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The myth of an incorruptible Mr. Modi

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The Myth of an Incorruptible Mr Modi - SaafBaat

Despite both circumstantial and directly incriminating evidence of corruption and cronyism, a myth of Incorruptible Mr Modi, of “Na Khaunga aur Na Khaane Doonga” fame, has been built on fake news and suppression of investigations.
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The arrival of a fake messiah

The passage of Right to Information (RTI) act in 2005 by UPA government came back to haunt them badly during the UPA’s second term. NGOs and journalists, still allowed to function rather freely, were able to dig up several cases of corruption. As stories of scams broke out, people of India were naturally disgusted and were eagerly looking for a clean alternative.

This was also the period when US diplomatic cables had been published by Wikileaks and taken the world by storm. Suddenly, a new story spread on Indian social media, which claimed that according to Wikileaks’s founder Julian Assange, “America Fears Narendra Modi, because they know he is incorruptible”.

Lo and behold, a new messiah was born, who captured the imagination of a large number of “frustrated” Indians.

This image was not only peddled by the usual culprits of BJP IT cell on social media, but also by the man himself. Mr Narendra Modi pushed the same claim via his blog on Mar 22 2011.

For nearly three years, this story was spread and sold aggressively to Indians via social media and several sections of mainstream media. But, was there any truth in it?

In March 2014, Wikileaks finally issued a denial. Turns out, our “incorruptible” saint and his bhakts had merely been spreading a lie. Neither Julian Assange, nor US diplomats had made any such remarks in the Wikileaks cables.

wikileaks-clarification-modi.png


So much for the “honesty” of our “incorruptible” saint !

This clarification received far less attention and publicity in our mainstream as well as social media. The fake news had already become a truth believed by hordes who consume a daily dosage of social media hoaxes. This is the general pattern you will see repeated with Mr Modi – a Fake propaganda about achievements is front page news, an expose of the lie is hidden, buried by some other noise generated deliberately, and hence goes unnoticed.

Scams in Gujarat under Modi’s watch
Before we examine the specific cases of Adani and Modi further, let us list some allegations of financial irregularities that happened under Modi regime in Gujarat. Mr Modi tried his best to stop the appointment of Lokayukta and never wanted these allegations to be probed independently.
1.
17 “scams” that Narendra Modi doesn’t want Lok Ayukta to probe | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis. 2011. dna. August 27. [Source]
Over a period of time, many of these allegations lost steam. Modi, the master of Event Management and throwing new jumlas that make people forget his past failures, knew very well that public memory is very short, if managed properly. Notice howNotebandi has simply been forgotten by everyone now, once it became clear it was a massive fiasco?




    • In 2005, Modi announced in his typical “Feku” style, and with a lot of fanfare how GSPC had found gas worth ₹ 220,000 Crores in Krishna Godavari Basin, and that the nation will no longer need to import gas by 2007. 10 years on, and after wasting ₹ 20,000 Crores against expert advice, company was driven to a bankruptcy by Modi’s whims. GSPC misused its funds and allegedly formed join ventures with dodgy front companies with no experience of offshore drilling.
      2.Is ONGC under Pressure to Bail Out Debt-ridden Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation? : GSPC: A Controversial Case Study. 2016. Economic and Political Weekly. July 21.
      3.ONGC to pay over $1.2 billion for GSPC stake buy. 2017. The Economic Times. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...n-for-gspc-stake-buy/articleshow/56167825.cms. Accessed July 23.
    • ₹ 400 Crores fisheries scam. Contract were awarded to favourite parties without inviting tender.
    • Two bidders apparently formed a cartel and bid for supplying supplementary Nutrition Extruded Fortified Blended Food (EFBF) to Anganwadis with Government collusion. Contracts worth ₹500 Crores kept getting awarded to a handful of contractors, particularly Kota Dal Mills and Muruliwala Agrotech. The State continued to do this despite a 2006 Apex court warning to decentralise food production and a 2010 Gujarat High Court order which noted that the contracts were a violation of Supreme Court rulings.
      5.
      Johari, Aarefa. 2017. How some Gujarat schools are defying Supreme Court ruling on mid-day meals. Scroll.in. July 14. [Source]
    • ₹500 crore Sujalam Sufalam Yojana Rice scam. The ₹6237.33 crore Sujalam Sufalam Yojana (SSY) announced in 2003 was to be completed by 2005. Public accounts Committee of Gujarat assembly unanimously prepared a report indicating a scam of over ₹500 crore, which was never tabled. The probe was delayed.
      6.
      Sujalam Sufalam Yojana rice scam: probe moves at snail’s pace. 2009. The Indian Express. June 4. [Source]
Multiple scams with land deals:




