MISFIT AND UNFIT : THAROOR AND MODI
By Sanjay Jha
The glaring distinction between the two men who have hogged headlines recently is as dazzling the sunshine outside of my window.
As things stand today, getting murkier by the moment, it is obvious that while former MOS for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor was perhaps a “ misfit” , IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi for sure is “ unfit” to govern IPL going by his expanding grocery-list of alleged indiscretions.
While Tharoor quit from his ministerial position over “ potential material gains to be realized , if at all, in the future and that too indirectly” , Modi despite a tank full of crawling worms alleging irregularities committed and gains siphoned off , says—-I will not resign. Honestly, quite a remarkable contrast.
While Tharoor has not earned a single paisa and has resigned over the “ perception of both wrongful intent and misuse of public office”, Modi’s advance tax payments increased from around Rs 2 million ( pre-IPL) in 2007 to Rs 110 million 2010. Frankly, one cannot doubt the integrity of the numbers as he may be having several sources of income delivering outstanding returns and as a private citizen he has a full right to confidentiality. Moreover, if there is any irregularity it is for the Income Tax to investigate. But that celestial jump of over 5500% in 3 years is mind-numbing, don’t you think?
Lalit Modi involved in betting, murky deals: I-T report
By Rohini Singh & Sruthijith KK, ET Bureau
According to a report by the income-tax department, Modi is involved in betting and fixing in the IPL through Samir Thukral, a Delhi-based “page 3 personality”.
NEW DELHI: ‘Mr Lalit Modi has had a trail of failed ventures and defaults till four years back but has a lifestyle now that includes a private jet, a luxury yacht and a fleet of Mercedes S class and BMW cars all acquired in the last three years.’
Thus opens a highly confidential and explosive report by the income-tax department that has been in the possession of the government for six months now but formed the basis of any action only on Thursday evening after a raging controversy over secret ownerships and sweetheart deals in the Indian Premier League, or IPL, stalled both houses of Parliament.
Highly-placed sources in the I-T department and the Congress party told ET that Mr Modi has been on the government radar for quite sometime. The alleged opaqueness with which he conducted the multi-billion dollar cricket tournament and the manner in which he took on home minister P Chidambaram in 2009 seem to have resulted in a detailed enquiry into his activities by the I-T department.
The report, whose contents were described to ET reporters, paints a startling picture of the alleged activities of the controversial IPL commissioner, ranging from his manipulation of land deals in Rajasthan and the existence of a maze of shell companies and offshore entities used to route payments and equity stakes worth hundreds of crores of rupees. The report also makes the startling allegation that Mr Modi—through his associates—was ‘involved’ in ‘betting’, while “insider information and outcome fixing of IPL matches were hinted at”. The six-month-old report, which I-T sleuths maintain is the basis of current investigations, is obviously referring to betting and insider information in the first two IPL tournaments, not the current one.
In preparing the report, investigators seem to have accessed his email account, confidential conversations on a UK-registered cell phone number and regulatory filings from across the globe, from Mauritius to Ireland to the US. Some other Indian cell phone numbers have also been unearthed which the I-T sleuths claim Mr Modi “keeps changing”. The report alleges that Mr Modi is “apparently deeply embroiled in both generation of black money, money laundering, betting in cricket (match fixing of certain IPL matches)”.
An email sent to Lalit Modi remained unanswered on Sunday evening. His lawyer was also sent the same email. A number of his associates named in the report might come under the scanner as the investigation, which started with visits to Mr Modi’s offices on Thursday evening, progresses through the coming weeks. Even though the report detailed the premises the tax department wanted to raid and sought permission to go ahead, political clearance was not granted until junior minister for external affairs Shashi Tharoor stepped into IPL’s murky quicksand and with him dragged the government and the Congress party into one of the biggest scandals in recent times.
“This is not just a Pandora’s box but a Pandora’s chest that has been opened,” said a senior Congress leader who has knowledge of the report. “This will indict everyone,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. When contacted about the contents of this report, the official spokesperson of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Shishir Jha, SMSed a terse ‘no comment’ to the ET reporter.
The report refers to one Deepa Raizada as a close associate of Mr Modi “who handles his cross-border transactions and offshore companies”. Ms Raizada is CEO of Modi Entertainment Networks and has worked at the firm for nearly 10 years, according to two persons who work at the company. The I-T report says she has previously worked with Equity Associates, a boutique investment firm based out of Ontario, Canada. Ms Raizada did not take calls made on her mobile number and did not respond to a text message from the ET reporter. Her home phone remained unreachable through Sunday and an email sent to an id listed under her name on the Modi Group’s website bounced.
A league of extraordinary betting?
What will come as most disturbing to cricket fans is that the report suggests pervasive betting and outcome fixing in the IPL. According to the report, Modi himself is involved through Samir Thukral, a Delhi-based “page 3 personality” with an “opulent lifestyle despite having no apparent source of income”.
Mr Thukral is a permanent fixture at all IPL matches with VIP access, the report says, adding that he “carries out the betting on behalf of Lalit Modi”. I-T sleuths are investigating “a lot of matches of IPL, especially involving the three teams in which Modi has an interest”. The mobile number listed in the report against Thukral actually belongs to Samir Thukral, a co-founder of Shree Capital Advisors, a Delhi-based private equity advisory firm.
