He is flamboyance, style, extravaganza all rolled into one. But when he bit more than he could chew, by way of Kingfisher Airlines, it was obvious his downfall had started. Money was gladly poured in by the ever obliging public sector banks, without adequate collateral. Domestic airlines were going in a loss at that time, because of high fuel prices and stagnant economy and the more losses Kingfisher Airlines was incurring, the more loans our obliging banks were dishing out. One thing led to the other and Kingfisher Airlines was grounded. Did the banks try to recover their loans? Only by way of tokenism because the high and mighty are untouchable.
The Emperor had no clothes on but our banks could either not see through all this or they wore blinkers with a reason. Suffice it to say, the bad debts of banks kept piling up and they wanted the government to re-structure their capital. That was the easy way out for them but damaging for the country’s economy. We are told that more than Rs 11 lakh crores have piled up over the years by way of banks’ bad debts. An astronomical figure indeed.
Now comes the acid test for Modi Sarkar, as how to recover this money. They say our laws are lax, not enough teeth, etc.etc. That’s where the government has to step in and take drastic steps by way of introducing new bills to enact stringent laws, bringing out ordinances with retrospective effect and if necessary amending the Constitution to see that these bad debts are recovered. The Heads of public sector banks and other officers responsible for this laxity, should not be spared. The opposition parties will surely cooperate in bringing out new rules, since they were equally responsible for this mess during the UPA regime. Mallya is just one of them, there are bigger fish who, by their close proximity to the high and mighty, are trying to get away.
In the last general elections, Modi had promised to bring back the black money stashed abroad. This dream will never materialize. If something is not done urgently to recover the bad debts, the government in the next general election can promise that it will recover all the bad debts and give each farmer in India Rs.15 laks, so that there are no more farmer suicides. That’s all we can do. Live on promises. Meanwhile the Kings of Good Times will keep enjoying their lives even when they have become The Kings of Bad Times.