    • 16,000 acres was allotted to Adani Group at ₹1-₹32 per sq meter whereas the average market price was ₹1100 per sq meter, and some even paid ₹6000 per sq meter. This is an undue benefit of ₹6,546 Crores. As an extensively researched article of the Forbes’ magazine said:
      11.
      Bahree, Megha. 2014. Doing Big Business In Modi’s Gujarat. Forbes. March 12. [Source]
“Adani has, over the years, leased 7,350 hectares–much of which he got from 2005 onward–from the government in an area called Mundra in the Gulf of Kutch in Gujarat. FORBES ASIA has copies of the agreements that show he got the 30-year, renewable leases for as little as one U.S. cent a square meter (the rate maxed out at 45 cents a square meter). He in turn has sublet this land to other companies, including state-owned Indian Oil Co., for as much as $11 a square meter.”




    • Modi and his propaganda claim that a single SMS message of “Suswagatam” from Mr Modi to Mr Ratan Tata convinced the Tatas to switch to Gujarat. Of course, no prudent businessman will be such a fool. The truth is, when Tatas were looking for an alternative location for Nano car plant, Modi bent over backwards to lure them. 1100 acres were given to TATA at ₹900 per sq meter whereas market price was much higher (note how this compares to other land deals). Tata Motors were also given a “Loan” of ₹456 Crores towards setting up the plant in Gujarat. Some estimates suggest a total subsidy of ₹33,000 Croreswas given by the Gujarat Government to Tata Motors!
      12.
      Free Lunches: Gujarati Thalis. 2017. https://www.outlookindia.com/. https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/free-lunches-gujarati-thalis/289709. Accessed July 24.

      13.
      Tata Nano plant got Rs 456-crore loan from Gujarat government. 2017. The Economic Times. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...m-gujarat-government/articleshow/46624499.cms. Accessed July 24.
    • Indigold refineries land scam – After having alloted cheap land to it for a refinery, State government allowed Indigold Refinery to sell 200,000 sq. meter of land to Alumina Refinery rather than taking its possession. The deal, is allegedly estimated to have cost the state exchequer around ₹40 crore.
      14.
      Reporter, BS. 2011. Govt favoured Indigold in land sale: Gohil. Business Standard. April 26. [Source]
    • 16 acres of prime University land in the centre of Ahmedabad was sold for a Hotel through a rigged tender. Deal was said to be brokered by the CM himself.
      15.
      Kheduts to move SC over land deal | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis. 2009. dna. March 5. [Source]
Now, a bhakt may say, so what if this smells of Crony Capitalism? This is a CM working hard to get more investments into his state. So what if he is wasting taxpayers’ money in favours to his crony friends, at least some of these, such as a the Tata plant, will be beneficial for the State in the long run.

Firstly, these actions of undue favours to attract investments by bending over backwards, only show that the claims of “Gujarat Model” were themselves fake. Other states were able to attract more investments than Gujarat without such freebies. Had 14 years of “Vibrant Gujarat” really been so successful, there should have been people queuing up to invest and setup factories in Gujarat at any cost, without the government having to grant them so many favours. Many of these announcements done with much fanfare have turned out to be damp squibs.