His bio-data says he has interests in online lottery business and real estate. “I have known Lalit for 30 years and he is a good friend. And yes, of course, I went to South Africa for IPL matches, but these are wild and baseless allegations,” Mr Thukral told ET. On Sunday afternoon, Rahul Nayar, founder of Shree Capital Advisors, told ET that Mr Thukral doesn’t work for him anymore. He refused to answer other queries and hung up on ET reporters. Mr Thukral, however, maintained that he is the co-promoter of Shree Capital Advisors.
Ownership issues
The report alleges that Modi has silent ownership in three IPL teams—Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab. According to the report, Rajasthan Royals’ owner Emerging Media is controlled by Manoj Badale, Mumbai Education Trust and Ranjit Thakre, a former employee of ITC Ltd. It says a 25% stake in the team is with “hidden owner” Suresh Chellaram, a Nigeria-based co-brother-in-law of Mr Modi. Manoj Badale did not respond to an email seeking comment from ET.
Incidentally, Rajasthan Royals won the first IPL tournament in 2008. The report also says Kolkata Knight Rider’s co-owner Jay Mehta, who is married to actor Juhi Chawla, is “partly fronting” for Lalit Modi. Industrialist Jay Mehta denies these allegations. According to an official response from KKR, the team is wholly-owned by actor Shah Rukh Khan and Mr Mehta and there are no other shareholders. “Kolkata Knight Riders is owned by Mr Shah Rukh Khan and The Sea Islands Ltd (a company incorporated in Mauritius), which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mehta International Ltd—the holding company of the Mehta Group. The shareholding pattern is as follows: Mr Shah Rukh Khan-55%; Sea Islands Ltd-45%. There are no other investors in Knight Riders Sports Private Limited,” said a spokesperson of KKR.
The report claims that Modi owns a stake in Kings XI Punjab through Akash Arora, owner of Delhi-based BPO Netlink Blue. Arora is a part-owner of the team along with Ness Wadia and Mohit Burman, according to the report. “Akash does not and has never owned a stake in our team,” said Mohit Burman. He, however, declined to categorically state that 100% of the team’s ownership rests solely with himself, Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia and Karan Paul.
Mohit’s younger brother, Gaurav Burman, who is married to Lalit Modi’s stepdaughter, told ET that he also owns a stake in the Mohali team. He volunteered this information while responding to allegations in the report that he is linked to Betfair, a UK firm that runs one of the world’s largest betting syndicates on the Internet. As readers of ET would know, betting is a legal activity in the UK. The report says that according to information contained in Modi’s email account, the IPL chairman is helping Betfair, which is seeking to enter the casino and hospitality business in India.
“Gaurav Burman is to receive equity on behalf of Lalit Modi,” the report says. “This is completely baseless, I have no links whatsoever with Betfair,” Gaurav Burman told ET. From Modi’s emails, the tax department also accessed details of a transaction relating to the purchase of a luxury yacht in Malta that is to be delivered in Mumbai or Dubai.
Conflicts of interest
WSG and IMG, two companies that received BCCI contracts, are both old business partners in Modi’s own businesses. Modi Entertainment Networks runs Fashion TV in India. IMG did business with Fashion TV for years before it won the contract for managing IPL. IMG, a powerful global firm with interests in sports, media and entertainment, was to get 10% of IPL’s revenues as management fee. In July 2008, following murmurs that this was too sweet a deal, BCCI terminated the contract.
The two parties later renegotiated and IMG was back in the game with a substantially reduced fee.According to the report, WSG, which owns IPL’s overseas rights, was owed $2.5 million by Modi Entertainment Network from an earlier transaction over which Modi had lost litigation both in India and the UK. The report alleges that by awarding WSG rights at favourable terms, Modi was settling the old dues from his private business. Netlink Blue, whose owner Akash Arora is a part-owner of Kings XI Punjab, according to the report, is another firm that has received favourable BCCI contracts.
“The close links of Modi with Netlink are established through a series of emails wherein Lalit has illegally given Netlink live feeds of Australia-India series before BCCI president intervened and stopped this illegal sale of rights,” the report says. Sure enough, the favour is not without a quid pro quo. “From Netlink, a part of payoff is by way of a commitment to bail out Mr Modi’s sick venture Voyages TV through cash injection of Rs 8 crore in the form of equity,” the report says, citing emails that were available to I-T sleuths.
WHY IS KINGS XI PUNJAB SELLING OUT NOW?
By Sanjay Jha
It may be hugely difficult but we must take a momentary pause from the interminable madness of the repugnant IPL-Lalit Modi mess and its vicious ugly confrontation with Congressman Shashi Tharoor to briefly reflect on an event simultaneously playing out, which we may be cursorily overlooking; just why is the franchise owners of Kings XI Punjab selling out now? It seems prodigiously peculiar. Let us see why.
