Thanks to the people of Gujarat, ‘Pappu’ has finally arrived on the Indian political scene. For the sake of India’s democracy it was vital that some kind of opposition is in place and the people of Gujarat have given him that impetus to carryon his work moving forward. If ‘Pappu’ is really interested in crossing the finishing line in future elections, he will have to get rid of the enormous ‘Paap’ that exists in his party. A great election strategy even if thoroughly executed might take them close to the finishing line, but to win he will need to get rid of the corrupt ‘Paapi’ people that exist in his party, not forgetting to report to the authorities those that have used his party to carry out their corrupt deeds.
Why do we have to go back to Party C? Well, India unfortunately is still not prepared for party A type of politics, where politicians were ready to keep the citizens on a high pedestal. For that to materialize a solid mindset change is needed among us and that seems at least one generation away. Till then we will have to make do with party B and C type of politics, where the citizens voluntarily consider themselves diminutive mentally and physically in front of politicians.
If Party B has piped the post in recent elections despite their bungling of the Goods and Services Tax implementation, then Party C must realise that the difference between winning and losing has something to do with the corruption tag that is glued to them. The faster they lose the tag, the brighter their chances of making a comeback. By the way, losing the tag does not mean just sacking the member from the party, and leave him to enjoy his crooked wealth on the sly. At the moment Party B is in the winning mode because they have managed to create a perception even if it is conjured, that they are the only ones going after corruption. If Party C gets into the act of cleaning up its own party, then probably they have a chance to start with a clean slate, thereby managing to neutralize the only selling point of Party B.
By now everybody knows Party B solution towards corruption, especially in Goa, is to go after people selectively, with more focus on putting the culprits behind bars. They then leave them free on some technicality, allowing them to patronise at their favorite bars, with absolutely no focus on going after the money. The behind bars to alcohol bar journey is then used to blackmail the culprit or make him a useless opposition member unable to open his mouth for fear of authorities going after him. This cat and mouse game serves no purpose, as the culprit elected cannot serve his constituency but does manage to enjoy the ill gotten wealth, robbed from the people that contributed the money in the form of direct and indirect taxes.
Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index rates India, China and Saudi Arabia at the same level with 46 points out of possible 100. While the cat and mouse games on corruption in India is not going to improve its rating any time soon, Saudi on the other hand has taken drastic out of the box steps. The apparent heir Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has undertaken such a massive housecleaning act, by taking the first step of detaining the rich and the influential, not into some miserable jails, but in the palatial Ritz Carlton. They are then produced with evidence of their corrupt deeds and a choice given to them to either face a lengthy trial or surrender the ill-gotten wealth and walk free, in this case from the Ritz Carlton.
The Saudi authorities estimate that about USD 100 billion has been siphoned off overtime through corrupt deeds and hope to receive as much or even more by way of settlements. Most of them detained are not small fries by any stretch of imagination and includes Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, whose net worth is about USD 17 billion with stakes in companies such as Twitter and Citigroup. It shows the authorities resolve not to get intimated by famous personalities but to go in a business like fashion, after the money. Saudi is not a proud democracy as we claim ours is, and yet after this entire exercise is done and dusted, they would have achieved their goals and more than made up the shortfall in their revenues due to depressed oil prices. Comparatively politicians in India would be just making noise and using opposition corrupt deeds to keep them in office with absolutely no economic benefit to the country or its citizens.
The entire Saudi crackdown is not without its share of hurdles, especially after reports started coming in, which could be completely untrue, that the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had reportedly bought the world’s most expensive painting, Leonardo da Vinci’s Savatore de Mundi, (only to be clarified later that it was bought by Louvre Abu Dhabi), the world’s most expensive house a chateau in France, and a massive yacht. Yet there has been hardly any impact on the ongoing process, because the focus remains on going after the money, nothing less.
Saudi has its priorities sorted, they first go after the corrupt, make them pay up and just this week for the first time introduced the Value Added Tax, which will affect the entire population and nobody will mind because it is in the interest of the nation. Whereas in India through demonetisation and GST, our priority has been to hassle the commoners while the corrupt get away. Goa is no exception, till date not a single penny made through corruption has come back to the government treasury, only our share has increased of paying the government to keep up with their lousy finances.
‘Pappu’ has a window of opportunity if he gets the country’s priorities correct while simultaneously clean his party of corrupt elements from within, that would shake the current administration to a huge extent. Here’s is another advise; India is a young country, to win the young vote he should not take offense if people call him ‘Pappu’, instead encourage it and be part of the joke, it will remind Indian voters that freedom of speech exists in the country and will be protected at all costs, more importantly it will put competitive pressure on his opposite number.
(The author is a business consultant).