Secondly, if Modi really was “incorruptible”, he would not have left the post of Lokayukta vacant for over a decade between 2003 and 2013
16.
Gujarat finally gets a Lokayukta | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis. 2013. dna. November 30. [Source]
Further, he would have got these allegations investigated with full sincerity, and punished the officials or ministers involved. If he could spare 10 police officers to snoop on a girl, how was he unaware of his close colleague and successor, Anandiben’s land deals?
Also, keep in mind that the same “Army lover” and “Nationalist” Mr Modi allocated 93 acres of land to Raheja Group at ₹470 per sq meter
17.
Balan & Kalpesh Damor, Premal. 2014. Adani Group got land at cheapest rates in Modi’s Gujarat. Business Standard. April 26. [Source]

18.
‘Final negotiation for allotting 88 acres to SWAC on’. 2009. The Indian Express. September 25. [Source]


The birth of Symbiotic Oligarchy in Gujarat
Among Mr Modi’s close crony capitalist friends, one name is most prominent – that or Mr Gautam Adani. With humble origins and success from Diamond trading in Mumbai, Mr Adani had moved to Gujarat during mid 90s, and grown impressively. Yet, as Modi was sworn in on 6th Oct 2001, Adani was still a relatively modest player with a turnover of around ₹3000 Crores, its market value was 1/500th of the Reliance Group at the time.
19.
Adani group races full steam ahead, casts a wider net. 2017. The Hindu. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2001/10/17/stories/021718ad.htm. Accessed July 24.


Between 1995 and 2001, Gujarat politics in general and the state BJP in particular went through a period of great churn. With elections scheduled in Gujarat in 2002, LK Advani replaced Keshubhai Patel with Modi, a political novice then, choosing him over senior state leaders. Advani was planning to make a run for PM and Gujarat was a key state for the BJP. To make sure he controlled Gujarat, he wanted an outsider in charge at Gujarat who would be dependent on the party high command for his legitimacy.

Modi took charge in Gujarat in 2001, knowing he would have to win the state elections. He did not want to depend on Pramod Mahajan, who was managing the BJP’s finances. Modi wanted his own source of funds, but this was not easy. Industry was suspicious of this RSS pracharak. Modi was suspicious of industry. In his first year, Modi kept all businessmen at an arm’s length. Modi distrusted Adani due to his rapid rise and thought he was too close to rival Keshubhai. It took Adani a year, from October 2001 to September 2002 to find his way into Modi’s inner circle.

It was the Gujarat genocide of 2002, that changed the fortunes of both men.

The religious polarization of the violence was en-cashed shamelessly by BJP and Modi. They helped BJP win the 2002 elections with massive gains. Modi, the relatively unknown pracharak, captured the imagination of the Sangh, and was able to mount a coup against even Prime Minister Vajpayee.

However, the violence, that had cost ₹20,000 Crores loss to the industry, had made local and foreign investors jittery about their prospects in Gujarat. New investment inflows had all but dried up by September 2002. In February 2003, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)—the country’s biggest and most important business trade association—held a special session at its auditorium in New Delhi: “Meeting with Narendra Modi, the New Chief Minister of Gujarat”. The meeting was organised on a special request from Modi.

During this event, doyens of Indian Industry, such as Mr Godrej and Mr Bajaj, publicly expressed concerns about Gujarat again. Mr Modi was furious. “You and your pseudo-secular friends,” Modi roared at the leaders of Indian industry, “can come to Gujarat if you want an answer.” Modi asked Godrej and Bajaj: “Others have vested interest in maligning Gujarat. What is your interest?”
20.
The Emperor Uncrowned. 2012. The Caravan. March 29. [Source]


Modi carried his fury back to Gujarat. Within a few days, a group of Gujarati businessmen close to Modi—including Gautam Adani of Adani Group, Indravadan Modi of Cadila Pharmaceuticals, Karsan Patel of Nirma Group, and Anil Bakeri of Bakeri Engineers—had established a rival organisation, which they called the Resurgent Group of Gujarat (RGG), all of whose members threatened to withdraw from the CII on the grounds that it had humiliated and insulted Modi and all Gujaratis.

Adani pledged a sum of ₹15,000 crore for the first Vibrant Gujarat summit in September-October 2003. He thereafter cemented his association with Modi and became his ardent supporter, lobbying for him in India and abroad.
21.
guha thakurta, paranjoy. 2017. The Incredible Rise and Rise of Gautam Adani: Part One. The Citizen. http://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/...edible-Rise-and-Rise-of-Gautam-Adani-Part-One. Accessed July 24.


