His Corporate NAC

Last week brought big relief to Narendra Modi’s detractors in the BJP and RSS. The persistent hype that the PM hopeful will stage a sort of policy coup d’etat at an investors’ meet in Delhi went phut. The much-expected economic ‘vision document’ he was to unveil to world honchos and G-20 ambassadors finally turned out to be a bland copycat version of the Manmohan Singh policies, and safely within the BJP’s official line. The only icing he put on it was a vow to implement them vigorously as a ‘doer’.

Inspired reports that Modi was daring to overshoot the party’s official economic policy frame had lent a new dim­en­sion to the ongoing cold war between the two sides. The scare had reached Nagpur old guard, who do not tolerate such unilateral actions, especi­ally when the preparation of the BJP manife­sto itself is at a critical stage, and delayed by pulls and pressu­res. Modi’s climbdown, after a for­tnight-long build-up on a parallel vis­ion document, reflects his unwillingness for a face-off with the hierarchy, at least for now. It also speaks of policy conflicts on a range of economic postures from subsidies to FDI in retail.

Sections in the BJP and RSS siblings like the BMS (Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh) feel uneasy over the involvement of corporate economi­sts in drawing up the party’s economic policy frame. Such outsourcing was alien to the BJP, which is not short of inhouse experts. There have been undenied reports of Modi seeking the services of economists like Arvind Panagariya, Ravi Mantha, Bibek Deb­roy, Manish Sabharwal and Jagdish Bhagwati. They are not members of the manifesto panel headed by Murli Manohar Joshi. There is talk of top corporate consulta­nts and experts from rating agencies joining Modi’s team.

At sittings with these experts, Modi, a patient listener, rep­eatedly asks them for guidelines and schemes that will ‘connect’ him with the people. However, what he finally gets, we are told, is on familiar lines: end subsidies, bury environmental and land acquisition acts, junk the archaic labour laws and liberalise trade and investment rules. Traditionalists call such consultations as a corporate hijacking of the BJP manifesto. True, outside economists are coming directly into the picture for the first time. Describing this as Modi’s own parallel ‘nac’ (like Sonia Gandhi’s National Advisory Council), party veterans say not since the Swatantra Party days in the ’60s has a political party or national leader earned such explicit support of the entire corporate world. Such ‘elite’ identificat­ion, they fear, will make the party a soft target of Kejriwal’s attacks.

‘Modinomics’ is no more a joke. It has been the theme of at least two books released in February. Possibly one more is due. One was released by the BJP president. The other book rele­ase had many prominent reform writers in attendance. The whole focus has been on Modi as a Margaret Thatcher to change the whole economic edifice of the country. The books narrate how Modi had lifted Gujarat’s economy in 10 years and removed all obstacles in the way of investment. The Guj­arat model could be replicated provided the leader is given a free hand (by the RSS). The idea is to make ‘Modinomics’ the theoretical foundation of the Modi build-up.

The biggest hurdle—and perhaps the only one—in the way of the ‘Thatcherisation’ of Modi is the RSS old guard, whom Modi can’t defy as they are investing heavily in a post-Advani BJP. Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat himself is touring states to drum up cadre support. In states like UP, pra­charaks have been deputed to major regions. Apart from vote-catching and fixing candida­tes, they’ll send direct feedback to the RSS. Nagpur is grooming another 2,000 ‘ideologi­cally’ dedicated cadre to work for the BJP organisation at middle level in the next two years.

The message is clear. While giving Modi a long rope, the parent body will tighten its grip over its sibling, whether in or out of power. This explains Modi’s climbdown at the investors’ meeting. Modi’s friends have now begun lobbying with the RSS. The focus is on Bhagwat’s close aides, especially the business-friendly younger apparatchik. The swadeshi elements, barring the BMS group, are rather weak.

Yet, it won’t be easy for them to convert Nagpur’s diehard. For, hardly four months back in his annual Dussehra message, Bhagwat had called for the revival of the ‘swadeshi spirit’ and ‘need-based international commerce’, lamenting that prod­uctive sectors had gone into ‘foreign hands’ and cited the MNC control of 70 per cent in cement. If this reflects the RSS mood, it is going to be an uphill task for the pushers of ‘Modinomics’.

At the ground level, there is opposition to ending subsidies and poll-eve sops and relaxation of environmental restricti­ons and land acquisition. Rahul Gandhi has begun making his welfare schemes and right-based programmes the centre­piece of his campaign. Regional parties and AAP too are cha­mpions of populism. Can ‘development’ alone counter such massive propaganda? Members of the manifesto panel are stressing this kind of feedback from below.