar for his courage. Let me elaborate.
Let us first go back to a time when the destructive socialist policies of Nehru and much worse damage under Indira Gandhi had powerful but futile challengers from the economic right – not the Hindu right. Today that species is extinct. We had leaders like Rajaji and Minoo Masani who dared to speak their minds. Even Morarji Desai could be called a free market, a pro-business leader if you ignore his choice of drinks. Unlike today when a bizarre consensus across the political spectrum prevails over what can be loosely termed “socialism” with zero attempts to challenge it or sell the public on true economic freedom. Yes, Modiji makes occasional noise but this has been one of my biggest disappointments with the BJP. More on that later.
It is this consensus or “state religion” that no one in politics dares to blaspheme for fear of political death that Pawar has effectively challenged. In the evening of his political career, he has done us Indians a huge favour. We must pick up that thread and carry on.
Let us go back again in time and see how and why this religion became India’s state faith and who its high priests and Ayatollahs are.
I can split this era into two distinct phases – the “innocent idiocy” phase and the “destructive madness” phase.
One can excuse Pandit Nehru for following essentially anti-free market policies. Of course, you could call it throwing the baby out with the bathwater. As we rejected colonialism and imperialism, we could have kept what made them powerful in the first place – market economics. (I know these terms are much abused and can be challenged but let us ignore that in the interest of the main argument).
But one can’t attribute motives to Nehruji – at least not negative motives. He was plain wrong. We can say that with benefit of hindsight. We paid a terrible price. India slipped away into sub-Saharan levels of deprivation even as our regional rivals like Korea, and Indonesia marched on and ahead. The entire generation grew up on rations, shortages, queues, and waitlists while a lucky few escaped to the West. Lee Kuan Yew was one visionary that had huge regrets about this – he saw India and Sri Lanka (yes!) as countries holding lessons for Singapore. He lived to see that dream sour and he himself became a bitter critic.
Then came the much more poisonous destructive phase. One cannot assign even 0.01% of the “innocent idiocy” label to this phase. It was malice pure and unadulterated. That was the post-Indira Gandhi phase.
Socialism then became a façade – a convenient screen behind which dynastic nepotism, elitist control, anti-Hindu hate, fascist intolerance towards dissent and increasingly blatant and open corruption reigned supreme. Socialist dogma became the state religion, anyone talking about anything else was demonised as a “CIA agent” or class enemy.
Who were the high priests of this faith? Leftist peddlers of Stalinist rapist savage mass butcher ideologies of course. That most of them were well-heeled elites from upper castes is a topic of yet another discussion and we skip that for now. There were other “labarthis” no doubt – corrupt control freak babus that loved the intoxicating power over our lives as well as rent-seeking chances and entrenched lalas making obsolete and bad quality products that feared competition. Both loved socialism. Though the lalas usually wanted a free market for everything except their own business. Even the press that argued for “freedom” didn’t want overseas media to enter here. How to sell it? Well, socialism!
It was a cabal that scratched each others’ backs but shafted us left and right. But it was the left that played the most destructive role despite lack of political mandate.
Why?
I have said this before. For the left, beholden to the despot in Beijing (Moscow went out of business along the way), an India that develops without first signing up as a serf of China was a strict no-no. Plus it needed a pliant regime at the Center to pursue its PolPotist pogrom on the Hindu faith which was a big stumbling block to grabbing political power directly.
Having slowly given up on getting this power directly in its hands, the next best option was sought – that of enabling the Congress regime in exchange for state patronage as well as funding of its agendas and its vast ecosystem of academics, intellectuals and media agents. The NGOs and new sources of revenue like Soros or Ford came much later. Everything from history to academics and science was happily surrendered by the family to the left in exchange for copious praise of the Nehru family, silence on corruption, omerta on draconian laws that eroded freedom and vicious attacks on anyone that took it on.
And iron clad commitment to “socialism” of course.
A few Nani Palkhivala types were barking at the moon, but the show went on. The consensus solidified over time so when ABV came to power with an unwieldy coalition, it was just tweaking on the fringes. When Modi came with a thumping majority in 2014 there were high hopes of change but one little remark about “suit-boot” put paid to it. Such was the power of the consensus.
Coming back to Pawar and his statement, that was the all-powerful religion he is blaspheming. Maybe he doesn’t care, maybe he thinks he can survive this. Maybe he is wrong. But let us just hope there are more of them.
We need politicians that will tell the farmers, workers and the general public the simple truth – the only way we are going to add jobs is by investment and the only way to get investment is to respect those that provide jobs. And for the state to help but not hinder. Our history books must teach how Infosys or Tatas came up and offer examples from overseas like Tesla or Samsung. Not turning anyone that is successful into class enemies.
Today Congress and JDS, both dynastic parties are campaigning against Amul in Karnataka! That’s when Nandini milk is being sold in many cities outside of KA. I would love to see BJP taking on this sort of divide and rule venom forcefully and convince the dairy farmers about the benefits of open economy and not succumb meekly.
Let us wish for more power to Pawar and more Pawars. Unless we want two or three more generations of depravation.
