New Delhi:
As some of India's top industrialists like Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata and HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh openly voice their fears of growth being hit by the prevailing atmosphere of negativity in the wake of the 2G spectrum scam and telephone tapping controversy, Union Minister and powerful ally of the Congress Sharad Pawar says the Prime Minister will definitely intervene.
Speaking to Shekhar Gupta on NDTV's Walk the Talk programme, Pawar said a healing touch was the need of the hour to restore confidence among India's corporates and investors.
Pawar also spoke about the phone tapping controversy. He said while it is sometimes necessary to tap phones in national interest, it is definitely wrong to continue tapping someone's phone for an indefinite period. He also said it is not fair to target people like Ratan Tata who, he says, has contributed so much to the country.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had recently acknowledged that there was "nervousness" in the corporate sector and spoke of tightening the system to prevent leakage of taped conversations.
"I am aware of the nervousness in the corporate sector, arising out of the powers conferred upon the government authorities to tap phones for protecting national security and preventing tax evasion and money laundering.
"While these powers are needed, they have to be exercised with utmost care and under well-defined rules, procedures and mechanisms so that they are not misused," he had said.
Speaking at a business conference in New Delhi, he also said the Cabinet Secretary has been asked to look into these issues and report back to the Cabinet within the next month.
The Prime Minister's remarks come against the backdrop of Ratan Tata expressing serious concerns over conversations between him and corporate lobbyist Niira Radia making their way to media. He used strong words like India facing the threat of becoming a banana republic.
HDFC's Deepak Parekh too had expressed concern over telephone tapping and leakage of 'private conversations' in public domain, and said the episode had hurt the morale of the industry.
Part of the 5000-odd telephone conversations recorded by the Income Tax Authorities between Radia and bigwigs including businessmen, politicians and press persons have found their way to the media and the Internet.
These intercepted phone conversations have become the most controversial and some say significant part of the CBI's effort to determine who's at the centre of the 2G scam, alleged to be India's largest-ever swindle, and evaluated by the government's auditor at Rs 1.76 lakh crore. Radia is alleged to have served as a corporate lobbyist for clients like Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani. In 2008 and 2009, her phones were tapped by the government.
(Watch the full interview with Sharad Pawar on Walk The Talk at 9:30 pm on December 18)