1) IPL Commissioner and his so-called “ Governing Council” sold new franchises for up to USD 333 million ( Kochi) and USD 370 million ( Sahara ) just a few weeks ago on the sanguine if not sacred belief of their “ recession –proof”“ theory that all IPL franchises will be hugely profitable in a short period . No sane rational businessman usually invests large cash upfront unless they see massive revenue/profits down the line, right? Buying Lalit Modi’s logic , if Kochi and Sahara could be profitable in a few years, imagine the humongous success chances of Kings XI Punjab ( and others) on a significantly lower cost base of just USD 76 million, approximately only one fifth of the cost of Sahara, for instance. They ( IPL Round 1 owners) also have a first mover advantage. Since finally it is profit numbers and operating margins that determine valuations, Kings XI Punjab would get a massive financial windfall if they sold later, borrowing the Modi-IPL argument. So why are they selling now in such tearing hurry especially as everyone is celebrating the “IPL 3 success” ? ? Please remember that commercial value has nothing to do with cricketing performance in IPL; SRK’s KKR remains a huge draw irrespective of a mediocre to average show. So Kings XI Punjab’s last spot in IPL 3 may just be a convenient subterfuge.
2) Curiously, three of the four promoters of Kings XI Punjab have a strong corporate base, own large cash surpluses and are also asset rich. Mohit Burman ( Dabur), Ness Wadia ( Wadia Group- Bombay Dyeing ) and Karan Paul ( Apeejay-Surendra) have such deep pockets they could sweep the floor through them. And from the look of it even Ms Preity Zinta, Bollywood actress is likely to get a whopping consideration in late director Kamal Amrohi’s real estate legacy. So prima facie none of them needs cash or monies at all. So why are they dramatically disappearing now? Together? All of them in one pack? Why is not even one of them remotely bullish about Modi’s great IPL business model?
3) What makes things even more strikingly perplexing is therefore the extraordinarily unusual price that seemingly the new purchaser Videocon Group is willing to pay , rumored to be in the range of USD 275 million which is almost 4 times the original acquisition price? Why ? .It is virtually impossible that Kings XI Punjab even broke-even leave aside making a nominal profit . But let us be generous in our charitable intent and assume that they did that in just two years, but yet who would pay Rs 780-Rs 800 crore extra for the same property within just 2 years ? Why ? What motivates a big group like Videocon to take such a mammoth risk?
There is much more to it than meets the eye;
Is Kings XI Punjab aware of some inside information that others don’t?
Is this a manipulated platform to sell stake before the bubble bursts , which is known to key IPL functionaries who have created the “ valuation” hype over Kochi and Sahara to create that artificial benchmark pricing?
Is the IPL franchise investment like the junk bonds of Wall Street that has found willing suckers and therefore the early birds are leaving surreptitiously having made their targeted fast buck while others may be left holding dud stocks?
Is the IPL cartel doing the famous “ insider-trading” with kind blessings from the powers-that-be?
And pray, who could be silently guiding this entire transaction?
Who will be the biggest beneficiaries from this summer sale?
Too many unanswered questions.
All we know is that looming large over the Kings XI Punjab ( latest rumors even indicate a betting syndicate and match-fixing ) is the omnipresent shadow of the IPL chief Lalit Modi , whose son-in-law Gaurav Burman is one of the key promoters, who also owns valuable digital and media rights. Whew—IPL is the ultimate in family business! But the sanctimonious Modi is terribly upset about Shashi Tharoor’s impropriety ? LOL!
Enjoy your IPL match this Sunday !
WHAT SHASHI THAROOR COULD DO NOW ?
By Sanjay Jha
Congressman Shashi Tharoor will perhaps hereafter never give his kindly “ blessings” in a hurry, judging from the massive flak he has drawn for his advisory role in the IPL Kochi franchise. As a smart politician Tharoor obviously saw the IPL franchise as an opportunity to create a sustained annual model to remind the frequently shifting voters of Kerala that this was his big gift to the southern state. In the complex world of electoral politics in God’s own country, it helps to have a stable vote bank. With IPL threatening to explode into a financial juggernaut and creating its own sports infrastructure/industry Tharoor envisaged a greater platform for event management, tourism and hospitality, trade and business , employment opportunities and state promotion with their consequent monetary windfall. Tactically, an intelligent assessment by Tharoor which was further buttressed by his well-recorded passion for cricket. Only, he should have been much more circumspect and doubly cautious with regards to the likely political ramifications of the presence of his friend and companion Sunanda Pushkar in the same franchise.
I don’t agree with Tharoor entirely that he was not so naïve as to have Sunanda Pushkar be his “ front” in the franchise. Sometimes we are all consumed by either casual recklessness or sheer arrogance. Assuming that she is indeed not a benami beneficiary , Tharoor should have still realized that prima facie even a novice could easily allude to a quid pro quo between Tharoor’s “ blessings” and his chelas , with the latter rewarding their high-priest with a big bounty for his benedictions. I think he should have been extremely sensitive about that disclosure in view of his close relationship with Ms Pushkar. There are just three possibilities; either Tharoor is genuinely totally innocent and has acted in pure good faith ( personally, I hope that is the case) and has no commercial interests whatsoever, or he was gullible enough to trust the wily , calculating Modi who upset his applecart or Ms Pushkar is indeed an authentic service provider being provided with sweat equity with Tharoor’s presence in her personal life being purely incidental.
It is obvious though looking at Tharoor’s perceptible discomfiture that there is a vast difference between being an international diplomat and an Indian politician. It is not an easy transition but the skill-sets required are not so dissimilar ; one needs to jump into troubled waters without making a splash. But Tharoor still has an honorable way-out of this unending chaos and emerge unscathed, if he chooses to.