Back in Delhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government began to limit the CII’s access to its ministers, jeopardizing the group’s core mission as a lobbying organisation. CII had to eventually back down. The businessmen who had shown moral courage to speak up against Modi were forced to praise him, in order to get access. The businessmen from Gujarat who did chamchagiri would be rewarded handsomely by Mr Modi. Within next decade, most businessmen will learn the drill – turn up at events like Vibrant Gujarat, praise Mr Modi, he will re-tweet it, and give you and your company publicity, will also help you in return. Gujarat, a state previously known for having a flourishing Small and Medium enterprises sector and a co-operative sector, will start turning into an Oligarchy, with a small group of companies dominating many key infrastructure sectors.

The result of the Quid-Pro-Quo
Adani’s growth has exploded from 2003-04, funded extensively by banks. In 2006-07, the group had revenues of ₹16,953 crore and debt of ₹4,353 crore. By 2012-13, revenues stood at ₹47,352 crore and debt at ₹61,762 crore.

adani-turnover-growth-timeseries.png




This extraordinary growth has given rise to persistent charges that the Gujarat government extended undue benefits to the Adani group.




    • Between 2006 and 2009, Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation bought natural gas from the open market and sold it to Adani Energy at a price lower than the purchase price; the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) says the company received an undue benefit of ₹70.5 crore.
    • CAG observed that Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam recovered a penalty of 79.8 crore from Adani Power for its failure to supply power between August 2009 and January 2012, against the auditor’s calculation, based on the power purchase agreement, of ₹240 crore.
    • In 2009, the DRI issued a fresh set of two show-cause notices alleging that associate companies of Adani group – HEPL, ACPL and MOL, had allegedly availed of extraordinary benefits under the TPS, also indulged in fraudulent “circular trading” by importing gold bars from the UAE and then exporting the goods in the form of crude studded gold jewelry purity back to the UAE. By an order dated April 9, 2015 which was issued more than four months later on August 26 that year,Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) members Anil Choudhary and P.S. Pruthi summarily dropped all the charges against the Adani Group. The DRI, under Modi Government, has thus far seems strangely reticent about filing a review petition in the Supreme Court that could protect its revenue interests to the tune of ₹1000 Crores.
      22.
      Guha Thakurta, Advait Rao Palepu and Shinzani Jain, Paranjoy. 2017. Did the Adani Group Evade Rs 1,000 Crore in Taxes? The Wire. January 14. [Source]
    • After coming to power in the centre, Mr Adani has travelled extensively and won several deals with the blessings of Mr Modi. These include new coal investments in Queensland, Australia, and also a Joint Venture with Elbit of Israel to supply the Helmet Mounted display System for the Rafale jet being bought for IAF under the renegotiated Rafale deal.
    • In August 2016, the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Rules, 2016, were amended by the department of commerce to insert a provision on claims for refund under the SEZ Act, 2005. The amendment was made to specifically provide Adani Power Limited an opportunity to claim refunds on customs duty to the tune of ₹500 crore.
      23.
      Guha Thakurta, Advait Rao Palepu, Shinzani Jain and Abir Dasgupta, Paranjoy. 2017. Modi Government’s Rs 500-Crore Bonanza to the Adani Group. The Wire. June 19. [Source]
Mr Modi used Adani’s business jet extensively during the 2014 elections campaign.
24.
Fleet of 3 aircraft ensures Modi is home every night after day’s campaigning – Times of India. 2017. The Times of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ter-days-campaigning/articleshow/34069525.cms. Accessed July 24.
Several Police officers of Gujarat Police, whose conduct in 2002 was under suspicion, and who possibly shielded Mr Modi by destroying police records, were given lucrative positions in Adani Group after their retirement. In March 2013, after it became evident that Modi would be unceremoniously dropped as a keynote speaker at a public function organised at the Wharton School of Business in the United States because of pressure from academics and students opposed to him, the Adani group, one of the main sponsors of the event, withdrew its financial support.

