CHAPTER 8

8.

APPROPRIATION

The Union Government on 9 September 2004 constituted an Empowered Group of Ministers to take decisions on the final price of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). The group comprised Mr. P.Chidambaram,  Finance Minister, Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, and the Minister of the Administrative Ministry to which the Public Sector belongs.

In this connection, it must be noted that the members of the above group are not specialists capable of ascertaining the real value of the PSUs. It was a decision taken to bypass not only the Union Cabinet but also the Constitution of India. It was a decision taken in bad faith.

Now Mr. P.Chithambaram reiterated that he would support amalgamation of Public Sector Banks if they - on their own - came up with such a proposal.

The above thinking was a dangerous one. The industrialists had been approaching different banks for money. Once amalgamated, they will be able to remove the entire money through one bank. This would lead to flight of capital. Many others would not get it.

Besides the above, the industrialists wanted to bring the co-operative banks under the control of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). This again is to remove the money from the co-operative banks. These tendencies must be nipped in the bud.

Therefore,  on 10 September 2004  the letter No.39 was sent to Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India. The first 10 letters and the events that prompted those letters were also sent to him along with that letter.

The letter decried the efforts taken by the industrialists to bring all cooperative banks under the sole control of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).  This was to thwart the proposal of Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India and Mr. P.Chithambaram to amalgamate the Public Sector Banks. Further, the word “ex-propriatocracy” was coined to describe the situation.  It was letter No.8 sent after Dr. Manmohan Singh assumed charge as the Prime Minister of India. Overall, it was letter No.39 

The letter  follows.

 From

V.SABARIMUTHU

Thattankonam

Vellicode

 Mulagumoodu 629167

To

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

His Excellency the President of India

Presidential Palace

 New Delhi

Your Excellency

             Kindly consider how 1000 million people are being expropriated.      

1.   Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, on 27 September 2004 said that the decision makers would make “honest mistakes” and the people must live with such mistakes. All right thinking people would agree with this. However, the people draw their own conclusions on the charges against any leader. Tomorrow, the present Finance Minister would become the Prime Minister of India. Therefore, the Prime Minister or the CVC must have given answers to the four questions present in the letter dated 31-5-2004 even if they were likely to be unpleasant. Dr. Manmohan Singh, apparently, believes that such mega manipulations must be swallowed and not questioned by the mortal man. Why should the people be kept in perpetual darkness? Is it not expropriation?

2.   Dr. Manmohan Singh, further, said that the leaders were living in a world of great uncertainties. In this connection, it must be pointed out that the Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Governor of the RBI, Chief Justice of India, CBI Director, CVC and above all the President of India have no right, duty or responsibility to manipulate the financial institutions to the advantage/disadvantage of any industrialists because of the simple reason that they must be the powerful supervisors in India. Therefore, they should not allow themselves to be destabilized by breeding manipulations. Apparently, former RBI Governor, one Finance Minister, at least one Cabinet Minister and a Director of the BSNL lost their positions because of the manipulations. At least three Chief Justices and many learned judges lost their lusture during the last five years. Former and present Prime Ministers also are being affected. Therefore, all financial institutions - other than the UTI - must be barred from manipulating the Stock Exchange by advancing money to anyone in any manner. The 5% that  is equivalent to about Re. 100,000 crore allotted to less than1000 broker boys is out and out unconstitutional as it leads to the expropriation of 1000 million people.

2.In response to the letter No.1dated 1-6-2001, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee, former Prime Minister, conducted a series of meetings with various committees. He then convened the meeting of the Advisory Council of the Trade and Industry in September 2001 for reviving the economy.  Most of the ministers, higher officials and the prominent industrialists attended the meeting. To the utter disappointment of the industrialists, he conveyed the decision of the government to utilize the surplus deposits in banks for development purposes.  Shocked by the announcement, the industrialists did not allow him to sleep peacefully even for two days. They demanded him to convene the Economic Advisory Council immediately. He obliged. All the above dignitaries attended the meeting.  Keeping him in a tight corner, the Finance Minister opposed the decision and wanted to garner money through privatization. Four months of active discussion went in vain. The Prime Minister was no more in full control of the system. He tried to wriggle out but partially failed. The will of the people was snatched away by the will of the industrialists. Thus, within a few days, the Government sold Computer Maintenance Corporation (CMC) to Tata Sons for Re. 207 crore, a price lower than the market price; and the HTL to Himachal Futuristic Communication Ltd for Re. 152 crore. When the VSNL was sold, the Prime Minister cried and compared the PSUs to pillars. The media began to flatter him whenever they succeeded in snatching one PSU or other from the government. When the VSNL was sold, this writer clubbed it with the Re. 850 crore deal by Bank of India. Then, the Prime Minister began to apply brakes on banks and the interest rates fell. Further, he kept in abeyance several Cabinet decisions presumably through his Principal Secretary and hence many PSUs like the SCI escaped. The industrialists occasionally criticized him for not carrying out the privatization with full vigour. The nature of the forces working in Delhi to expropriate 1000 million people could be gauged.

