Modi, Dr. Swamy working together – The need of the hour
The re-election of Modi for the third term appears to be almost a certainty, barring unforeseeable situations developing before 2024.
The opposition parties, neither individually nor collectively, appear to be in a position to challenge Modi in the 2024 elections. Given that almost all of the opposition parties are proprietary businesses with neither the right intentions nor any meaningful alternative policies, they don’t deserve a chance.
But this is not to say all is well with the Indian economy. There are two points of view about how well the Indian economy is doing vis a vis the rest of the world. The opposition parties say we’re on the brink of collapse. Dr. Subramainan Swamy endorses this view and calls for urgent action. The government and its supporters strongly disagree and say the entire world economy is in bad shape and if anything, we’re only better off.
Regardless of how the global economy is doing, everyone agrees that we have a major challenge at hand as we have a huge population, our poor continue to be poor, unemployment is very high and we’re nowhere near the double-digit GDP growth we were looking forward to when Modi came to power. The government may have given free rations and managed Covid better, but these are no solace as we’re likely to remain a low-income economy in the foreseeable future.
The major unfulfilled promise of the Modi government has been its inability to bring the corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, and businesspersons to book, and recover money looted by them, kept in cash and kind, in India and abroad. If just this one measure were executed even partially, all other failures would have paled into insignificance, because this would have funded India’s growth big time, even to double digits. We would have been within striking distance of ‘achche din’.
I had, in an article on PGurus (3 years back) titled, “Mother of all Reforms: Will PM Modi Do It?”, explained how the cost of corruption is not the money involved in corruption but it is orders of magnitude higher, and so if corruption were reduced, GDP growth could be easily into double figures[1]. If the black money issue, of the past and the present, were tackled, almost all ills of Indian politics would be automatically resolved. ED’s recent actions against a few individuals are good but are grossly inadequate to justify 8 years of rule.
Dr. Swamy gave some major, suggestions to the PM personally (and also put them in the public domain) on how to bring the corrupt to book and retrieve black money from abroad and from within India, apart from preventing the creation of fresh black money.
A couple of his major suggestions were the abolition of P-Notes and taking recourse to the UN Convention on Corruption to instruct the tax havens to cooperate and help the Indian government recover black money kept abroad by Indians directly and indirectly. Modi would have stood very tall among the world leaders, if only he had implemented them.
These suggestions have not been implemented, nor has the government taken any other significant steps in this direction. The government is unable to act due to political compulsions, which have only protected the corrupt politicians, bureaucracy, and industry.
Whatever the reason may be, it is not in the best interest of the nation to allow this dragging of feet to continue. These reasons may have been alright during the first few years in office, but now. It’s time for the PM to act on black money stashed abroad and in India. This single step will solve most of India’s economic problems.
A lot of time has lapsed and so, the results of stringent actions today may not be as good as they would have been some years back, but even now it’s not too late. The nation needs checks and balances on the Modi government too, despite this government being the best of the available alternatives. Right now, Dr. Swamy is acting as an honest opposition from within BJP.
Thiruvalluvar, in Thirukkural No: 784, says: “Friendship is not for fun, laughter, and camaraderie but for giving sharp rebuke when the friend goes wrong.”
(நகுதற் பொருட்டன்று நட்டல் மிகுதிக்கண்
மேற்செனறு இடித்தற் பொருட்டு)
I’m limiting my comments about Dr. Swamy in this article to just his suggestions about how to crack down on black money, in India and abroad. His suggestions and views on other issues are for another article another day.
Modi Ji should find a way to work with Dr. Swamy in the national interest, at least on the issue of bringing back black money, from abroad and India, into the government coffers. This will be the silver bullet that will help the government tackle India’s economic situation, and help take it ahead of the rest of the world including China. I hope Dr. Swamy will also understand the constraints of the PM, and be willing to tweak his strategies and tactics in keeping with practical considerations, without compromising on the goal of the crackdown on black money. Modi Ji and Dr. Swamy working together is the need of the hour, on the eve of India 75.
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
Reference:
[1] Mother Of All Reforms: Will PM Modi Do It? – Jul 09, 2019, PGurus.com
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Only and only if they can work together, that will for sure stimulate Indian growth to another order of magnitude as suggested by the author. But, can Swamy work together?