The Coal Over-invoicing scam
Mr Adani was the central player of a scam to import coal at an inflated prices from his own Indonesian subsidiary. This was eventually being passed on to the end consumers of the coal, in this case, the domestic consumers paying a higher tariff for their electricity generated out of the thermal power plants operated by Mr Adani (and a few others)

In effect, this was a money laundering operation, where profits from Indian operations were being hidden and transferred abroad.
25.
Power Tariff Scam Gets Bigger at Rs 50,000 crore : Did Adani and Essar Group Over-Invoice Power Plant Equipment? 2016. Economic and Political Weekly. May 16. [Source]

26.
Report, Bloomberg. 2012. ED probes Adani Ports on possible money laundering. Business Standard. March 10. [Source]

27.
Reporter, BS. 2011. ED files complaint against Adani FIRM. Business Standard. January 18. [Source]


modiCoalScam.png


This scam was investigated by Enforcement Directorate (ED), who levied a fine of ₹5,500 Crores on Mr Adani.

According to a senior ED official associated with the SIT, if the Adani case reaches its logical conclusion, the group will have to pay a fine of around ₹15,000 crore. ‘It is a watertight case,’ he said, about the trail of documents showing how the group diverted ₹5,468 crore to Mauritius via Dubai. The Adani group vehemently denies any wrongdoing. Modi, after his rhetoric-filled ride to power, has been silent.
28.
Joseph, Josy. 2016. Modi, Adani and Black Money. Where’s the Investigation Going? The Wire. August 13. [Source]


Since Modi’s ascension to office, what has happened in the ED, which had registered a preliminary case against Adani in Ahmedabad and was handed details of DRI findings, is illustrative. JP Singh, the officer heading the Ahmedabad branch of the directorate was raided by the CBI, which accused him of possessing disproportionate assets. It failed to prove anything at all, despite months of investigation. JP Singh was the award winning officer who had exposed a huge hawala racket involving ₹10,000 crore and a cricket-betting racket involving more than ₹5,000 crore.

Think about it, had Mr JP Singh really been a corrupt officer as is being alleged by Modi’s regime now, would he not have ensured that all these big cases were never probed? Would he not have settled with Mr Adani for a few hundred crores easily? Wouldn’t it reflect in his lifestyle? According to Mr JP Singh’s colleagues, he still led a very simple life, and traveled by taxis and public transport.
29.
Why is India’s most decorated revenue officer JP Singh being hounded? | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis. 2015. dna. October 10. [Source]


The two senior-most officers in the Mumbai regional office, who oversaw the investigations in Ahmedabad, were forced out of the agency. Mr JP Singh’s boss, Principal Commissioner PK Dash was shunted out and given a side posting to an academy in Mumbai.
30.
Customs boss who exposed 5500 cr scam against Adani Group shunted; another officer “fixed” in bribery scandal. 2017. IndiaSamvad. http://www.indiasamvad.co.in/investigation/customs-boss-who-exposed-5500-cr-scam-against-adani-group-shunted-another-officer-‘fixed’-in-bribery-scandal-7365. Accessed July 24.

The tenure of Rajan S. Katoch, who was heading the directorate when the case was opened, also ended abruptly. Apart from the Adani case, the Ahmedabad ED investigators were also pursuing some of the biggest money launderers of Gujarat.

Interestingly, Adani’s import scam unearthed by DRI was transferred to CBI as soon as Modi government came to power in New Delhi. At CBI office, the matter was supervised by then Special director Anil Sinha. No one knows what Anil Sinha did with Adani’s case but after a few months he did become the boss of CBI. Sources suggest Sinha is close to Gautam Adani.

Incriminating evidence of direct corruption
What we have listed above thus far is a list of cases that arouse suspicion of foul play but were either never investigated properly – as in the case of cases from Gujarat, or where an ongoing investigation on a favoured crony friend was derailed and swept under the carpet, as in the case of over invoicing scam by the Enforcement Directorate.