The reality is that the Kochi IPL franchise is going to struggle to break-even or make nominal profits for a considerable period ( in my estimation over 5-8 years ) , so where is the exit route for actually encashing the stocks held? Even if sold to a private investor where is the guarantee of increased valuation ? In fact, the hype over IPL valuation triggered by Modi’s office is a manifestation of something wishy-washy being done to create an artificial big bubble and is actually at the heart of the entire controversy . It is said that anyone who believes that exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either mad or an economist. Modi is neither. We are still trying to figure out what unique category does he belong to. Thus, Ms Pushkar’s contract willy-nilly has a huge financial risk and is not a walk in the rose garden as has been generally prognosticated by some newspapers.
Tharoor , in the circumstances, should ideally request or persuade his friend Sunanda Pushkar to exit the Kochi franchise by withdrawing her professional services . After all , the shares allocated to her are a financial reward for services to be rendered in the future. The franchise has not even started operations and thus by walking out of it now , Tharoor and Ms Pushkar could establish a few things beyond dispute:
1) He has NO engagement whatsoever DIRECTLY with the Kochi franchise.
2) With Pushkar walking out , there would be no INDIRECT connection as well. Thus, the benami story would also be nullified and nipped in the bud.
3) This would not tantamount to a confession of guilt ; on the contrary, Tharoor could walk with his head held high in a morally upright stance.
4) Tharoor then could have the complete rights to demand a full-scale investigation into the cross-holdings in the other franchisees which is now already being investigated by appropriate statutory authorities.
5) If Sunanda were to hold on to the Kochi equity ownership the stigma of misuse of his public office would haunt Tharoor forever , irrespective of the factual issues. Worse, they would not necessarily realize monetary gains despite the clause of “ undilutable in perpetuity”.
6) Tharoor would save the Congress an unwarranted mess to untangle.
Tharoor must look at the criticality of the ministerial portfolio he currently holds in the world’s largest democracy in a dynamic geopolitical environment . I am assuming he has long-term political aspirations of making a credible impact and growing to higher positions. The Congress-UPA government looks to be on a solid wicket and should last a full-term. Is it then worth losing the confidence of his own party and government over an allegedly dubious, nebulous financial arrangement that could permanently tarnish his otherwise infallible image?
Life is about making choices, sometimes difficult ones. For Shashi Tharoor that moment has arrived. He should make it easy.
It’s a two-way street
On April 6, 1998, Sonia Gandhi was unanimously elected the Congress president. The intervening 12 years have seen huge changes. In Gandhi herself and in the way we see her.
Soon after taking over the Congress presidency, Gandhi visited, Mumbai. Murli Deora, then the head of the state Congress, hosted a lunch to introduce her to the media and prominent people. With her was Manmohan Singh. When she sat down for lunch and was asked a question about politics, her response was to look at Singh and say, “Manmohanji aap hi boliye.” The diffident manner may still be much in evidence, but the diffidence itself has long since gone. Gandhi’s unsure outward manner, in fact, hides a remarkable metamorphosis, one through which a simple, uncomplicated homemaker unfamiliar with India’s intricate social structure and its complex political nuances of caste and region, has become adept at handling them with consummate ease.
This personal transformation has taken place undeterred by the hostility she faced from the chattering classes. It’s difficult to imagine that just 12 years ago, a vast majority of India’s educated elite disliked the very idea of Sonia Gandhi. They resented the fact that a foreigner was elevated to such an important post, sniggered at her unimpressive academic qualifications and mocked her political naiveté. Many of those critics have now become admirers, others converts to her cause.
If she weathered this disparagement it was because Gandhi’s instincts must have told her that their disapproval didn’t matter. What mattered was the affection with which the poor of India welcomed her, evident in the ‘huge’ or ‘frenzied’ or ‘rousing’ election rallies.
Why was there such a diametrically opposite response to one individual? The poor of India weren’t put off by her foreign identity because they saw that she had embraced an Indian one: in clothes, in deportment, in language and in family values.
Why did India’s upper classes take a dozen years see what the poor and illiterate masses saw instinctively? There is a simple explanation for it, so simple in fact that we may be tempted to reject it. That explanation is this: the educated elite has over the years become cynical.
So cynical, in fact, that it fails to see the possibility of good in others. Not good as in good, better, best which it understands, but good as in morally right and virtuous, as in a person of noble character, which its cynicism won’t allow it to accept.
This is the reason why the educated elite was unable to comprehend Gandhi’s turning down of the prime ministership in 2004. They invented ‘reasons’ for her refusal: that the president advised her to do so because there would be constitutional objections to her foreign origins (Rashtrapati Bhavan denied this). Some said she was afraid for her life, a ridiculous statement when you considered the openness of her election campaign.
The ‘inner voice’ she referred to had advised her earlier too: first when she refused the Congress presidency which came as an emotional response to Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991, and seven years later in 1998 when she relented and accepted the job reluctantly. The cynicism of the chatterati made them think she did so because of ambition; what they were unable to see is that she did so from a sense of duty to save the Congress from the oblivion it was hurtling to under the ‘leadership’ of the likes of Sitaram Kesri and Arjun Singh, Sharad Pawar and N.D. Tiwari. That sense of duty, born of being a part of the Nehru-Gandhi family from the age of 24, was so strong that it overrode her shyness and the horror of living through the assassinations of Indira and Rajiv.
