Business & Politics

The Prime Minister’s endorsement of the Ambani group’s new digital product ends speculation of the supposed distancing between Narendra Modi and Reliance and caps Modi’s long track record of corporate friendliness.

- Venkitesh Ramakrishnan

“NARENDRA MODI IS AMONG THOSE POLITICAL leaders who are unambiguously and aggressively corporate-friendly, but this must rank as the ultimate pro-corporate gesture even by his own phenomenal track record in this respect.” This remark was made by a senior Sangh Parivar activist when his response was sought on the Prime Minister’s presence in the promotional campaign for Reliance Industries’ new telecom network, Jio Digital Life. The senior activist, who had worked closely with Dattopant Thengadi, the late Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) leader who was also among the top leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), recalled the veteran leader’s vociferous criticism of neoliberal policies in the 1998-2004 period, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government was in power. He pointed out, too, that such criticism was not possible under the Modi regime.

“There is indeed an understanding that the natural impact of the Modi imprint on the politics of the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] and perhaps on the Sangh Parivar as a whole is to restrain criticism of corporate bigwigs and their neoliberal pursuits. We saw this clearly right from July 2014, barely a month after he took over as Prime Minister. The early signals of this were visible in the heavily corporate-supported advancement of Modi’s Lok Sabha election campaign. Even so, it was unimaginable that this would reach the level seen in the Jio advertisement—a sort of personal endorsement of a private corporate entity, that, too, using a constitutional office,” the activist said.