From ‘Mohabbat ki Dukan’ to ‘Jhoot ki Dukan’: Shift In Rahul’s Rhetoric

The Gandhi scion’s needless outburst against private sector at a time when a key state like Maharashtra is going to polls can have the effect of shooting oneself in the foot. Won’t such comments create an atmosphere of fear? Can any government, whether it be at Centre or in states, afford to sideline the corporate sector in this era of liberalisation? It also raises doubts if the Congress wants to reverse the policy of liberalisation introduced by the former PM, P V Narasimha Rao, which had changed the face of India. His harping on the left-oriented NGO style of politics, alleging monopoly by certain corporates, may impinge adversely on the prospects of Maha Vikas Aghadi.

As expected, Congress allies like Pawar’s NCP and Uddhav’s Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and INDIA bloc partners elsewhere are growing restive over the potential fallout. Unwittingly, Rahul Gandhi has provided lethal ammo to PM Narendra Modi who is hitting out at his arch foe in a blistering attack, sowing doubts among the electorate about the ‘anti-liberal’ stance of INDIA bloc. Congress governments as well as those of allies, which are keen to woo industrial majors, will be at a loss. When everything seems going well for INDIA bloc, trust Rahul to queer pitch for it

The new ‘scare’ narrative of oligarchy which Rahul came up with in a ‘Fata Fat’ manner saying, “The original East India Company wound up over 150 years ago, but the raw fear it then generated is back. A new breed of monopolists has taken its place, amassing colossal wealth, even as India has become far more unequal and unfair for everybody else. Our institutions no longer belong to our people, they do the bidding of monopolists. Lakhs of businesses have been decimated and India is unable to generate jobs for her youth,” has the potential of causing damage in a ‘Khatakat’ manner to the MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi).

Gandhi said India was silenced by East India Company and it was silenced not by its business prowess, but by its chokehold. “The Company choked India by partnering with, bribing, and threatening more pliant maharajas and nawabs. It controlled our banking, bureaucratic, and information networks. We didn’t lose our freedom to another nation; we lost it to a monopolistic corporation that ran a coercive apparatus,” he said.

Maharashtra is set to go to polls on November 20. It is the financial hub of India. It has a large number of major corporates which are providing jobs to lakhs of people. Won’t such comments create an atmosphere of fear? Can any government, whether it be at Centre or in states, afford to sideline corporate sector in this era of liberalisation? It also raises doubts if the Congress wants to reverse the policy of liberalisation introduced by the former PM, P V Narasimha Rao, which had changed the face of India. He was insulted by the party even after his death. Does it want to go in for reversing all such progressive decisions?

The big question is whether India can afford to go back to the left-oriented NGO style of politics? If Congress-led INDIA bloc comes to power, will it do away with the private sector and take the country forward in a ‘Fata Fat Khatakat manner’?

Rahul Gandhi’s article has rightly drew high criticism both from the members of INDIA bloc and, of course, as expected, by the BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. BJP senior leader Smriti Irani said, “A party running on a family-driven private limited model can’t give moral lessons on East India Company.”

The Gandhi scion had sown such seeds of fear among Dalits, OBCs and other communities during his visits abroad that Modi government will rewrite the constitution which would take away their rights. Now, he talks of decimating job creation, wealth creation and so on.

There is one straight question which Rahul needs to answer. If the Maha Agadhi comes to power in Maharashtra, will it stop all national highway projects and other projects that have been taken up in PPP model?

We have many examples where projects taken up under public-private partnership (PPP) mode have become a role model for taking up massive infrastructure and developmental projects in the country. Under this model, a formal contractual relationship between the Government of India and the private sector helps in bringing the best of talent on board and the projects get completed within the scheduled time. It also avoids legal barriers.

For example, Tata played a phenomenal role in Tata Hydroelectric Power Supply Company in the mid-90s, which helped supply power to several households in Maharashtra. The investments of the private sector in power projects have made ease of business possible and helped the Central and the State governments attract investments.

This outburst of Rahul Gandhi against the private sector has badly hurt the Maha Vikas Aghadi. Many in the bloc INDIA also fear that Rahul had indulged in another self-goal which could adversely affect the poll prospects of the INDIA bloc. They felt the timing was wrong. This feeling is shared even by those who are pro-corporate within the Congress party. They say we have seen how fear mongering politics created by Kamala Haris in US elections had led to her defeat. The comments made by Rahul Gandhi despite his clarification that came 24hours later cannot wipe out the feeling that the Congress is anti-corporate and would ruin private sector.

Notwithstanding the several negative points of the economic model of BJP-led NDA government, the data indicates that in the ease of doing business, India ranked at 142 on global index in 2014. By 2020, it had come to 63rd rank. There were 350 startups in 2014 but by 2024 they went up to 1,17,254. Even patent applications had gone up considerably.

Rahul’s main criticism of the Modi regime was that it had failed to create jobs as promised. Fine, but with his left-oriented NGO model can they create employment opportunities? It is said that MVA allies like the NCP (SP) and the Shiv Sena (UBT) are unhappy with Rahul Gandhi’s comments as it has sent out a message that they were against the corporate sector. They believe that development and infrastructure facilities in states can only come if there is more private sector investment. There is palpable nervousness among them as they feel that it could damage the prospects of the alliance in Maharashtra, which they cannot afford at this point of time when the battle appeared to be a tough one and MVA having good chances of coming to power.

It may be mentioned here that in Maharashtra, parties like Sharad Pawar-led NCP and Shiv Sena have no problem with the private sector. It certainly cannot be alienated as they form an important vote bank and extend financial support. Such comments can also create problems for states like Telangana and Himachal Pradesh which are trying to woo private sector majors including Adani group.

Though Rahul clarified, saying, “I am pro-Jobs, pro-Business, pro-innovation, pro-competition. I am anti-monopoly. Our economy will thrive when there is free and fair space for all businesses,” the alliance partners feel that the damage has been done and seeds of doubt have been sown. Now, the private sector would think twice before investing in the Congress-ruled states, they feel. Such campaign in 2019 had boomeranged.

This has given a powerful tool to the BJP to attack the Congress party and that is too very close to the date of polling. Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a public meeting in Nashik on Friday said that Congress believed more in slogans and scare politics and divisive politics. He said Indira Gandhi gave the slogan of ‘Garibi Hatao’ which helped her come back to power. But the Congress government failed in removing poverty. On the other hand, it increased to manifold. The BJP-led NDA, he said, had brought 35 crore people out of poverty.

Modi further said that Congress is pushing the Pak agenda and hence wants to restore the Article 370 in J&K: “They don’t want the people of J&K to get constitutional rights. They were against the Atal Setu project and Metro project in Mumbai.” Going hammer and tongs against Congress, Modi said if the MVA comes to power they will take away the rights of tribals. The Congress which talks of ‘Mohabbat ki Dukan’ has now opened a ‘Jhoot ki Dukan’, he said.

The MVA, bloc INDIA and Congress have an uphill task and will have to adopt some ‘Fatafat Khatakhat’ methods to undo the damage that Rahul’s outburst could cause to the poll prospects of the MVA.