About
2400 years back, Emperor Ashoka sent all over South East Asia,
including China, Japan and Korea, his messengers to spread the divine
light, brought to humans by Shakyamuni Siddharth Goutam Buddha, born
three hundred years before his time, in form of a new religion known
as Buddhism. Similar to this deed by the emperor Ashoka, new and
young businessmen of India are now spending their new message of
Nepotism, favouritism and skills of bending the rules to virgin
lands of Africa as the new Mantra of success.
Ajay,
Atul and Rajesh Gupta are three brothers, who arrived in South Africa
in the early 1990s from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh state of India,
shortly before the end of apartheid. They rapidly made contact with
rising stars of the new black elite coming to power. Today they have
a huge business empire in South Africa with business interests that
cover mining, aviation, technology and the media. Guptas live in a 52
million rand mansion in Saxonwold, a Johannesburg suburb lined with
century-old oak trees. The Gupta brothers are alleged to have close
political links and two of President Jacob Zuma's children have
served as directors of Gupta-owned firms.
Last
week Gupta family celebrated the marriage of one of the offspring in
a lavish affair reminiscent of such marriages held by super rich in
India, in the Sun City resort. Gupta family had invited about 200
guests from India for the wedding and flew them by a special
chartered airplane from India. It is believed that some politicians,
Indian Government officials and few Bollywood stars such as actor
Anil Kapoor and singer Shankar Mahadevan were also invited to South
Africa for the wedding.
So far
so good! Nothing objectionable in all this. Guptas have loads and
loads of rands, and there is nothing objectionable if they decided to
spend it on a family wedding. But the problem came when it was found
out that this chartered plane coming from India did not land at the
Johannesburg international airport, as would have been expected but
at Waterkloof Air Force base. From here, South African Police
escorted the guests to the casino resort of Sun City for the wedding
of 23-year-old Vega Gupta, the Gupta brothers' niece, to Indian-born
Aaskash Jahajgarhia.
All
hell broke loose when news of this plane's landing at an air force
base leaked out to the press. Guptas have denied any wrong doing.
They say that they had requested the Indian Embassy in Johannesburg
to obtain permission of authorities to receive foreign dignitaries,
including some ministers at the Waterkloof Air Force base and only
after such permission was received, the plane landed at the air force
base.
The
governing African National Congress (ANC) party and the Congress of
South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) have now demanded an
investigation into how the guests of the family flew from India to
the Waterkloof Air Force Base near Pretoria. ANC Secretary General
Gwede Mantashe says:
"The
African National Congress, driven by the concern for the safety and
sovereignty of South Africa, shall never allow a situation where our
ports of entry and National Key Points are penetrated with impunity.”
Even
Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu has also expressed his
disquiet over the relationship and says: "Perhaps the Gupta
family would make all those lucrative deals and it is merely
coincidental that the president's son is a beneficiary,"
Archbishop Tutu said. "It may be above board but it is
worrisome."
I am
not much surprised by this Modus operandi used
by the Guptas in South Africa. This is how things are done and run in
India. This is how businessmen and politicians collude in India, as
has been proved by number of scams that have come to light recently
in India and this is how rules are bent commonly in India.
Guptas
may be the biggest success story of post apartheid South Africa, but
they also appear to be new messengers from India, who are spreading
the new Mantra of
India, money power, nepotism and corruption are the true winners, if
you want to succeed.
3rd
May 2013
Is there anything illegal in landing a private plane at the air force base with full permission of the authorities?
ReplyDeleteNothing at all! Two small questions however remain. When rule says that landing of international flights is not allowed at the air force base, why should a plane chartered by Gupta family was allowed to land? and secondly why did Indian Embassy in Johannesburg requested south African Government to bend rules for sake of an individual?
DeleteWhat makes you think that "new and young businessmen of India are now spending their new message of Nepotism, favouritism and skills of bending the rules to virgin lands of Africa as the new Mantra of success."
DeleteLong before Gupta Bros., British occupied Soth Africa and other countries in Africa. You think British were and are all honest people? You think what happens in India does not happen in Russia, China, USA?
So I guess, the smart Indians that they are, they quickly adopted ways in a foreign country to become very successful.
Be proud of Indians that very smart, and successful everywhere in the world. There are many Indians elsewhere who became great scientists, professors, without nepotism, corruption.
Talk to Pramod Tambe about this. :)
Why do Indians are always first to criticise Indian people, their ways? I think the other countries are doing much better job of that. Let's just bring out lot of good things are happening in India.