Adani row: Yet another case of history repeating itself
For the past 66 years, we have witnessed some farce being repeated in politics. The debate over Adani Group and its political relations is nothing more than an episode in this never-ending series of farces
History repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second as farce. This historic statement by Karl Marx has been agitating my mind lately. The reason? For the past 66 years, we have witnessed some or other farce being repeated in Indian politics. The continuous debate over the Adani Group, an industrial giant of the country and the world, and its political relations is nothing more than an episode in this never-ending series of farces.
To explain my point, I will take you to 1957. That year, Feroze Gandhi, none other than the son-in-law of India’s first Prime Minister (PM) Jawaharlal Nehru made allegations in the Lok Sabha that then finance minister TT Krishnamachari and finance secretary HM Patel were pressuring Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to invest more than ₹1.5 crore in companies managed by stock market punter Haridas Mundhra. Nehru set up a committee to probe the allegations, led by former chief justice MC Chagla. Chagla heard the case and submitted a report in under 24 days. After the report, on February 18, 1958, Krishnamachari was compelled to step down. Mundhra was eventually arrested and sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Six-and-a-half decades since, we are seeing almost identical allegations being made against LIC. LIC did not drown then, and it will not drown now, but its trust has been violated again. It’s the never-ending tragic story of Indian politics.
This is because every PM — from Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi — has faced similar accusations. On October 3, 1977, Indira Gandhi was arrested in Delhi. She was accused of pressuring two companies to purchase 104 jeeps for election campaigning. The second charge was that she abused her position to award a major oil drilling contract to a French company, ignoring lower rival bids. The following day, she was brought before the magistrate, but the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was unable to present adequate proof. As a result, she had to be released after only 16 hours.
Rajiv Gandhi, Indira’s son, was also targeted. On March 24, 1986, the Government of India and the Swedish armaments company AB Bofors signed a ₹1,437 crore contract for the sale of 400 155mm howitzers. According to Swedish Radio on April 16, 1987, bribes were made to defence department personnel and some senior politicians in that arrangement. On April 20, Rajiv Gandhi stated in Parliament that there was no role for a middleman and that no brokerage was given, yet the scandal continued. Fed up, the government set up a joint parliamentary committee in August 1987. Despite the dissenting view of a member, the committee gave a favourable report to the government. The CBI probe, on the other hand, took a long time. The bribery accusations against Rajiv Gandhi and defence secretary SK Bhatnagar were eventually dismissed by the Delhi high court on February 5, 2004. The Swedish police also stated in April 2012 that no evidence was found against Rajiv Gandhi and former Member of Parliament Amitabh Bachchan.
Narasimha Rao, who took over after Rajiv Gandhi, was accused of personal corruption and had to wage a lengthy legal struggle post tenure. The so-called coffin scam occurred during the tenure of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. During Manmohan Singh’s tenure, his cabinet colleagues had to go to jail.
Let us now look at the current controversy. Politics took a turn in the third week of January after a report by the American short-seller Hindenburg Research against the Adani Group of companies. In the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi raised several pointed questions on the alleged link between Adani and the Modi government. It is a different matter that significant parts of the lengthy speech have been expunged from record as the charges were unsubstantiated.
Clearly, Rahul is attempting to corner PM Modi in this matter. He has done this earlier, too. He raised the allegation of corruption in the Rafale deal before the last general elections. He raised slogans such as “chowkidar chor hai” at his rallies. He got no benefit from this. The Bharatiya Janata Party demonstrated at the election that people’s trust in Modi has not waned, but rather strengthened for a second term. Now, ahead of the upcoming general elections, the leaders of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) will try to beat this drum as loudly as possible. Will they succeed this time?
Modi appears unaffected, much like a batsman who can play the most difficult of balls with ease. That is why he made no mention of these charges in his speeches in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. He strongly believes he has won the trust of the country’s 140 crore people. If the Opposition, armed with allegations of corruption against Modi, fails to attain success as expected this time around, Marx’s statement will be seen to be fulfilled once more.
Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief, Hindustan
The views expressed are personal