Opinion Robert’s way

Vadra needs to be serious, because he cannot be above question

New DelhiNovember 4, 2014 12:38 AM IST First published on: Nov 4, 2014 at 12:38 AM IST

For the first time since the fall of the UPA, Robert Vadra has faced questions about his company’s land deals in Haryana. He responded with Hollywood noir aggression, repeatedly asking a rhetorical question — “Are you serious?” — before thrusting the mike away and stalking off. If he had done the last right at first, it would have been fine, for it is legitimate to refuse to comment. But it is not all right to try to intimidate the press. After the displacement of Bhupinder Singh Hooda by Manohar Lal Khattar in the Haryana elections, there has been talk of land

deals in Haryana being re-examined. The Comptroller and Auditor General has found that Vadra’s company made Rs 44 crore in windfall profit. He has had enough time to think about what he wants to say on the matter — or not say. But he lost his temper and the Congress party has lost face. It is he, and not the reporter whose mike he pushed away, who should have been serious.

Every time Vadra gets into a public situation, the Congress protests that a private citizen is being hounded. But that’s a private joke that the rest of India doesn’t really get. Vadra’s life may not be public in precisely the way that a member of government’s is, but it is far from private. It is substantially improved by privileges paid for by the public. He has security on par with the rest of his political family, is not frisked at airports and has easy access to the fast lane, literally and metaphorically. To the extent that he is entitled, he is also publicly answerable.

Vadra is a “politically exposed person” (PEP). The label, deriving from international enforcement, is applied not only to politically prominent people but close family, who invite routine scrutiny due to their proximity to power and their ability to broker access. PEP businessmen like Vadra may invite special attention, for they can potentially effect the alchemical transmutation of power into profit. His work, situated at the shadowy border between private and public, must be open to scrutiny, and he must accept that he cannot be above question.