That sense of duty to the Congress and the nation now also drives Gandhi’s aggressive pursuit of social legislation: against poverty (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and farm debt waiver), against corruption (Right to Information Act), against gender inequality (Women’s Bill). This continues the tradition of legislation brought in by the Nehru-Gandhi family: Jawaharlal Nehru’s ‘temples of modern India’ and ‘commanding heights’ of socialism, Indira Gandhi’s abolition of privy purses and bank nationalisation, Rajiv Gandhi’s panchayati raj and communication network to rural and small town India. In retrospect, not all these ideas stand the test of time, but their intention was always for the greater good of the majority. In short, the intention was always — and there’s that word again — noble.
It takes some effort to use that word. It probably makes some of you cringe to read it. But when you think about it, the fact that it lacks currency in today’s world is a sad reflection on our times and the people who occupy our public space. If Sonia Gandhi and her steadfast ally Manmohan Singh restore it and give it back to us so we can use it without self-consciousness, they will have given to our national life something far greater than all the bills and legislations put together. But they need us to meet them half away; they need us to let go of our deep-seated cynicism.
Anil Dharker is a Mumbai-based writer. The views expressed by the author are personal.
Sonia’s blueprint for party’s future
Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s re-appointment as the Chairperson of the National Advisory Council (NAC) is a clear signal from the party of its overall assertion over the government. It is also, in a way, an admission by the party that the government needed better direction to implement the party agenda that was in tune with the aam aadmi. By institutionalising her position as NAC supremo, the party expects ministers to be more committed in their approach. The Congress is clear — its focus remains on social causes.
The announcement was made even before information about Ms Gandhi’s appointment had been formally conveyed to the UPA allies. While there had been widespread speculation about her taking over as the NAC Chairperson for sometime now, the announcement assumes significance in view of reports that several ministers were busy pursuing their individual, rather than the party’s, agenda. The move is likely to curb the activities of those ministers who did not prioritise the party’s interests. This will also spell out in definite terms that, apart from the Prime Minister, even the party is watching their performance closely.
The start of the UPA-II government has not been impressive. The party and its supporters have been worried that if this perception is allowed to persist, it may prove to be very costly. During the first edition, the support from the Left parties had also contributed to ensuring that the government’s agenda remained more focused on the downtrodden sections. But after the formation of the new government in May last year, there has been a perception in many quarters that the UPA-II had been unable to control rising prices and that the statements and actions of some ministers were diluting the aam aadmi agenda of the Congress. In the process, policies were tilting towards the corporate world. In a few matters, the country’s interests seemed to have been undermined.
Even though the equation between the PM and the Congress president remains unchanged, Ms Gandhi — as the party president — has to look at its interests beyond the present government. In other words, she also has to bring the government around to implementing its promises so that the Congress continues to be a potent force even beyond 2014. The party has to look towards the future.
The possible reason for her looking ahead is that she has always been a visionary. She had given a call to secular and like-minded parties during the Congress’s Shimla conclave in August 2003 to come together to defeat the communal forces led by the BJP. Now she perhaps feels that if the government does not implement the party’s agenda with commitment, the Congress she leaves to Generation Next might have a credibility problem.
It is natural for a forward-thinking person to be worried about this. Had the BJP implemented its Ram mandir agenda during its six-and-a-half years in power, it may have continued to be in the government. Ms Gandhi is seized of the fact that if the Congress fails to fulfil its promises and allows an extraneous agenda to be implemented, the repercussions for the party may be wide-ranging.
Critics may question her appointment on the ground that as the Congress president she could accomplish whatever she wanted; so where was the need to head the NAC? It is true that she is an extremely powerful person but, in politics, occasions arise when there is need to institutionalise advice as also to assert the party’s position without hesitation.
Ms Gandhi is looking at the future and at the aspirations of Generation Next. She is committed to the aam aadmi agenda and wants to perhaps ensure that the government remains on course. Between us.
Gochi
By Sanjay Jha
It was bound to happen, the inevitable repercussion of mounting superciliousness and power-obsession combined in a toxic tonic. The IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi has, as is his customary practise, indulged in another provocative transgression this time dragging down the equally controversial and high profile Congressman MOS for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor. The murky money-making machinery of IPL has just received some more greased lightning. The apparently treacherous terrain befuddling Mr Modi’s slippery feet and causing him anguished nightmares is, WHO are the mysterious owners of the new IPL franchise in Kochi, Kerala, in particular a certain woman named Sunanda Pushkar ? Modi is perceptibly infuriated that Tharoor asked him not to circulate her credentials as a promoter. Modi is miffed. Modi sniffs a mouse lurking around . Modi does not like being told what to do. So he does what Tharoor so far thought was his own masterful domain, his own monopoly strategy for all sensitive situations— he Twittered.
But to address this evidently controversial subject we have to start from the very beginning, by asking Mr Modi himself some pertinent questions:
1. Can we have the list of all potential franchise bidders for the first round of IPL in Y 2008? We know who finally triumphed but what was the second best bid after Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance offer? By whom? Who were the first-round losers and by how much? How come Vijay Mallya retained his personal Banglaore turf and who did he pip to the supposedly “lucrative” ownership ? IPL needs to disclose the exact details (particularly now), or else, it can be happily concluded that this was finally only a privately held caviar, champagne and cappuccino deal, a convenient meeting of a well-orchestrated cartel group done in secret, violating all norms of transparency and proper procedure. Modi is obliged to do so in the same ” public interest” as his current investigation of the Kochi franchise compels him to do an IPO on Tharoor.
