It?s Manmohan?s weakness that made Sonia select him

By MD Nalapat

It has been nearly two months since the Swiss parliament decreed that tax evasion is a crime if committed by citizen of a country where it has that legal status. But no request has gone from India with a list of names, asking for details of their bank accounts. This despite the fact that substantial evidence exists about fund transfers to foreign countries.

It ought to be a simple matter to get, for instance, details on the stays abroad of leading political, official and businesspersons, and check if the funds recorded as spent are matched by legal transfers.

At the outset, let it be clear that this columnist does not blame

Manmohan Singh for the failures of the UPA. He has only a solitary MP supporting him in Parliament, that too in the Rajya Sabha, and his name is Manmohan Singh. Indeed, this very weakness is why he has been selected by the owner of the Congress Party, ?Madam? Sonia Maino, to handle the job of Prime Minister of India, together with other senior colleagues who are similarly challenged politically. Which is why each of them is so obsequious to her, seeking frenetically to translate each whim of hers into reality. The most effective has been Palaniappan Maino, now Home Minister of India, during the stint while he was in charge of the Finance portfolio. Small wonder that there are no questions raised in the ?free? media about yet another unnatural death among the close (Indian) relatives of the Mainos, or any effort at asking if an exhaustive post-mortem was conducted, and what the reasons could be for the apparent suicide of Rajinder Vadra, father-in-law of Priyanka Vadra. Contrast this with the shrillness of the pack of hounds going after the middle-class, zero-influence parents of Arushi Talwar. Without a shred of evidence, the most astonishing sexual and social innuendos were brandished before the cameras about the Talwars and their friends, in contrast to the veil of silence that has descended on the death of Rajinder Vadra, who lost other loved ones in the past, in circumstances that remain unexplained. Perhaps the charm of the surviving son, Robert Vadra, and the way in which the authorities act in a manner that can charitably be described as deferential, can explain the silence of the media over the goings-on in the Vadra household, as it does their reticence on the Mainos.

Sonia Maino has on record said that her ancestral property in Italy is worth Rs 18 lakh. If the value mentioned by the lady is correct?and we should not doubt the word of the boss of India?s PM?then Sonia Maino?s ancestors must have come from a hole in the ground, for even that is these days worth a lot more than Rs 18 lakh in Italy.

Of course, we are told nothing about her family in Italy, including the travails of her father during World War II, when credible information states that he took an extended (in terms of time) tour of the then USSR, settling (hopefully comfortably) in a room in a state-run facility near Vladimir, an establishment recently visited by a VVIP from India in transport provided by the Russian government, of course without any media attention. Not one of our numerous television channels has examined the purported value of the farmhouse mentioned among the assets, which is presumably the same as that bought by Indira Gandhi. If what has been claimed to be the value is correct, this farmhouse must be only a few square yards in area, and having perhaps a mud hut on it. However, Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla?whose mother was tutor to Sanjay and Rajiv Gandhi?seems to have accepted Sonia Gandhi?s declaration of assets at face value. Certainly his close ties to the Mainos must have played no part in such a curious decision. In contrast, Varun Gandhi?the son of the man who was responsible for the rise to prominence of Navin, Sanjay?seems to have grabbed the attention of the Election Commission in a spectacular way, although this must surely not be because his rise in politics may represent a threat to the other branch of the family, that having a bevy of (disappearing) Indian relatives and a joyous lot of Italian kinsfolk, many of whom seems to love India enough to attract them towards making long stays in the country, again unremarked upon by the media of ?the world?s biggest democracy?.

But why blame the media? Since the UPA came to power, the powers of the Income-tax department have been increased to a level where a relatively junior officer can send into financial ruin any target of his or her attention. Sadly, such zeal seems to extend only to those seen as distant from the power centre now in command in Delhi, and hoping to be given a fresh lease of life on May 16. Had the Prime Minister (an individual who deserves compassion) been a free agent, he would surely have ordered the income-tax department to begin collecting details of the foreign assets of the key luminary residents of the country, so that these can be sent to Switzerland and other tax havens for further investigation. Although it has been nearly two months since the Swiss parliament decreed that tax evasion is a crime if committed by a citizen of a country where it has that legal status. But no request has gone from India with a list of names, asking for details of their bank accounts. This despite the fact that substantial evidence exists about fund transfers to foreign countries. It ought to be a simple matter to get, for instance, details on the stays abroad of leading political, official and businesspersons, and check if the funds recorded as spent are matched by legal transfers.

Hopefully, those officials within the income-tax department who are conscientious and honest?and there are still several?will now be quietly gathering data on such persons, so that in time, a patriotic government can formally ask the Swiss banks to reveal the details of such bank accounts.

Instead of doing this, Manmohan Singh has deliberately downplayed the estimate of $1.4 trillion in Indian money in foreign tax havens, when he is aware that the Institute of Global Banking & Research has estimated such funds at more than Rs 8.5 lakh crore, or about $1.68 trillion

Even 20 per cent of this sum would be equal to the country?s foreign exchange reserves, and an amnesty scheme reach double-digit growth in a period of global recession), Manmohan Singh is in effect seeking to prevent the erosion of deposits of foreign banks that would take place, in case an amnesty was to be announced in India. Even a tax rate of 15 per cent on the returned savings would be enough to fund the deficit, thus returning to health the country?s fiscal situation, and leading to a rise in the value of the rupee to Rs 30 per US$. It is a shame that the Indian rupee has so diminished in value even against a dollar that it is facing meltdown in its home economy. Of course, foreign banks benefit, as seems to be the intention in some quarters.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has presided over a regime of crippling tax rates, a vicious and regressive tax administration and interest rates that are at least double of what they ought to be. Those abroad who benefit from the slowdown that such policies have caused to the Indian economy will be gambling on the return to power of Sonia Maino. Others will look forward to a government that acts on behalf of the people of India, and puts in place a regime of low-interest rates and low taxes, as well as an amnesty scheme for foreign assets that can bring in at least Rs 2 lakh crore into India, at the cost of foreign banks.