AAP against crony capitalism, not capitalism: Arvind Kejriwal at CII meet
NEW DELHI: Delhi’s former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday addressed industrialists at CII, assuring that his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was against crony capitalism, and not capitalism.Kejriwal, who had maintained a confrontational stance against corporates, spoke about his party’s take on economic policies, but the response from the business community was a mixed one. “Our economic policy is honest politics,” said Arvind Kejriwal. Taking a jibe at the UPA government, he said, “We have had some of the best economists in the UPA regime. But are we happy with the way our economy is heading? Clearly no. This is because even the best of policies couldn’t be implemented because of corruption.”
While some businessmen say he should be given some time to settle down and develop concrete policies, others believe he would prove to be a better opposition. Vinayak Chatterjee, co-founder of Feedback Infra and Chairman of CII’s National Task Force on Infrastructure Projects, said, “Good governance and anti-corruption are definitely important pillars, but he will have to supplement clean politics with concrete economic policies. Kejriwal also made it clear that job creation is the ultimate deliverable of the private sector. However, privatisation is not the solution to all issues related to corruption. He insisted that it is the government’s job to make private players act according to the “rules of the game”. “We think of privatisation as a religion. But governance is a bigger issue. Only with good governance can there be good business,” he added.
“Inspector Raj and Licence Raj are nothing but an extortionist system. We want to end it,” said Kejriwal, elaborating on how to improve governance and therefore the ecosystem for business houses to flourish in the country The AAP leader also added that there’s an immediate demand to reduce unnecessary litigation. “We are first class victims of third class governance,” he added. Sunil Wadhwa, CEO of IL&FS Energy Development Company, said, “He sounds convincing on some issues, but not on others. Kejriwal would make a very good opposition for sure.” Kejriwal, who was addressing a meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), an industry body, also spoke of measures such as creating a strong deterrence to corruption; revisiting the existing systems, using technology efficiently, and decentralising power that would help them achieve their goal, and form “proactive policies” in order to build a robust pro-business climate.
