So, could the ‘saintly’ PM be really guilty of corruption?

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s claim that he had information about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘personal corruption’ had predictably caused a stir. But his insistence that he would speak about it only in Parliament raised questions, with mainstream media wondering why he could not spell out the information in public.

While the Congress leader is clearly holding his cards close to his chest, he might have intended to strike a contrast with the Prime Minister, who speaks freely outside Parliament but rarely in the two Houses. The Prime Minister himself is in no doubt that he in fact is a saintly figure, a ‘fakir’ who is not interested in power or material things in life. Recently he declared that he was not bothered about his future. All that he had was his ‘jhola’ and he would be happy to walk away with it if it became necessary.

But tongues have been wagging for long about his sartorial tastes, the company he keeps and his penchant for ‘thinking big’. The Congress leader’s claim has given a fresh fillip to the speculation on whether the Prime Minister might have made some compromise on the way. NH takes a look at some of the uncomfortable questions which have been raised in the past.

ELECTORAL EXPENSES

It is agreed that the 2014 General Election was by far the most expensive in terms of campaigning costs. While the Prime Minister flew around in a private jet belonging to the Adani Group to address 400 election rallies between 2013 and 2014, both Adanis and the BJP claimed the expenses were within permissible limits. In his return submitted to the Election Commission Narendra Modi claimed to have spent only ₹50 lakhs in his personal capacity in Vadodara, which he visited only twice, with the party picking up the tab for the rest of the expenses. In Varanasi he and the party were believed to have spent much more, though the EC returns did not reflect it. This despite the hi-tech renovation of his campaign war room and hiring of a multi-storeyed building, 14 floors by one account, as his election office.

GROOMING AND CLOTHES

Arguably one of the best dressed Prime Ministers, Modi’s expensive tastes in matters of personal grooming has provided grist to the rumour mills. How many ‘Modi Kurtas’, for example, does he have in his wardrobe? While his controversial ₹10-lakh suit has gone into the Guinness Record as the most expensive suit ever auctioned (reportedly for a price of ₹4 crore), his biographers have noted with approval his preference for ‘Movado’ wristwatches (price of high end Movados going into several lakh rupees), Bvlgari sun shades, Italian shoes and MontBlanc pens. His style statements have been reported extensively. Two of the many reports can be read here and here. It was also reported that the Prime Minister has a personal designer in Troy Costa who specialises in western dresses. All this does come for a price.

Relationship with Gautam Adani

The Adani group of companies, though founded in 1988, took off after Narendra Modi became chief minister of Gujarat. There have been allegations since then of how the Group was favoured and allowed use of vast tracts of land on payment of a pittance and which the Group then parcelled out to others at substantial profit for itself. Gautam Adani was a permanent fixture in the Prime Minister’s entourage whenever he travelled abroad in 2014-15, often sharing the same floor as the PM. Their close relationship has been widely reported, so much so that when one of the Adani daughters got married in Goa when Narendra Modi was chief minister, the latter camped there for several days.

APCO Worldwide

While the famous or infamous, depending upon how one looks at its track record, American lobbying and PR firm, hired in 2007 by the Gujarat Government, has publicly denied any role in lobbying or any image building for Narendra Modi, his ‘American connections’ and ‘Republican links’ have raised eyebrows in the past.

Documents seized in CBI and Income Tax raids

Documents seized by the CBI and the Income Tax Departments during searches, and acknowledged to be ‘genuine’ by companies themselves, seem to suggest large amount of unaccounted money reaching a large number of politicians belonging to virtually all political parties. While they seem to relate to funds for campaigning in the general election, only an independent inquiry can unearth the extent of the shady transactions. A petition filed by the NGO ‘Common Cause’ for a Special Investigating Team (SIT) for a court-monitored probe continues to be pending before the Supreme Court.

The Prime Minister has also been at the centre of the storm following the use of his photograph to promote Reliance Jio and Paytm financial wallet. The admission by the Government that the use in both cases was unauthorised but would attract penalty of a paltry ₹500 scandalised commentators.

So could the saintly Prime Minister be innocent? The jury is still out.