2. Can we have full disclosures of all stakeholders, irrespective of percentages, including names of fronting companies and “related parties”? Rumors have circulated fast and furious that there are many sleeping partners who have covert ownerships, hence the highly-staged valuation razzmatazz. Who are the several beneficiaries lying low behind Bollywood glamour et al?
3. How come a BCCI official was allowed to bid for Chennai which is a flagrant contravention of basic ethical standards? At least in that case, the owners of India Cements should have resigned from the BCCI to avoid a palpable conflict of interest. If cross-holdings involve BCCI/IPL officials then we can all safely assume that we have a humongous conflict for which Modi needs to offer us all ” public” a categorical explanation. We are waiting, Mr Modi.
4. How can the IPL commissioner actually discuss confidential matters citing ownerships, naming stakeholders personally and indulge in a calculated ploy to create speculation through penning trite lines on Twitter? It is bizarre. This had prima-facie nothing to do with the world at large (albeit Modi tries to sound so-self-righteous) so what is Modi’s real motive in raising it deliberately to attract and escalate media attention and involve the aam junta in his proposed political games?
5. Incidentally, who is Modi to question Kochi’s decision to give equity holding to anyone that they deem fit ? How is that relevant ? Will Modi question Ambani if he decides to offer part of his Mumbai Indian shares to Lady Gaga or Shah Rukh Khan makes Salman Khan a partner in KKR a-la- gratis ? Thus, is Modi playing another manipulative game with some ulterior motives?
6. Can Mr Modi explain his ” professionalism” in taking autocratic decisions without even consulting his own IPL governing council as alleged by the BCCI chief Shashank Manohar himself? Is that the way the much-haloed IPL enterprise should be run?
7. In fact, there is basic lack of due diligence right at the bidding stage itself by IPL which manifests it’s glaring incompetence. Rudimentary prudence demands that they should have obtained full disclosures of all financial investors and board of directors even before handing out the franchise ownership. Why now? And in any case, unless the new owners have serious issues of criminal misconduct , anti-national activities ,committed severe financial impropriety or attempted fraud , why should Modi have an objection? Because the lady concerned, a co-owner of the franchise, is a beautician who might be marrying Tharoor?
8. The attempt to draw in Tharoor is clearly vitiated, notwithstanding Tharoor’s inborn penchant for courting sporadic trouble. But Mr Modi, why does Tharoor’s private relationships and their monetary quotient require such a motivated exposure?
9. There are many who believe that Modi wanted the Ahmedabad franchisee to scrape through , hence the belated attempt at skullduggery. Do I see a Modi and Modi connection somewhere, a lurking shadow of mutual convenience lingering on to the sacrosanct 22 yard pitch now converted into a goldmine ? At the cost of stretching this soap-opera has the Sangh Parivaar got a member with a bigger game-plan?
Your guess is as good as mine.
IPL, Mayawati and Akon
By Sanjay Jha
Mayawati , UP chief minister, took majestic strides supervising the bricks and boulders near her half-constructed towering statue. She looked furious as her concrete nose was incorrectly positioned at a vertical angle of 82 degrees north-west. A disconsolate crow sat there pensively staring at parched agricultural land.
Cancel that stupid police commissioner’s investigation into the nasty bee attack on me with immediate effect , she roared aloud, as nervous birds rapidly disappeared into their nests in fright and a deathly silence echoed back.
Her Brahmin confidante who was busy on a tree-top with a magnifying glass investigating a bee- hive almost fell off the branch as the tree swayed from left to right to left on hearing Mayawati’s tempestuous outburst.
I have found out the kingpin of that diabolical conspiracy. I have; said Mayawati with a satisfied smug smile.
W-H—0? The Brahmin stammered.
Amitabh Bachchan , said Mayawati, with the cocksure arrogance of Miss Marple.
Amitabh Bachchan Ji? Hey Ram! He is really a Natwarlal, Madam. Naughty Natwarlal.
Stupid fellow! He is the Big Bee, remember? I should have known. And they say, what’s in a name?
But you blamed the Congress, madam! What I meant was that Big Bee was holding a congress of bees to attack me, at the behest of Bee JP. He was instigating an orchestrated campaign using those horrible pests. That was his devious plan. You know why?
Why , Madam Ji?
He wants revenge because I removed him as our band -baaja fellow.
You mean, brand ambassador?
Shut up, you idiotic buffoon, thundered Mayawati , as the trees shed their leaves and branches rocked from side to side like youngsters in a Shyamak Davar’s dance class.
Maam, but don’t worry, be happy. We can get some other ambassador?
I don’t want ambassador now . Enough. Let Gujarat keep ambassador. And Nano . I want a Mercedes. Only Mercedes.
Maam, I can arrange through one man. Very influential. Every night he is on TV grinning at the cameras , giving side-long glances.
Who? screamed Mayawati, as by now the trees had begun to uproot themselves in sheer agony.
Modi.
Shut up, you loaf of oaf . He will send Bachchan back to us.
Maam, I am not talking about Narendra Modi. I am talking about Lalit Modi. The IPL big boss.
