Page 343 - EW September 2022

Postscript

True nation builder pacted these worthies who never miss an opportunity to
denigrate the country’s most successful private entrepre-
neurs and wealth creators, the 2 As (Ambani and Adani)
HE DEMISE OF RAKESH JHUNJHUNWALA (RJ), in particular. The common charge against them is that
the ‘Big Bull’ of the Bombay and National Stock Ex-
Tchanges, on August 14 is a big setback for the Indian they are favoured cronies of the BJP/NDA government at
economy. This statement is likely to invite derision and the Centre.
Given their massive annual contribution to the public
contempt of eggheads in academia and the overwhelming
majority of citizens who believe that India’s century-old exchequer by way of direct and indirect taxes — esti-
mated at 5-6 percent of total government revenue — and
stock market is little more than a casino in which wily
traders gamble large sums of money. generating well-remunerated direct employment for over
However the truth is that stock markets encourage the 500,000 citizens with huge multiplier impact on the
savings habit and facilitate the flow of national savings economy, it’s unsurprising that governments of all hues
— especially household savings — into industrial and and stripes accord the 2 As high respect and access.
India’s neta-babu brotherhood and carping left aca-
economic development. When risk-taking investors such
as RJ succeed in building great fortunes by investing in demics haven’t understood that instead of denigrating the
corporate paper, millions of citizens are encouraged to 2 As, they should apply their suspect wisdom to create
conditions for 1,000 2 A clones to multiply and flourish
limit consumption and invest their savings in financial
instruments issued by business enterprises. These savings within the Indian economy. Even with the PLA (People’s
Liberation Army) of a prosperous and aggressive PRC
are deployed by entrepreneurs and corporate managers
to promote and/or expand their enterprises. This sets a threatening to redraw boundary lines along the 484-km
virtuous cycle in motion by way of creating employment border up north, these latter day Neros continue to sing
yesteryear threnodies.
and generating incomes, a substantial proportion of
which accrues to the Central, state and local governments
by way of taxes, necessary to maintain law and order, Small minded worthies
provide justice and education, health and welfare services
to the poor majority.
By carefully tracking corporates most likely to succeed HE ONGOING SLANGING MATCH BETWEEN the
from his college days, RJ started investing small amounts AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) and the BJP/NDA Central
in well-managed companies and over half a century built Tgovernment over the status of 2,000 Rohingya
a blue-chip portfolio valued at a humongous Rs.31,407 Muslim refugees who fled ethnic and religious persecu-
crore. Following his example, millions of citizens coun- tion by the brutal military regime in neighbouring Myan-
trywide started saving and investing in corporate paper mar (aka Burma) and are living in pitiful makeshift slums
which financed the growth and expansion of Indian of the country’s administrative capital, is indicative of the
industry. low level to which public discourse has sunk. Uncouth
Yet perhaps RJ’s greatest virtue was his steadfast belief leaders of both governments are vilifying the handful
in India’s ancient entrepreneurial wealth creation tradi- of Rohingya refugees living in small communities and
tion. RJ was firm in his belief that India is the world’s making ends meet by engaging in dehumanising odd jobs.
largest marketplace and that high-quality goods and Yet Union home minister Amit Shah has described this
services provided at affordable price will invariably find minuscule community as “termites” capable of destroying
ready purchasers. That’s an understanding of develop- this country of 3.28 million sq.km with a population of 1.4
ment economics which academics and bolshies with zero billion. And Delhi’s deputy chief and education minister
risk-taking capability and penchant for comfy salaried Manish Sisodia has demonised them as terrorists unde-
employment, will never grasp. That’s why nothing shakes serving of any civility and hospitality.
their belief that the stock markets are mere gambling With leaders invested with learning-by-doing rather
dens. RJ knew better and played a major role in the than formal academic experience ruling the roost, it’s
growth and development of India Inc. RIP. doubtful if these wordy worthies are aware that the sub-
continent has an age-old tradition of welcoming foreign-
ers suffering persecution and discrimination in their na-
Wanted: 2 As x 1000 tive countries. Among them Persians (latter day Parsees),
Jews from Europe, Bangladeshis who fled Pakistan in the
late 1960s. Therefore, the heavens won’t fall if a few thou-
ESPITE CHINA WHICH WAS RELATIVELY
underdeveloped compared to India on October sand Rohingyas are welcomed in our midst. But the rub is
D1, 1949 — when the Communist Party of China that these refugees are Muslims and therefore, disquali-
(CPC) established the People’s Republic of China (PRC) fied from any quality of mercy.
These gents are very unlikely to recall that in 1973
in Beijing, and Chairman Mao Zedong famously declared when Uganda dictator Idi Amin expelled 73,000 Indians
that “China has stood up”— having overtaken India in
the global development race after it took the capitalist from that country overnight because God had so directed
him in a dream, they were accepted into the UK despite
road under the leadership of secretary Deng Xiaoping in
1978, India’s carping lefty academics and the neta-babu the widespread belief that the British Isles were being
brotherhood are still mired in Soviet-style socialism. The “swamped” by immigrants. Such small-mindedness in
pursuit of the majoritarian Hindu vote is unbefitting a
full implication of PRC’s GDP having risen to $15 billion
against India’s $2.9 million doesn’t seem to have im- country with global super-power ambitions.

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