Before we discuss the next section, just remember that a note of “AP FAM” in the case of Agusta Westland investigations was enough for a lot of people to conclude that it must mean Ahmad Patel and the Gandhi family. In the Bihar’s fodder scam, CM Laloo Yadav was convicted by a CBI court purely on the circumstantial evidence that he appeared to have extended the term of two of the officers who were found to be complicit in the scam.
31.
Sahi, Ajit. 2013. The case (that wasn’t) against Lalu Yadav. Tehelka. November 16. [Source]


In October 2013, when the Central Bureau of Investigation raided the New Delhi office of an Aditya Birla Group company, in connection with then ongoing investigations in Hindalco coal block allocations scam. The CBI found about Rs 25 crore unaccounted cash and several documents described as “incriminating” and informed the Income Tax department, which then conducted a raid the next day.

These searches and seizures led to papers and email conversations relating to unaccounted cash, hawala transactions and what appear to be corrupt practices involving investigative wings of the government of India and payoffs to important politicians, including “Gujarat CM – Rs 25 crore (12-done-rest?)”

In a separate investigation, the Income Tax department raided Sahara on November 22, 2014 which led to the unearthing of computer printouts with purported details on possible payoffs to senior politicians in clearly legible words, with references, as it emerged later, to alleged payments made between 2013 and March 2014,
32.
Did Modi receive over Rs 55 crore from the Sahara Group as the chief minister of Gujarat? 2016. The Caravan. November 18. [Source]





    • Rs 40 crore “cash given at Ahmedabad, Modiji” [In other documents they are referred to as, “cash given to CM Gujarat”]
    • Rs 10 crore given to CM of Madhya Pradesh [Shivraj Singh Chouhan]
    • Rs 4 crore to CM of Chhattisgarh [Raman Singh]
    • Rs 1 crore to CM of Delhi who at that time was Sheila Dikshit.
Modi-sahara-payments.jpg


A PIL seeking investigation of this was dismissed by a SC bench of Justice Mishra and Justice Roy. The main ground for dismissal was that the Honorable Judges did not consider these entries as “Books of account”, as they did not have a spiral or permanent binding (a definition from a pre-computers era!) and because the documents were not part of official accounts.

They overlooked to check if any other cash movements in any related accounts corroborated these entries. In this case, the Sahara amounts tally with entries in the ledgers of Marcomm, from where the money paid to politicians was received and distributed, as evidenced by the available Marcomm Excel sheets. Needless to mention, this judgement sets a very dangerous precedent. Corruption tends to be off-the-books. Most criminals do not keep an actual book of account detailing their activities. In future, this judgement may be used as a defense by many. Whether or not this bribe was actually given can only be established after a detailed investigation.

Strangely, the Honorable judges also observe (Section 21 on page 16 of the judgement):

We are constrained to observe that the Court has to be on guard while ordering investigation against any important constitutional functionary, officers or any person in the absence of some cogent legally cognizable material.

Ask yourself, what if the same court had been “on guard” while ordering investigations against Union Minister A Raja? Would the 2G scam have ever been uncovered?

Justice Arun Mishra, a former Madhya Pradesh HC judge is close to Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan, a co-accused in the Sahara bribery case, but Justice Mishra failed to recuse himself from hearing this case, which raises serious questions about his professional conduct.
33.
Simha, Vijay. 2017. Birla-Sahara case: Only an investigation can settle the unanswered questions. Scroll.in. July 14. [Source]
Justice Mishra missed elevation to the Supreme Court three times before he was elevated to the Supreme Court in July 2014, six weeks after Modi took charge as prime minister. A few months later, the same bench ordered re-opening of the cases against Mr Laloo Yadav.

Conclusion
As this article mentioned in the beginning, RTI became an important tool in the hand of activists towards unraveling corruption cases. Mr. Modi’s PMO has been stonewalling several RTIs relating to his degree. A CIC who ordered Delhi University to release this information was immediately removed. The institutions of CVC, CIC, CAG and ED have been diluted under his rule. This is a repeat of the pattern seen during the 13 years of his rule in Gujarat where Lokayukta wasn’t appointed, and CAG reports were ignored, and demands of even investigations into several suspicious cases of officials giving favours to cronies were never investigated.

Power corrupts. Absolute, unchallenged power, as Mr Modi has, even more so.

