Parting Is Easy To Do

Ever since the ‘invincible' Hinduja brothers were chargesheeted in the Bofors case, Delhi's corridors of power have been rife with speculations about the growing distance between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and the most powerful expat family from India. Known to be pretty thick with the PM and counted among the most influential patrons of the bjp, the family was stumped when ‘their own government' did not dither to chargesheet them. Indeed, so strong were the ties that Vajpayee had officially written a letter to then prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao that the government ought to accept the Hindujas' proposal of providing only their select bank accounts for government scrutiny.But then, those days Vajpayee was the leader of the Opposition. Obviously, something seems to have soured. For, not only did the PM refuse to intercede on the Hindujas' behalf, he even showed a sudden and inexplicable keenness to ensure that the guilty in the Bofors case are brought to book.

For instance, a senior pmo official says that when Swiss President Flavio Cotti visited India in November 1998, Vajpayee gratuitously emphasised on the need for an early transfer of papers to India. Again, in October last year, foreign minister Jaswant Singh wrote a letter to his Swiss counterpart claiming, rather uncharacteristically, that any further delay in transferring the Hinduja documents could adversely affect the bilateral relations between the two countries. Says a source in the ministry of external affairs (mea): "Obviously, he wouldn't have written without the tacit approval of the PM."

Singh's letter was taken seriously, for the Swiss authorities took only two months to release what is now known as the Hinduja papers. These showed that the Hinduja brothers—Srichand, Gopichand and Prakash—had opened three different accounts—Tulip, Lotus and Mont Blanc—in Geneva under the name of MacIntyre Group. It was into these accounts Bofors had allegedly paid the kickbacks in 1986.

In fact, at the time Singh wrote his letter, the Hindujas' appeal against the transfer of documents to India was pending before federal councillor (equivalent to our ministry of justice) Ruth Metzler. The brothers had been arguing that the transfer would "injure the sovereignty, the public order or other essential interests of Switzerland".

The blatant political nature of the appeal goaded Singh to write to his Swiss counterpart. Says the mea source: "Unlike Switzerland, India's system does not allow political interference in legal matters. And the Hinduja case is entirely a matter of criminal law, they are not even public servants. The government could have easily refrained from actively intervening in what was a legal process."

Fearing that the chargesheet was imminent, the brothers called both the prime minister and the home minister. Neither took their calls. In fact, sources say the Hindujas even suggested to the pmo that instead of bringing the papers to India, the government could send a team of experts over to Switzerland to examine the documents. This was summarily rejected. The Hindujas were then asked to turn ‘approvers'. But the brothers rejected this offer. They reportedly said that since they were commission agents, the very act of turning approvers would scare away their clients.

The fear of being chargesheeted saw Gopichand and Srichand take British citizenship. But even this is now being questioned in the House of Commons. Julian Lewis, a Conservative MP from New Forest East, asked the secretary of state for home "...what account he took of the investigations into the involvement of the members of the Hinduja family in the Bofors scandal when he approved G.P. Hinduja's and S.P. Hinduja's applications for citizenship".

Government officials, meanwhile, claim that the fact the two brothers had applied for British citizenship when Vajpayee was prime minister (and not when the Congress or any other government was in power) belies the talk about the PM having a special relationship.However, there are others who insist that the downslide of the Hindujas is linked to the growing clout of the Ambanis in the government. Chastened after government raids in 1998, the Ambanis made peace with the bjp and sought to utilise its influence to corner telecom and petroleum sectors as their own. This was precisely the areas where the Hindujas had also wanted to move in. Wary of any competition and apprehensive of the money power the Hindujas command, the Ambanis, insiders say, wanted to remove the Hindujas from Indian corporate race. And nothing suited them better than to have the Hindujas embroiled in the sensitive Bofors case.

But pmo officials deny all this, claiming that Vajpayee never had a one-on-one meeting with the Hindujas ever since he became prime minister. Nor has he spoken to them over the phone. The brothers tried to meet Vajpayee during his September visit to the US. Both Srichand and Prakash procured invitations for the two interactions that the prime minister had with the Asian caucus during his visit. Says a pmo official: "They were there during the Asia Society dinner and the Indian Caucus lunch, but, the prime minister did not speak to them."

Government officials are wary of the Hindujas. For instance, during a recent visit to London, a senior pmo official kept his plans top-secret so that the Hinduja brothers wouldn't bother him. He did not even stay at St James' Court, the hotel Indian officials patronise, lest he could be traced there. "The Hindujas have an excellent network. If they know an important official is visiting, they track you down and ply you with hospitality which you don't really want," says a source.

Government sources say Hindujas often lavish hospitality on Indian politicians to convey the impression of being close to them. For instance, in 1995 Vajpayee was on the infamous River Thames cruise the Hindujas had organised. But a pmo official points out Vajpayee was part of a parliamentary delegation that was visiting England. The then high commissioner, L.M. Singhvi, invited the delegation aboard the Silver Dolphin, and only when the boat set off did the Hinduja brothers emerge from the cabin. Somnath Chatterjee, who was also part of the delegation, had then told Outlook: "We were under the impression that the excursion was organised by the our High Commission but suddenly the Hinduja brothers appeared and took over the proceedings."

Vajpayee's aides have an explanation for every interaction that took place between him and the Hindujas. When Vajpayee, as leader of the Opposition, attended a Diwali party thrown by the Hindujas in London, then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi too was supposed to attend it. Subsequently, though Rajiv sent Balram Jhakar to represent him.

Rumours about close links with the Hindujas abound. If that were so, why has Vajpayee moved against the Hindujas? Some say Bofors remains a weapon that the bjp can hurl against the Congress headed now by Rajiv's widow Sonia. The Quattrochhi connection could still have 10, Janpath blush with embarrassment.To do this, it is necessary to implicate the Hindujas too. By letting the law take its own course, even if that means sacrificing his own friends, Vajpayee can occupy the moral high ground—a prime minister who battled the menace of corruption and showed favours to none.