But isn’t he the fellow who talks all the time about himself only ? I need someone to tell the world that the Taj Mahal is not yet sold. We are looking at bidders though. We have to sell UP also.
No, Maam. Sometimes he also talks about his endless achievements, Maam. And he can also help us auction the Taj , Maam. Get good price.
OK. Call him. NOW !
The phone was busy. The Brahmin shivered in fear.
He is engaged, Madam!
I don’t care if he is engaged or married , call him NOW!
After a few minutes Modi picked up.
Hello, he said with a pronounced lisp.
I want a band Mercedes, Modi Ji., said Mayawati. .
Who is this sweet pudding-pie crust ? Shilpa or Preity or Sherlyn or Sush or ……
Maywati held her anger back as the Brahmin said; Lalit Modi ji, this is Mayawati Ji , CM of Uttar Pradesh , Madam on the other side. Sorry, this side .
Oh ! said, Modi, partially taken aback. . No problem. Cool. Just watch Set Max TV channel , while I take a strategic time-out to have a quick chat with Mukesh Bhai. I will be back before the next six hits the commentary box clobbered by Yusuf Pathan. Which means in a jiff.
Mayawati was not impressed with the waiting , but held her nerves and temper by practicing pranayam.
OK, shoot ! What’s the proposition? Modi reemerged in 233 seconds , the sound of broken glass and crowds cheering in the background.
The Brahmin coughed and cleared his throat.
Modi ji, brand ambassador we want.
Sure. What valuation are you expecting ? Quote your price, folks! Shoot!.
What is this valuation-faluation , Sir?
Oh forget it, sniggered Modi. How much will you pay ? How much cash? How much?
First -for WHOM ? Who ? What for?
Oh, sorry, I forgot that. A minor slip, uttered Modi, slightly riled by irrelevant probing.
Three choices; first, Akon.
Ye hai kaun ? said Mayawati.
Modi smothered his frustration. He contained his irritation.
Second choice, Sherlyn Chopra.
Sher nahi chahiye, dubla ya mota.
There was a long pause. Modi had begun to experience what Kings XI Punjab goes through in the 20th over. Suddenly, he smiled. He had a brainwave.
Yes. Who is the teesra, Modi Ji? We are waiting.
Er um er umm. Modi hummed and hawed.
Yes? Speak up Mr Modi, who is the third fellow? Our last choice.
Me Maam! Me, Lalit Modi, Me IPL Commissioner, Me VP, BCCI, Me Moses. Me Me Me !
Stop doing Me Me Me, silly chap! Ok. But how much will you cost ? Hope not more than my garland, queried Mayawati.
Oh that ! That is complex, Madam Ji ! I am just doing my personal brand valuation report through McKinsey using the discounting cash flow method , assuming ceteris paribus global economic conditions and falling variable costs. I Me Myself believe that I Me Myself will get a valuation of——-.
Mayawati waited for nine and a half minutes but Modi was still on his monologue.
This fellow Modi is just like that other fellow Modi. Same same. Full of themselves. Get me Bachchan’s bachcha , only. I will do a Amar Singh on Amitabh. Father versus son, said Mayawati with a mischievous smile. For the first time she looked happy.
The Brahmin looked impressed. What an idea, Madamji.
Resurgent Congress, obsessively on the offensive
We’re in the middle of a lull on the women’s reservation issue, so we thought we’d post this piece from the Times of India to remind us about Sonia Gandhi’s game-changing leadership:
Sonia Gandhi’s Congress is not content just to be in power. This is clearly a resurgent party setting agendas, taking risks, pushing for big change. Whether it is loan waiver for farmers, NREGS, Rahul Gandhi working the youth or, now, the Women’s Bill, the Congress is wresting the initiative from both the Right and the Left. In the process, the party is widening its base, luring into the mainstream whole new constituencies. Will this guarantee 300-plus LS seats, so Rahul Gandhi can be king when he becomes PM?
When , in the President’s address just 20 days ago, Pratibha Patil made a pointed reference to the government’s commitment to an early passage of the women’s reservation bill and urged all MPs to pay “special attention to this critical proposal” , members took it as just another filigree of nice sounding words that usually embellish the ceremonial presidential drone. To be fair, neither did the capital’s “astute” political observers sit up in excitement.
In fact, even when the Union cabinet cleared the bill on February 26, just one newspaper (The Times of India) took it seriously, thinking perhaps the time had come for the passage of this game-changer of a legislation , given the composition of Parliament. Still, most, including our MPs, were cynical – why would anyone pull out the pin of this political grenade? The law would be a kind of Russian roulette with no MP knowing whose seat would be reserved for women. It was, therefore, bound to be deeply unpopular with the army of male MPs. Why would anyone risk it? For 14 long years, the bill had been on the back-burner precisely for this reason, and politicians reckoned that’s where it would remain even now.
But, as it turned out, one politician was willing to risk it all: Sonia Gandhi, who was not even in the know when the cabinet cleared the bill, suddenly pitched her entire weight behind it. It was partly her conviction in women’s political empowerment, and partly her canny political sense which saw an opportunity to create a huge constituency for the Congress out of virtually thin air. Messrs Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh Yadav would, of course, be gnashing their teeth, and the going could get rougher for UPA 2, but Sonia was playing for the support of the mass of women and, therefore, stakes that were not only bigger but more durable.
