'Most business donations come without strings'

Among political leaders, former Congress(I) president Sitaram Kesri is eminently well qualified to talk about the relationship between business, industry and politics. He was Congress(I) treasurer for 17 years, and held that crucial post during th e prime ministerial tenures of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. This was also a period when the Congress(I) was perceived to have benefited most by way of contributions from big business to its election fund. There are countless anecdotes about Kesri's in teractions with "moneybags", and when he is in an expansive frame of mind, Kesri is known to narrate mirthful accounts of his experiences.

But when Venkitesh Ramakrishnan spoke to Kesri to elicit his views on the relationship between big business and politics, the senior leader, who has in recent times been embroiled in a case relating to donations from abroad to the Congress(I), was extremely watchful in his utterances. Wary about some of the questions posed to him, he refused to respond to a few of them, explaining, with a smile, that "one should not create trouble." Excerpts from the interview:

How has Indian industry historically related to political parties? As a person who served as Congress(I) treasurer for 17 years, how would you analyse this relationship?

In every country, industry, big business and politics are bound to develop a relationship based on cooperation. They are bound to be inter-related because all countries go through a developmental process and all three institutions play a major part in th is process. As far as India is concerned, our industry and business as well as its leaders have played an inspiring part in the freedom struggle. On account of this, one can say that the relationship between Indian industry and politics is infused with t he spirit of nation-building. This is a special characteristic of our political system.

If you ask me to draw from personal experience to analyse the relationship, I would once again point out to the aforesaid characteristic, which I consider very positive. But I would also add that during my tenure as Congress treasurer, I have also seen t he bad side of the industry and big business.

What have been the methods and purposes of corporate donations to election funds? Is it not true that there are strings attached to these donations and that Ministers and Members of Parliament are compelled to push the cases of individual business hou ses?

One cannot generalise about donations to election funds. A large majority of the donations do not have strings attached. But there are certainly some problematic donations. The method of handling them would differ from party to party and politician to po litician. If the donations are accounted for properly, there will be fewer strings attached. It is the unaccounted donations that provide leverage for putting pressure on the individual politician and political parties.

Have you relied on such unaccounted donations when you were Congress(I) treasurer?

I would only reply that I have not or that I do not remember ever having done that.

V. SUDERSHAN

There is one opinion that licence-quota-permit raj that existed in the industrial and commercial sectors for much of the time that the Congress was in power created a give-and-take system of political funding. Politicians touted licences, quotas and p ermits to industry and business and in return got personal and political donations. How strong is this system now?

There is too much generalisation about all this. In every system, you will have corrupt people who make use of laws, rules and loopholes in them to make advantage individually or for a group. Branding all political parties as representatives of this clas s is not right. There might be some who indulge in such practices. But that is not true of everybody.

The Tata group has tried to establish transparency in political donations by making all their contributions public. Is this worthy of emulation?

Conceptually, there is no doubt that this is worthy of emulation. But the question is how far it can be implemented on a large scale. There will always be violators and they will find ways and means to do what they want to do.

The concept of state funding for elections has come up recently. How do you view it?

Here again, there is no problem with the concept. The question is: how will you implement it and what will be the foolproof mechanism to make sure that politicians and parties do not rely on other sources.