Rahul Bajaj: An old Congress supporter, and old Modi hater and a supremely arrogant person

A memento of license-Raj and the Principal Stooge of the Congress among the industrialists, Rahul Bajaj is at it again and the irony is everyone saw through his antics except his own deceptive mind. The industrialist’s empire known for being in cahoots with the Congress for decades has gone as far as to brag that he got his own name ‘Rahul’ from Jawaharlal Nehru, and then claiming that he was born ‘anti-establishment’.

Sparking off a controversy, Bajaj has recently questioned the Home Minister Amit Shah at a function about Bajaj’s his own brainchild ‘the Hawa of fear’, in the same question he claimed his name was given by Nehru. Bajaj asked about Amit Shah’s stance on Sadhvi Pragya, talked about ‘intolerance ki hawa’ and lynching. 

Debunking all the ghosts of Congress stooge’s mind, Home Minister Amit Shah taught him about the famous wit of his saying, “About fear I can say that nobody needs to be afraid. A lot of newspapers have written a lot of things about Narendra Modi ji and our government. They are still writing. If someone has been written about (and criticised) the most, that’s us.” 

While claiming his anti-regime nature, Rahul Bajaj forgotten that he has been a vocal devotee of Rahul Gandhi’s ‘compassion’ and ‘body language’. Rahul Bajaj appears to be in awe of the intellectual enigma that is Rahul Gandhi and was impressed that the leader had spoken of Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi.

Till as long as the economy was liberalised by former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, Bajaj scooters enjoyed a monopoly in the market, wherein it crushed its competitors and remained relevant even while shoving substandard products down the Indian people’s throat. ‘Humara Bajaj’ became that invincible Soviet-esque brand, which behind the scenes remained a beneficiary of intense crony capitalism.

It has to be mentioned in order to understand the benefits of being in cahoots with the Congress that during UPA rule, Bajaj got the INS Vikrant which played a major role in the 1971 Indo-Pak war at a throw-away price. This iconic vessel was used by the Bajaj’s company for a motorbike model launched by it. 

Notably, Rahul Bajaj has always been a hater of PM Narendra Modi to the core and is a living beneficiary of the license–quota raj, which was a creation of Congress along with the rest of the left-establishment. In February 2003, the Confederation of Indian Industry, CII held a session at New Delhi for its members to interact with Modi. On the stage with Modi was Rahul Bajaj along with other people including Tarun Das (then director-general of CII).

The businessman was unrelenting on Modi, a CII functionary who was closely involved with the event says the speakers chosen for the day (read Bajaj) were men who could not have been controlled. Almost a 100 CII members from Gujarat threatened to quit over this incident. A handful of Gujarat businessmen even set up a rival organisation called the Resurgent Group of Gujarat. And in Delhi, CII saw its access to the then BJP government curtailed. This was blunting CII’s edge in its core business of lobbying. When Das approached Arun Jaitley, then law minister, he agreed to broker peace – but CII would have to formally apologise. The letter was sent.

Therefore, there appears to be little merit in the rhetoric passed by Rahul Bajaj who formerly remained hand in glove with the UPA, and traditionally an arrogant hater of PM Modi. Bajaj Auto’s profits have soared in the last five years, therefore, complaining about an atmosphere of fear makes little sense unless the industrialist wants to arm-twist the government into having his way with more incentives.