A corporate class war is spilling on to the political arena. Rahul Gandhi addressing the trendy corporate body CII last Thursday and Narendra Modi to speak at the women’s wing of conservative FICCI (FLO) on Monday, makes it evident that both PM hopefuls are keen to utilise the industry platform ahead of the impending 2014 Lok Sabha elections. While the Gujarat Chief Minister is on a public speaking spree, making his way to the capital often, questions were raised as to whether the CII had sent him a similar invite to its National Conference on 3 -4 April as it had to Rahul. “Yes, we did approach him. The invite had been sent at least a month and half ago. But the dates did not suit him” a CII official told The Sunday Standard. Another official, however, refused to confirm whether an invitation was sent at all.
It’s not just the dates that did not suit Modi. While Rahul was the exclusive focus of the CII stage, the BJP honcho would perhaps have been part of a panel consisting of other luminaries—PM Manmohan Singh gave the inaugural address. “Why would Modi want to share the limelight with the PM or Rahul Gandhi? He would most likely want an event dedicated to him,” an industry chamber official said.
After CII leaders Rahul Bajaj and Jamsheyd Godrej attacked Modi publicly after the 2002 riots, Modi has stayed away from important CII events. Founded over 117 years ago, CII is regarded in the corporate world as the more elitist of the two chambers with members such as Adi Godrej, S Gopalakrishnan, Ajay S Shriram and Sumit Mazumder.
FICCI, which was set up in 1927 by G D Birla and Ramkumar Kankrawa on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi is perceived as an association of homegrown businessmen and boasts of office bearers such as Naina Lal Kidwai, Sidharth Birla and R V Kanoria among others. While CII has over the years shown an affinity to the Congress, FICCI has drawn support from traditional Indian businessmen and was led for a decade by a right wing economist, Amit Mitra, until he switched ranks and entered the political arena with the TMC.
An FLO spokesperson, when contacted, denied that CII is elitist, since all industry chambers are working for common goals. “India Inc has toasted Modi on several occasions, so if he is there at FICCI it is good. I feel there was a race between both chambers in getting Modi and Rahul Gandhi because getting the Gandhi scion is a bigger achievement since he is more of a recluse.” FICCI officials say that Modi’s commitment to attend the 29th Annual Session of FLO was fixed around 15 to 20 days ago. Timing is everything—interestingly, the e-mail announcing Modi’s presence in the FICCI event reached members at the time Rahul Gandhi was winding up his CII address. Insiders say that the timing of the email was meant to grab eyeballs and send out a direct message to the Congress camp, that the charismatic BJP leader was preparing his rebuttal.
Industry sources say Modi chose FLO instead of the high-profile parent body FICCI in order to avoid the perception of a new confrontation between industry chambers. “Modi has investments coming in from members belonging to CII and FICCI. He would want to enter softly and still make his presence felt instead of showing a confrontation,” a source said.
The stage is set for verbal fireworks on Monday even as FICCI was forced to change the venue for the much-hyped event.
“We decided to shift the event from our official building to a hotel as there has been a huge response to the news that Modi is coming. A number of people want to attend the event,” a FICCI official said.
The Sunday Standard