3.     In an election meeting at Rajkot in Gujarat, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, Congress President, had asked the people whether a Government that ‘cheated people of their hard-earned money ever do any good for Gujarat and it went down well with the people. “The Hindu” reported this on December 9, 2002. The people have a natural right to enjoy the benefits of the words of political leaders. Any denial would go down as expropriation.

5.    Again, addressing a meeting in Himachal Pradesh on 11 December 2002, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi lashed out at the ‘disastrous’ economic policy of the Government.

      In contrast, Mr. P. Chithambaram,  on 31 December 2002, in a lengthy article in “The New Indian Express” said, “Why are some people happy with government control? The reason is it enables rent seeking. Ministers want control, so they oppose disinvestments. Bureaucrats want control, so they write meaningless rules and regulations. Bankers want control, so they put retired bankers on the boards of companies. Judges want control so they enter the field reserved for the executive under the pretext that the executive has failed to act. Government policies must be designed to break this stranglehold of controls. There is no better place to begin than disinvestments in PSUs and downsizing the central government. Before the year 2003 is out, Mr. A.B.Vajpayee must ensure disinvestments in at least two dozen PSUs (including some banks) are privatized and that totally redundant jobs in the central government are abolished”. The people reposed their faith in the words of the former and rejected the words of the latter. However, the latter rules the Nation. Is it not expropriation by the expropriated?

6.   What happens in India cannot be understood easily as the media concoct stories for every letter. Apparently, the industrialists, through one side, gave extraordinary pressure to the Mrs. Sonia Gandhi to relinquish power by giving wide publicity to the private and unofficial utterances of some political leaders. Form the other side; the industrialists pick pocketed the mandate of the people from her by indicating the groomed people. They wanted the post of Prime Minister besides the portfolios of Finance, Commerce and Petroleum. They got all the four in one go leaving her with all residual powers. Within hours mega manipulations started.  Now the industrialists proclaim to the world that she is the real power centre in India! Is it not for ex-propriation?

7.        The argument in the JMM case was that Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao, the then Prime Minister used money power to defeat the will of the people. Here, the industrialists utilized the media inclusive of the public sector TV channel (DD) to pocket the mandate of the people. Why should the DD expropriate 1000 million people?

8.      It is said that no lines can be laid down for civil or political wisdom. It is said that they are a matter incapable of exact definition.

    The people from east, west, north and south becoming the Prime Ministers of India would definitely kill regionalism.

    However, due to the manipulations of the financial institutions in the last three months, the bankruptcy of the LIC would be hastened by one year, Pay Commission benefits of state government employees would be delayed by at least one year, not less than 1000 children would die of malnutrition and more than 1000 aged would die of starvation besides affecting the economic activity all over India. This is worse than the terrorism in the Chechen School where 300 children had been killed by terrorists. Therefore, if the LIC and the banks had released any money to buy any shares to the advantage/disadvantage of any company directly or indirectly with the knowledge of the Prime Minister, he must consider the question of dispassionately examining whether the letter No.14 addressed to his Excellency the President of India on 19 October 2002 is applicable to him as well or not.

9.       It is said that if there is an idea of the Good, the people must have the freedom to discuss it, eagerness to discuss it and to apply it. It is said that the duty of the Government is to combine the entire three.  So long as the four questions regarding the “cash rich enterprises” and other questions remain unanswered people would think that democracy has passed on to  “ex-propriatocracy”-an extremist form of democracy unknown to Political Science.

 10. This is the letter No.39.The disqualification of these letters is the culmination of expropriation. However, these letters might go down as a highly specialized contribution to society. The letters fit well with the structural needs of the society. As Plato says that men have an unquenchable thirst for the Good, Dr.Manmohan Singh could publish all letters one by one in all newspapers - giving answers to unanswered questions. This will show how precisely the media directed attention to wrong things. The first ten letters along with the facts that prompted those letters are sent to His Excellency the President of India, CVC and the CBI Director for this purpose.

Vellicode                                                                                          Yours faithfully

10-9-2004.                                                                              

                                                                                                              (V.SABARIMUTHU)

           

         

Perhaps as a consequence of the letters, Dr. Manmohan Singh on 12 September 2004 sent a circular to all ministries requesting them not to air out any policy decision without his approval. Apparently, he felt that that people were watching every move of the government. Still another reason was to take the Left parties into confidence.

On the next day, he told the officials and the ministers that 2004 was not 1991.