Time to bury the BJP
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I met up with an old friend who is one of the myriad spokespersons the BJP has, and asked him what the party’s view was on the fight between the Ambani brothers. Why should we have a view, he said, it is a dispute over who gets the spoils, how do we come in? Well, for one, I pointed out, it would make a welcome change from the party’s stance of dealing with issues that aren’t exactly contemporary – Bofors is over 23 years ago, and the Jinnah controversy older than even the Partition! A look at the country’s demographics should make it pretty obvious the number of people born after Partition is so large, Jinnah has less than zero recall value. As for Bofors, how long are you going to flog it? But more important, look at the amounts involved and the people – it makes Bofors look like child’s play. There are allegations of favouritism, of a huge impact on the exchequer and, more important, a fight between a public sector company and India’s richest man – where the public relations advantage lies is pretty much of a no-brainer. Anil Ambani’s calculations of the profits Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) will make or how miniscule the government’s share will be may be off the mark, but that’s not the point. Forget whether Mukesh Ambani earns more or Anil Ambani earns less and how much this amount is. Concentrate on the fact that RIL won a contract with NTPC to supply it a certain amount of gas and then refused to supply it. The government, instead of forcing RIL to honour its commitment, has bent over backwards to try and scuttle NTPC’s case arguing the deal was never completed and, on another occasion, that RIL did not have the mandate to even participate in the NTPC tender since it had not asked for the government’s prior permission. Just imagine, I asked my friend, the impact of the BJP going to town with this – the public sector company that is responsible for some of the cheapest power in the country is not getting the fuel it needs to supply more; and the reason for this is the government wants to side with the country’s richest man. It has taken Anil Ambani’s public shaming of the government for the latter to even constitute a group to look into the matter and make assurances that it will take action to protect NTPC’s interests – it has been several days already, though, and there is no sign of this action being concretized. Just imagine what an Arun Jaitley, the party’s great new hope, at least according to himself, could do with this. Or consider the stuff about RIL’s capex for the KG Basin. In this case, after Anil Ambani came out with his ads alleging huge padding of costs, the government went into overdrive to debunk these claims – the higher the capex, the less the share of profits that the government gets from the KG Basin gas. The Director General of the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons came out with his defence – he said independent experts had been consulted on the matter and that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had already audited the data. Turns out, thanks to Anil Ambani’s sleuthing, the two independent experts had some links with RIL. And, far more damaging, the CAG said it had never audited the RIL data since it never had access to its balance sheets. It’s possible there’s nothing wrong with RIL’s capex costs, but just imagine what a clever lawyer, leave alone one of the caliber of Arun Jaitley, could do with the obvious gaps in the DGH’s statements on the matter. I think it is a good idea, especially for those who vote BJP, to send in email asking for an invite to the formal burial of the BJP. You can then move on instead of having to wait forever for the comatose party to revive. |
(25 votes, average: 3.04 out of 5)
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October 6th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Burying the BJP is not the solution here.. The blog talks about the current government (Congress) siding up with the rich guys, what about them? who will bury them now..?
I agree BJP should have more current events as points to debate upon, but placing the blame squarely on the opposition party is not the way out!
One thing if we have to bury is corruption (which is much easier said than done), no point in finding a scapegoat for every scam happening!
September 21st, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Hmmm…. still thinking, still thinking (about your proposition, Mr Jain)
September 10th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Ignoring the columnist’s true intention on the writeup, its simply true that malpractices/bribery in business has always been there [be it Bofors, and Relaince alike] and is still prevalent. So although we take lesson from past its important we pay immediate attention at present and Reliance being one such case , playing ping pong with the Govt and a PSU .
- Do we all agree that, too much wealth concentration on one/two hand(s) is never for the best of the nation’s interest ?
- Did anybody feel that the shares of the ‘Reliance Group Companies’ has ever been rightly priced other than its first inception? And who benefited the most and at what price ?
September 9th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Duh? Whaddyajusay?
September 1st, 2009 at 1:06 pm
sunil jain is sunil pain in the ass and has lot of wishful thinking. stupid person with a stupid write up. the congress is the one eating out of ambani’s hands and shitting on the back of the italian mafia. c’mon grow up a. h.
September 1st, 2009 at 11:58 am
Stupid article. If this is the quality of journalism in India, is it any wonder that such is the state of this country. Are the journalists, businessmen, professionals and bureaucrats any better than the politicians? Yes there are exceptions but by and large all of them have failed to provide the leadership required to build a great nation.
August 31st, 2009 at 10:32 am
“Bofors is over 23 years ago, and the Jinnah controversy older than even the Partition! A look at the country’s demographics should make it pretty obvious the number of people born after Partition is so large, Jinnah has less than zero recall value”-comments : How can it be “zero recall value.It may not matter to the so called new generation but certainly we should know the truth and that’s the value.If you generalise, the entire “History can be of zero value”
August 31st, 2009 at 9:18 am
Surprising how the media always targets the BJP. The old issues the congress brings up always like the babri one are never pointed out. the bofors issue should never be closed as it involves a lot of the nations money and security.
August 30th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Indians (BJP Supporters) do not leave the ship when it face crisis in the mid sea. BJP is the second largest party and it has mismanaged itself throughout the 14th Lok Sabha and crumling under the failure of success in the last general election. Leave BJP where is other parties to oppose the single largest party Cong. which is ruling? Post election who had opposed Congress or threatend to do so during election came together with Congress to share the benefits of government.
Do not sink BJP. We will loss faith in Indian’s building political parties without heredity. Do not throw out leaders on filmsy ground hold together all hues of voices because it will be the true refelction of India.
August 30th, 2009 at 9:55 am
It’s clear that business men bribe and compromise both the ruling and opposition parties. Even the press is allowed to bark a little, but not too much.
The CAG has been ignored for years. The Judiciary is keen to preserve its privileges.
Progress happens despite us, not because of us.
August 29th, 2009 at 8:35 am
Psychotic PMO Bareknuckles “The Economist”
“When The Going Gets Tough, The PMO’s Media Advisers Go Nuts”
“James Astill’s Dazed Denial”
Welcome to:
Yet another “conspiracy in corruption”
Andhra Pradesh High Court’s Pernicious Rebellion Against The Law .05/29/09
RTI Act 2005 Abuse In Andhra Pradesh- SIC Cheats! Chief Secretary Lies!05/07/09
Prejudiced CIC Laps Up PMO Lies 05/05/09
Divakar S Natarajan and Varun Gandhi Cannot Both Be Wrong ! 01/28/09
And India’s editorial class will not report the story!
sathyagraha.blogspot.com
Divakar’s Sathyagraha News and views from Divakar S Natarajan’s, “no excuses”, ultra peaceful, non partisan, individual sathyagraha against corruption and for the idea of the rule of law in India.
Now in its 18th year.
Any struggle against a predatory authority is humanity’s struggle to honour the gift of life.
August 28th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
As usual they will have very little to comment on the contemporary issues - because every one knows what they are. They will wait for some one to take a decision and then complain, critisise so on and so forth. If they do not have time, they will forget the issue for 20 years then some one in the party will write a book and rake up the issue - to gain cheap popularity
August 28th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
As usual they will have very little observations on the contemporary issues - because every one knows what they are. They will wait for some one to take a decision and then complain critisise so on and so forth. If they do not have time, they will forget the issue for 20 years then some one in the party will write a book and rake up the issue - to gain cheap popularity
August 28th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
The BJP has nothing to do with it?
Hahahahahahahahahaha
Good sense of humour at least
August 28th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
This assumes that the BJP is a neutral observer. Quite likely that it has been coopted by India’s richest man, before the second richest one could get to them.