Many Congress MPs, too, were caught offguard. With the boss indicating a quiet determination to see through the bill, and mouthing non-negotiable sentiments – the women’s bill, she said, was her late husband Rajiv Gandhi’s “unfulfilled” agenda – the realisation began to dawn that there was no going back.
The BJP and the Left parties, who have also been votaries of this politically-correct measure, were also left with no negotiating space. In the event, all of them started to outspeak each other about their commitment to women’s empowerment, never mind that all these years they have been niggardly about giving election tickets to women politicians.
Yet again, the Congress – Sonia Gandhi, really – was setting the political agenda, and everyone else was left reacting to it, either in opposition or in support. Yet again, the Congress was seen to be steadily adding building blocks to its support base. It started with the farmers and ‘aam admi’ with a series of empowering measures, including the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), farm debt waiver and the Right to Information Act.
And just as runaway prices were threatening to eat into her ‘aam admi’ plank, Sonia had played another trump card. In fact, Congress veterans who have been comparing her with her political teacher Indira Gandhi for some time now, were wondering this week if the student was not doing better than the master. Not surprisingly, the high-risk gamble has been interpreted by many as the Congress Party’s preparation for a mid-term poll. Party insiders too were not discounting the possibility. “If the government falls for some reason, we will go to the people and come back with bigger support,” said a leader.
Well, mid-term polls are not on the cards yet. Still, the Rajya Sabha standoff has brought to light a certain disconnect – rather, a difference of objectives – between Sonia Gandhi’s Congress and the UPA government. The government’s retreat on the first day in the Rajya Sabha showed its unwillingness to push the envelope too far and risk its existence.
But Sonia’s instinct said something else. As she told a television interviewer, she is aware of the “huge risk” in pushing through the bill. Even so, she was eager to take the risk and, in fact, speaks about it, if only to amplify her message – that she was staking her all to bring empowerment to women. Even as she spoke about the “huge risk”, you could almost hear a distant applause.
The week’s drama brought out another aspect of the unfolding political script. Sonia Gandhi was no longer doggedly determined to remain in the shadows, allowing her chosen Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, to be the face of UPA 2. In fact, within minutes of the bill’s passage in the upper house, she gave short interviews to three television channels – an absolute rarity – to drive home the point that it was she who was the moving spirit behind the legislation. Meanwhile, Manmohan Singh, after making a speech which skipped a mention of Sonia Gandhi’s role, retreated into the background. It would be silly to miss the political significance of this. Many wondered whether Rahul Gandhi’s period of apprenticeship was about to get over.
It’s not that the risks that Sonia spoke of are imaginary. First, the OBC anger runs deep. JD(U)’s Sharad Yadav put it plainly when he said the bill “will finish us all.” This paranoia, drummed up by the Yadav troika, can distance the OBC vote further from the Congress. Second, there is a sharp Muslim reaction too. This rises largely from an anticipated backlash of the Muslim orthodoxy, which would resist attempts by Muslim women to come into public life. While the OBC vote was never with the Congress, the Muslims were warming up to the party.
Sonia Gandhi will also have to contend with the resentment of male members of the Lok Sabha who make up nearly 90 per cent of the House. The disquiet among Congress MPs is palpable. Will it have an organisational impact? Sonia probably doesn’t discount the possibility, but reckons if the Congress structure is rocked by the measure, so will be that of the BJP, neutralising the disadvantage.
Clearly, none of these has deterred the Congress boss from pursuing what she calls the “larger picture.” She has shown she has the stomach for a fight, even if there is a risk of the move re-igniting OBC politics and refurbishing the credentials of Mulayam and Lalu. This fight with the Yadav duo was, in any case, inevitable, given that the Congress now competes with Mulayam’s Samajwadi Party and Lalu’s RJD in UP and Bihar. As for risking the Muslim vote, Sonia may be banking on Muslims having no real choice other than the Congress at the national level, and an assessment that the orthodoxy’s grip over the community is over-stated . She also knows there is no possibility of a government in this Lok Sabha minus the Congress with its block of 208 MPs. And with the BJP still in disarray, it is unlikely to go in for a fight with the Congress so soon after last year’s mauling.
In her comments after the Rajya Sabha passed the bill on Tuesday, Sonia Gandhi did regret that the Yadavs have parted ways, but was matter of fact about it. While acknowledging the “huge risks” , she said, “We have taken risks before” , indicating that she wishes to set down a definite political agenda that distinguishes the Congress from the humdrum governance-as-usual political parties.
Suddenly with the women’s bill, politics has become a turning wicket.
“The Method in the Madness of Mayawati”
While Sanjay humorously takes on the bee-zarre developments in the politics of India’s premier state–as in that gives us Prime Ministers–here’s an incisive take on Behenji’s real motives. Courtesy Anil Padmanabhan at MINT:
Watching the Mayawati show of opulence through the prism of mainstream television last week, undoubtedly, revolted our middle-class sensibilities. Going beyond the initial reaction, it is more than apparent that there was a method to the madness of the wily politician, the most iconic living representative of Dalits in the country.
A lot would depend on how the Congress succeeds in its consolidation efforts and also whether Mayawati is able to effect a turnaround in governance—as Nitish Kumar seems to have managed in Bihar.
