Narendra Modi upsets Corporate-Media-Bureaucracy Nexus
Editorial Desk: A few years ago, the Nira Radia tapes had taken the political and corporate world by storm. Even many senior journalists were allegedly involved in the scandal. The ‘Dalali’ and corporate-political-media nexus was not a new thing, but came to light in 2010. Despite the exposure, the game continued unabated. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who always talked against corruption, had other plans in mind. His trusted lieutenant Dharmendra Pradhan, who is the Union Petroleum Minister, busted a big racket and exposed the corrupt yet again. and, NSA Ajit Doval was the brain behind all operations.
As the Lutyen’s Media began impatient about Narendra Modi and Amit Shah’s growing clout and felt sidelined followed by HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh’s statement that corporate world felt disappointed during the nine-month rule of Modi Government, Prime Minister Modi decided to take strong action to end the nexus and establish good governance in the country. It was reflected when five people, including two employees of the Oil Ministry were arrested on charges of corporate espionage. They were passing the secret and confidential documents to employees of top firms such as Reliance and Essar.
The CC TV cameras were installed in the Petroleum Ministry, thanks to Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. And, that yielded results in no time. Not only these people were caught, their interrogation also led to the arrest of former Senior Journalist Santanu Saikia (who owns Energy Consulting Firms) and Prayas Jain (CEO of Melbourne-based Energy Consulting Firm Meddit). The arrest of five top officials of RIL, ADAG, Cairns India, Jubilant Energy and Essar, exposed the bigger nexus. Subsequently, it was revealed that not only, but also Coal and Power ministries were targeted by the corrupt. The arrest of kingpin Lokesh and another Defence Ministry official stunned everyone. It was further revealed that some of the important budget documents were also leaked. The espionage was going on for years, but exposed only because of the courage shown by the incumbent NSA, PM and Petroleum Minister.
What will be consequences? Yes, that is the million dollar question. There is little doubt that many people in the media and top corporate honchos have now started feeling the heat. When Modi was ruling Gujarat, he encouraged investors and earned goodwill. He meant business and got support from the corporates. However, Delhi is different in terms of power game from different quarters. It won’t be easy for Narendra Modi to launch a massive crackdown on that media-corporate-bureaucracy nexus and survive for long period. He has just started antagonised the people, who were ruling the roost in Delhi’s power corridor.
It won’t be a surprise if there will be efforts to dislodge or destabilise the Modi Government, which was always seen as corporate friendly, but turned out to be otherwise. The top corporates and media houses wrote the political script in Delhi for long. They won’t surrender easily. In the recent months, there have been reports of uneasy calm in the corporate sector, which is going to burst at some stage. It would be interesting to see whether Modi can survive for long by antagonising the nexus, which always held the key to the smooth run of successive governments.