by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
The Lalit Modi fiasco has in the last few weeks brought into question some notions about NDA government that were taken as given. First, its executives, be at the Centre or the outposts, are persons of integrity unlike what could be said about their UPA predecessors. Second, BJP, the core party of the NDA, has come out of its misplaced mould and has put an impressive array of women leaders in important positions; in other words, women of integrity and quality have come forward to neutralise its long-derided gender skew. Sadly, all these presumptions about the ‘Modi sarkar’ have been turned on its head by an avalanche of revelations about all Modi’s men, or women, rather.
But what is of significance is the silence of the ‘man of iron’ inside Prime Minister Narendra Modi on probity in public life. Why he is maintaining stony silence and paying a heavy political cost; at least for now and even risking the Monsoon session of Parliament in the process ?
It began with the leak of a controversial nexus between Lalit Modi, the founder of IPL cricket who is now in self-exile, and Sushma Swaraj, Minister for External Affairs. But the storm is acquiring hurricane proportions. Swaraj’s clandestine advocacy with British politician Keith Vaz in favour of Lalit has the touch of a Bismarck who has gone delinquent. Lalit Modi, who is holed up in the UK following cases in India concerning foreign exchange fiddle, sought visa relaxation from the British authorities because, as he claimed, he is a political sufferer and his wife had been diagnosed with cancer and had to be operated in a hospital in Portugal. Significantly, the Government of India’s attitude to Lalit Modi did not change after the May 2014 elections and he remained a fugitive. Yet, the External Affairs Minister led Lalit Modi to move to a safer haven. Swaraj could well have serious personal interest in Lalit Modi’s case, with both her husband and their bar-at-law daughter being his legal counsel.
At any rate, it is a grim testimony to the poor level of internal cohesion of the Modi government, with senior ministers working at cross purposes with each other.
Regardless of the fate of the troublesome trio, the silence of Modi needs deeper interpretation.The sackings would have been easier option for Modi. But he took the hit which badly dented his image and even created an impression that he may not be the master and commandeered by Nagpur.
No less daring was the conduct of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia, who had backed Lalit Modi’s claim that he’s faced “political persecution” in India and therefore needed asylum in Britain. Since he did not appear in person in a London court, her paper had no legal validity as per the British law. Several friends of Modi including an IPS officer and a noted journalist repaid the debt they owed to him. But it was clear that Lalit Modi and Raje had fallen out in early 2013 and were not friends any longer. In fact it is Lalit who divulged the information about Raje, at a time when she was least ready for such a blast from the past. But things for her got a lot murkier with the revelation that there could be a substantial quid pro quo for her “good word”. It soon became known that Lalit Modi had invested in her MP son Dushyant Singh’s hotelier company by buying its shares at an astounding premium—96,000 rupees for each ten-rupee share.
What is common between Swaraj and Raje, other than their past or present association with Lalit Modi, is that both are disliked by Prime Minister Modi. In the months till BJP announcing Modi as its PM candidate for the 2014 general election, Swaraj was the ‘alternative’ face being propped up by L. K. Advani for the PM’s post. Modi made no secret of his dislike for Swaraj, whom he hardly consulted as he shuttled across the globe and framed a new foreign policy. Vasundhara Raje, on the other hand, was always law unto herself, riding the wave of respect her Scindia title commanded in a state still steeped in feudal values.
How forcibly can Prime Minister Modi respond to the delinquencies of these two women? As far as Swaraj is concerned, if Modi had his way, she would not have obtained a cabinet berth, least of all getting the coveted External Affairs ministry. And now it is evident that she was pulling strings with foreign governments for purposes that were entirely self-serving—sitting in an office just one floor below that of the PM. When MEA lost the case on impounding Lalit Modi’s passport, she did not go in appeal nor did she bring it to the notice of Jaitley, whose ministry has the FEMA cases on its hand and wants the exile back to question him. Why Modi spared Sushma Swaraj when it was so easy for him to get rid of her? He could have thrown Raje out as well. But she got the much needed reprieve as well.
Smriti Irani who got appointed as HRD minister raising many an eyebrows in May 2014, is now facing an allegation admitted in court that she had diddled with her qualifications while filing her nominations for the Lok Sabha in 2004 and Rajya Sabha in 2011 and 2014. Was it a wise move to first put her in charge of a ministry that appoints university vice chancellors and retain her after the expose? Regardless of the fate of the troublesome trio, the silence of Modi needs deeper interpretation.
The sackings would have been easier option for Modi. But he took the hit which badly dented his image and even created an impression that he may not be the master and commandeered by Nagpur. As a matter of fact, Modi took just four hours to give the reprieve when BJP president Amit Shah issued a statement saying Sushma Swaraj had done no wrong. In the case of Raje, no categorical clean chit has been given to her. But she has survived indeed. Modi has taken the hit as he doesn’t want to be seen to be surrendering to the media pressure. He successfully withstood it in Gujrat for 12 long years. Therefore, he alone will decide on issues of morality, integrity, conflict of interest, probity in public life and misconduct. Not the 24X7 TV channels. Its Gujrat model being replicated in Delhi. Modi is confident that such issues won’t matter when people go for Lok Sabha polls in 2019.
