May 2019

Jiss ka Raja vyapari, uss ki Praja bhikari—it’s an old Indian saying. This is valid even now though monarchies have been replaced by democracies. There are no kings, emperors and aristocracy today; their places have been taken over by Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers, MPs, MLAs, corporators and sarpanchs. The former Prime Minister of India, Chandrashekhar, used to say, “Politicians should not have any businesses and businessmen should not have any political affiliations, both can’t go together.”

Shockingly for India, a sizeable proportion of the elected representatives, i.e. those who stand for the people, are either businesspersons, or represent the miniscule wealthy elite. Parliament, assemblies and gram panchayats look like congregations of networked coteries of the rich class.

Within the Executive, many lateral entrants, technocrats, and the so-called professionals tend to represent the interests of various business lobbies, especially the foreign ones. Hence, their actions and decisions are driven by the desire to promote the objectives of external elements, with scant concern for what India, and Indians, need.