At a recent Express Adda held in Mumbai, Sachin Pilot, Union minister of state for corporate affairs, in conversation with Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, The Express Group, spoke about the new Companies Act, contesting elections and Rahul Gandhi?s ordinance outburst
On the rough and tumble of elections
I?ve fought two elections. God has been kind because I?ve won those two. Fighting elections and winning them is a whole different strategy and a whole different world; because sometimes it is not logical. There are other external circumstances that overtake what you think should be the logical response of people. I happen to represent Ajmer which is, for me, a very new constituency. I went to fight elections in 2009, and in that particular constituency, the BJP won seven times in a row. I don?t know what inspired me to do it, but I went there and I asked my party to contest that election. Fighting election on party symbols, convincing voters to vote for you, it?s not what it seems. People think politicians land in helicopters, wave their hands, give a 10-minute speech and go away. It doesn?t work like that. You have to be involved in the lives of people.
On Modi
Modi fought a tough battle to be called the PM candidate for the BJP. Now look at the timeline. Congress?s tally was 156 in 2004. In 2009, LK Advani was projected as the prime ministerial candidate from the BJP and NDA. When Advani became PM candidate, our tally became 206. Mr Modi is now the BJP?s official PM candidate. When Vajpayee was heading the NDA, there were 22 parties in the alliance. Today there are two ? Shiv Sena and Badal?s party. The number of people who are PM aspirants is about 11 in the BJP in the last count. We all know the top leadership of BJP was almost at breaking point because of his (Modi?s) nomination. He is just a nominee and not the PM by the way. A person who is causing strong likes and dislikes in his party, who is unable to keep his coalition together, someone who many countries in the world will not give a visa to come and visit them. But a person who is so divisive… I think he is very choreographed and his managers do a very good job in putting his face out and marketing it. He certainly gets people to come and listen to him, but will he be able to carry this nation together? Will his leadership not be something that will ultimately prove to be brittle?
On the need for change
In India, we have different yardsticks for politicians and different ones for other professions. Whether it?s Bollywood, cricket, journalism or business, what happens there is half-a-bit controversy and it?s over. But for politicians, it becomes a debating point for weeks. They are under more scrutiny because they must lead by example. They take an oath under the Constitution, they are more liable to discharge their duties than anyone else. Politics in India has always been a messy affair but there are people in politics who are good. I?m not saying that they are 100% saints; everybody does what they have to and say and do things to get elected. But overall this churning process started in the last few years and I am hopeful that in five or 10 years, something good will come out of this.
On drafting the new Companies Act
The Bill has got 470 sections, 1,500 clauses, but the Bill, I must tell you, is a very exhaustive one, which has taken 10 years. We looked at laws in Europe, Australia, America and Britain, and tried to imbibe the best they had to offer, keeping in mind India?s unique landscape in terms of what our companies are made of. Two-third of all our companies are family-owned.
In December 2012, the Lower House approved the Bill. It got consensus from all, including the Communist Party of India. All the naysayers said to me that the Bill would not go through Rajya Sabha and they were right, with all the disruptions and so on. The monsoon session came, and they said it?s the second last session and it would not get passed. I personally made an effort to reach out to the principal Opposition party. I spoke to all BSP, SP, JD(U) and TMC because all of them have to be on board for us to pass this Bill.
