When PM meets Murdoch

It is perfectly sensible for the prime minister of one of the world's largest markets to have breakfast with the head of a corporation th...

It is perfectly sensible for the prime minister of one of the world8217;s largest markets to have breakfast with the head of a corporation that generates operating revenues of US 11.5 billion a year and owns The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, The News of the World, The New York Post, the film studio Fox, Star TV, HarperCollins, the LA Dodgers, 40 per cent of Sky, 200 newspapers in Australia and, of course, Manchester United.

India could surely do with some of that revenue, especially in a recessionary media environment. But it does seem odd that this happened in the same week that Vajpayee8217;s government refused to seek Rupert Murdoch8217;s extradition for a court appearance in an obscenity case in New Delhi.

If Murdoch wishes to invest in India, he must be made to follow Indian laws, such as they are, as well. Also, only if he is a likely investor, it makes sense for the prime minister to meet him. And if he does so in spite of Murdoch8217;s fugitive status, and thereby trivialise the legal system, Indiashould at least be able to get some of his billions in return.

In this case nothing of the sort happened. The Delhi court is still looking for him. The media market is awaiting his money. And while the government tells the court it can8217;t produce him, its prime minister has breakfast with him. We are sad to admit that though this paper has strongly supported economic reforms and globalisation, this only strengthens the Swadeshi argument that too much sovereignty is being given away for too little globalised cash and too easily.

The nation has ceased to expect consistency from its politicians, who are only too happy to quote Winston Churchill8217;s famous words about it being the virtue of an ass. But then, Vajpayee is not regarded as a mere politician.

From a statesman of his stature, a cohesive vision is expected. If the prime minister feels that a man, against whom a warrant has been issued in Mumbai for direct responsibility in the Nikki Tonight abuse of Mahatma Gandhi, is an adequate breakfastpartner, why does the government not extend the compliment to investment?

If Vajpayee is sending Murdoch the signal that foreign investment is welcome in India, even in the traditionally sensitive area of media, where is the policy that says so? In fact, his own Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has spent a busy two days in Hong Kong inspecting Star TV8217;s uplinking facilities and listening to Star TV CEO Gary Davey urging a removal of the DTH ban.

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For H. D. Deve Gowda to meet Murdoch in Delhi, even as a warrant for him existed in Mumbai, was a matter of much debate in 1996. How has the situation changed now, except that Vajpayee8217;s own party has made a big issue of a 20 per cent foreign equity cap in satellite networks? It is the same party which has insisted that a 1956 Cabinet resolution on no foreign investment in the print medium is sacrosanct. It is also the same party which fears cultural pollution and wants to put a ban on all kinds of signals beamed at India fromPakistan and elsewhere.

If a man of letters like Vajpayee goes along with this oddity it can only mean one of two things. Either he doesn8217;t understand the issues or he hasn8217;t been properly advised. Market-friendly policies must also be sovereignty-savvy. Grovelling in front of Murdoch 8212; while shutting him out of your markets 8212; sounds like neither.