Even Rajiv Gandhi had agreed to a JPC probe on Bofors. Despite far more incriminating Prima Facie evidence against Modi, he will never do so. His opposition has been weak, and his control over media narrative and his party has been very strong.

Mr Modi’s image has been built upon a foundation of fake news, media management and suppression of institutions that typically expose corruption in a democracy. The way his government has favoured Adani over the over-invoicing probe, Ambani over 4G Scam, and both of them on Rafale Deal, without as much of a whimper of protest, should be a sufficient indicator of his style.

Corruption continues unabated, in fact it is being done more brazenly now, while people are constantly being distracted over non-issues such as Beef, GauRakhaks, Digging dirt on rivals etc by his pet media – largely controlled by the same oligarchs.

It must be stressed here that corruption in politicians can come in many forms – a typical corrupt politician may brazenly embezzle funds or seek bribes to enrich his own family members.

Now, let us look at Vladimir Putin of Russia, who has presided over the world’s most corrupt Oligarchy (some times described as Kleptocracy). Putin’s known personal fortune is modest 2 flats in Moscow. His daughter Katerina holds a simple academic job as a researcher of History in St. Petersburg University. However, dig below the surface and you will realize that this is just a facade. Putin’s associates are worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and these funds are available at Putin’s disposal for his political needs.

Mr Modi has copied the Putin Model. He too doesn’t appear to indulge in the first sort of corruption. The bribes and favours he has taken are to help the Sangh Parivar, or his own self-promotion, not cash for his immediate family, who maintain a facade of modest lifestyles, even walk to bank to withdraw ₹4000 when a political need arises. His crony friends lavishly fund the expensive campaigns when elections are held.

Eventually, both forms of corruption are equally harmful for a country. The nation’s security is compromised if inexperienced JV partners are chosen to favour cronies in exchange for benefits in “kind”, irrespective of any cash bribe having been paid or not. The taxpayers hard earned money is wasted when we buy an aircraft at an inflated price, irrespective of actual bribe being taken by the decision makers.

Supporting a person complicit of abetting heinous crimes such as mass murder, just because he has an “honest” image, is as foolish as marrying a serial rapist because he files his tax returns on time. What if you then discover that this news about him filing his tax returns was a result of fake propaganda and media management, and was not the truth?

“He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy!”-Monty Python, Life of Brian

References
1.
17 “scams” that Narendra Modi doesn’t want Lok Ayukta to probe | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis. 2011. dna. August 27. [Source]
2.
Is ONGC under Pressure to Bail Out Debt-ridden Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation? : GSPC: A Controversial Case Study. 2016. Economic and Political Weekly. July 21. [Source]
3.
ONGC to pay over $1.2 billion for GSPC stake buy. 2017. The Economic Times. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...n-for-gspc-stake-buy/articleshow/56167825.cms. Accessed July 23.
4.
Ex-Gujarat ministers Dilip Sanghani and Purushottam Solanki in fishing contract scam. 2017. India Today. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/ex-gujarat-ministers-in-fishing-contract-scam/1/365097.html. Accessed July 24.
5.
Johari, Aarefa. 2017. How some Gujarat schools are defying Supreme Court ruling on mid-day meals. Scroll.in. July 14. [Source]
6.
Sujalam Sufalam Yojana rice scam: probe moves at snail’s pace. 2009. The Indian Express. June 4.[Source]
7.
Swan Energy may exit Gujarat project – Livemint. 2017. Livemint. http://www.livemint.com/Companies/LizatOLOYzla3CRHvBaDwI/Swan-Energy-may-exit-Gujarat-project.html. Accessed July 24.
8.
Rs. 580-cr. loss as Modi govt. favoured corporates: CAG. 2017. The Hindu. http://www.thehindu.com/todays-pape...vt-favoured-corporates-cag/article4579002.ece. Accessed July 23.
9.
Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel daughter’s partners got 422 acres land at 92% discount. 2017. The Economic Times. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...-land-at-92-discount/articleshow/51216459.cms. Accessed July 23.
10.
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11.
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My My the OP must have made hefty sum today. Looks like that his contract is for per word posting :p:
 

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