The Curious Case of Subramanian Swamy's Propaganda Against Indigenous Corporates

By IndraStra Global Editorial Team (India)

The muck-racker politician has often invited public ire for false comments against reputed corporates such as the Tatas and Adani  

By IndraStra Global Editorial Team (India)

Subramanian Swamy a busybody on social media, especially Twitter, frequently uses the platform to vilify select Indian corporates and the policies of the present Modi government. Currently serving as a BJP-nominated Rajya Sabha Member, Subramanian Swamy is known as a bête noire of the Modi government and its economic policies. Often known to attack Indian corporates such as the Adani Group and Tata Group, Swamy’s loose comments to damage Brand India have been used by forces inimical to India who are hell-bent on building a negative narrative about our nation. Recently, he leveled a baseless claim against the Adani Group by quoting a fictitious figure as regards its debts and accused the Indian business house of creating non-performing assets (NPAs). The figure seems to be intentionally inflated to create a distorted narrative. 

On Friday even as Swamy once again unleashed vicious and false propaganda against the Adani Group, some informed Twitter users, caught his lies and shut him down. His mischief was fully exposed when the Adani Group issued the following statement saying that;

The text of the tweet;

The Adani Group strongly objects to a factually incorrect tweet posted by Mr. Subramanian Swamy, Hon’ble Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha on Friday, January 15, 2021. Firstly, the group maintains an impeccable record of not a single NPA in the three decades of its existence. The tweet quotes an incorrect and fictitious number.

Aligned to our core philosophy of nation-building, the Adani Group has built stellar infrastructure assets mitigating critical demand gaps in India.

Given our prudent corporate governance framework and capital management processes, our credit quality has consistently enhanced and the net debt to EBITDA ratio is less than 4, which demonstrates high credit ratings quality and almost all of our businesses enjoy a high credit rating from international and domestic rating agencies."

Political pundits feel that his angst is linked to failure in rising the ranks in public life. Swamy served the Janata Party for an extremely long time. He switched over to the BJP in 2013 with the hope that he will get a cabinet position in case the party wins the 2014 General Elections. The 2014 elections saw the BJP storming to power but Swamy’s ambition of becoming the Finance Minister of India remained unfulfilled. Filled with vengeance, Swamy initiated his attacks on the Modi Government, the then Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley & the government's economic policies in general. In an interview with The New Indian Express (TNIE) Editorial Director Prabhu Chawla, the unseemly stated that Prime Minister Modi doesn't know any economics.

However, those who have watched Swamy over the years will say that even Atal Bihari Vajpayee had been a victim of Swamy’s venomous attacks. As per his autobiography serialized in the Tamil weekly, Kumudham, he attacked Vajpayee on various occasions, not even sparing his personal life. He also had a role in the toppling of the Vajpayee government in 1999. 

What Swamy did next was unbecoming of a former cabinet minister and economist which he claims to be. Swamy turned against his own party and started venting his frustration on social media by tweeting against the government and also lambasting corporates. Surprisingly, his criticism of Indian corporates is selective and biased. He has never posted a tweet critical of Mukesh Ambani. In fact, Swamy was also seen blissfully hobnobbing at the wedding of Ambani’s daughter, Isha Ambani, confirming his corporate alignments/relationships and absolute lack of neutrality.

Besides, Swamy’s bizarre ideas and suggestions are not a new phenomenon. Back in the 1970s, he urged Indira Gandhi to do away with the ‘Five-Year Plan’, describing her as Santa Claus with unrealistic ideas. He persisted with his utterly foolish suggestion until the PM was forced to sack him from his position as a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). But rather than mending his ways, Swamy became more eccentric in the post-Indira Gandhi era and was even called a ‘Muckraker-in-Chief’ by the Times of India.

With Narendra Modi at the helm and Swamy’s hopes of occupying the top post of Finance Minister, Swamy has unleashed an unhinged, unstable, and unbalanced persona. He has not only said that the $5 trillion economy is not possible to reach but also commented that Modi’s economics will fail like Vajpayee's ‘India Shining’. Utilizing his clout, Swamy seems to create roadblocks in India’s growth story. He has not only called the Air India sale anti-national but also threatened to drag Modi to court over it. Even during the Doklam crisis, he made some snide remarks on government policies and hinted that China reentered despite the Indian Army’s strong rebuttal.

Instead of supporting the government and taking part in the nation-building process, he is busy criticizing indigenous industrial houses that have made significant contributions to the economy and country. Well, there are some people like Subramanian Swamy who never learn from their mistakes. In his unbecoming lust for power, his words and actions are nothing short of unpatriotic, the likes of which have no standing in our democracy. In India’s efforts and actions to emerge from a global pandemic, we need leaders who are committed to the wellbeing of our nation and its people, starkly juxtaposed against what Subramanian Swamy brings to the table: self-centered divisive mechanics that work towards breaking up the country instead of unifying it, with a single-minded motive-self-gain, power, and influence. 

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