We were gazing at him, wondering why, of all people, close aide to Mukesh Ambani would be a fan of AAP. He said, corruption is so deep rooted in all of us, that fixing it will require a disruptive force of the kind only AAP can provide. He narrated how crony capitalism is the norm rather than the exception and he has seen almost every large corporate indulge in corruption. When we asked him, what does he think of Reliance’s role in this. He said, “the amount of information I have, is not even funny. I have seen it all in front of my eyes through years.”
By this time, we had decided that today is going to be dedicated to this man. We listened on. He narrated gory details about how top congress ministers circle around Mukesh Bhai, touching his feat and even “seeking his permission before going to the loo.” And he immediately added, “With Mukesh bhai, it’s not just congress, but BJP equally”. He then told us how even the appointment of Modi as CM was consulted with Mukesh bhai, before being finalized. Our jaws dropped! Injecting Saurabh Patel, Mukesh’s cousin-inlaw, into his ministry was part of the “deal”, he told us.
He said “A Raja’s son is right now working in Reliance in Mumbai sitting in this office close by.” He told us about Milind Deora having worked in reliance and being “essentially a useless guy”. On gas pricing, he said all this 4 $ , 8 $ and all are obviously by Reliance pressure. He referred to Murali Deora and Veerappa Moily as puppets (cannot use the original phrase here) of Mukesh bhai. He said, “Every bill that has remotely anything to do with industry is first approved by Mukesh bhai before being tabled in the parliament”.
Zapped by all this, Mohit asked “So, you mean to say that Mukesh Ambani essentially runs a parallel government?”
He said “Parallel government? There is only one government.”
Our eyes remained wide, as we heard more. He took a deep breath and said “Mukesh bhai is a gem of a person though.” We were like “Excuse me???” He explained.
Essentially the top 100 or so people in reliance are treated like family by him. He gave example of how his father was unwell once, and without a minute wasted, was flown to the best hospital in India and helped financially in all the treatments. Anything these close people ever need, is fulfilled in a blink. Understandable, we thought.
But then came unexpected things. “Mukesh Ambani is not materialistic at all”, he said. In my mind “materialism” is personified as Mukesh Ambani. Which saint lives in a 26 storey house, I wondered? “No, no, trust me. He works 16 hrs a day, and even in the remaining 8 he magically replies to my notes. He would sit below in the parking and share a sandwitch with me. Making money is just a habit for him. Just a number.”
He went on and on singing praises of how intelligent Mukesh is, how thorough in business, engineering and sciences he is. And above all what a “nice person” he is. He even went on to say that Arvind Kejriwal should meet him once, he would definitely like him.
Though, we weren’t convinced by this part of the conversation, it did become clear that this man is, somehow, a fan of both Arvind and Mukesh. A dichotomy, I don’t know how he resolves in his head.
I asked him “Ok, you think so highly of Mukesh and you also say that AAP is the only hope for this country. What if your wish comes true and AAP comes to power and then sends Mukesh Ambani to Jail. What will go through your mind?”
He said “That will be unfortunate. But if for the greater good this needs to happen, so be it.” We could sense the emotion in his voice. “But you know what, this won’t happen.” He added all of a sudden. “There is absolutely nothing Mukesh bhai himself has done that can prove him culpable in a court of law. There are hundreds of people standing in a queue, willing to go to jail for him. They have sold their souls to him.”
Interesting, I thought. We exchanged numbers. Next day he came to AAP office, pledged to donate a thousand Aam Aadmi caps and went out with us to campaign. He was very particular about “not wearing the cap or being seen as an AAP volunteer, as Reliance guys are everywhere”.
