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One more invisible line crossed

The election to the Rajya Sabha of Parimal Nathwani, identified in most news reports as an executive of Reliance Industries, from Jharkhand has sent the proverbial “shock waves” in the political class. Managers across the political divide are squirming in helplessness in the face of the new assertive money power.

“One more invisible line has been crossed,” remarks a former Rajya Sabha member, who prefers to remain anonymous. Another former member says he feels so embarrassed by the Jharkhand precedent that he would rather not use the “ex-MP” suffix on his letterhead.

The done thing so far has been for industrialists and businessmen to seek membership of the Upper House for themselves. Any number of industrial barons — the late Lalit Suri, Anil Ambani (since resigned), Vijay Mallya, Rahul Bajaj and many others —have in recent years managed to secure their way into the Rajya Sabha.

Whether or not there was a quid pro quo, the critical aspect is that the industrialists have secured their passage with the cooperation, indulgence and votes of the established parties.

A few years ago, the famous arms dealer, Suresh Nanda, sought to negotiate unilaterally his way into the Rajya Sabha as an independent from Uttar Pradesh; on the other hand, the political leaders of different parties had reached an agreement among themselves so as to avoid a contest and thereby reduce the possibility of any money-induced uncertainty. Mr. Nanda, in effect, tried to break up this cartel.

The reaction of the political leaders in Lucknow was swift and the solution found to “the Nanda problem” unorthodox. Though the details are hazy, there is unanimity that the self-made businessman was physically thrashed on the Vidhan Sabha premises and was practically told to leave town. It was an offer he could not refuse, to use a much caricatured line from the movie, ‘The Godfather.’

Now one industrial house has done a kind of “Suresh Nanda” on the political parties in Jharkhand. Not only the wishes and preferences of the political leaders were spurned, what is more, an industrial house has managed to put one of its executives in the Upper House. Though the party system is probably the weakest in Jharkhand, this could well be a turning point for our polity.

The role of money in our public life has had a deleterious impact on the policy choices and moral integrity of political institutions. Apart from the aberrant case when an odd money-bag deemed it expedient to try to suborn the loyalty of a political or bureaucratic executive in order to sabotage or promote a policy, the business houses have over the years acquired a quasi-institutional voice for themselves. As the electoral process has become very expensive, the role and reach of money power has become all too obvious.

However, it seems that the industrialists are no longer content with acquiring leverage in the political process by donating large sums of money during and between the election times. They seem now keen to pack the Upper House with their “men.” They want to have their agents in the middle of the action.

Jharkhand has set a disquieting precedent. According to unconfirmed reports, a number of Cabinet Ministers were willing and, in fact, did vote against the official UPA candidate; the Chief Minister himself abstained. Consider this: 10 Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MLAs had signed party candidate Kishori Lal’s nomination; in the event, he got only eight first preference votes – and lost.

“A moment of shame for all of us,” says an AICC secretary.

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