PM Modi attacked the Congress party on the hypocrisy of ‘meeting and greeting corporates in private but avoiding them in public’ while speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of 81 projects worth Rs 60,000 crore in Lucknow, he said, “We are not scared of meeting industrialists because our intent is honest”. He further said, “Politicians in power in the past would loathe being seen with industrialists in public, but had no qualm about striking deals behind closed doors”. Asserting that industrialists “play an important part in developing the country”, PM Modi also added, “Why should we shame them, call them thieves?” Referring to how Mahatma Gandhi was frequently hosted by industrialist Ghanshyam Das Birla, PM Modi said, “If your intent is good and clean, you can stand with anyone and no taint will attach to you”.
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The politicians of Congress party always followed ‘stigmatized capitalist’. They never accepted capitalism as an economic ideology of the state because the party was carrying the baggage of ‘Nehruvian Socialism’ which was a mix of socialism and capitalism, although heavily skewed in favor of socialism. The 1991 economic reforms by Narasimha Rao- Manmohan Singh duo reaped huge benefits for the country in terms of poverty alleviation and economic growth. But the Congress party and especially the scions of Nehru-Gandhi family never accepted that the Congress party has moved away from socialism to capitalism. Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi are both known to be socialist in their economic outlook.
The hesitation of the Congress party to accept capitalism as economic ideology forced the party to embrace crony capitalism. The industrial deals were being made behind closed doors and bidding was open to few selected people who were supporters of Congress party. The Nehru-Gandhi family did not like to be seen with industrialists in public although they were more than happy to meet them in Delhi circles. This double standard has harmed the country in many ways as the big contracts were given on the basis of whether the industrialist are close to the Gandhi family or some other Congress leaders.
The Modi government is trying for a rule-based capitalist economy where personal contacts with leaders will play no role as long as an industrialist is the highest bidder for the contract. PM Modi himself meets the industrialists and asks for their problems and how the industrial activities could be increased in the country. Embracing industrialist is important because they have the most important role to play in the economic growth of the country. The government or the leaders should not demonize the industrialists because they are important pillars of the economy. If something is wrong in interaction with the industrialist, it is the closed-door meetings to make deals as the Congress party leaders used to do and which resulted in many scams like Coalgate, CWG, Adarsh, 2G spectrum. Rahul Gandhi demonizes the industrialists in public and his state leaders in Karnataka and Punjab welcome them with a red carpet to make investments in the state.
