Not against capitalism, but against crony capitalism: Kejriwal

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SME Times News Bureau | 19 Feb, 2014
Addressing industry leaders from diverse sectors in New Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and former Chief Minister of Delhi emphasized that he supported business and was not against capitalism, but against crony capitalism adding "a small section of people are looting the country".

In his first public interaction with CII at its National Council Meeting in New Delhi on February 17 Kejriwal said that the key issue today is "governance". The need of the hour, he said, is "honest and efficient governance" which has been lacking all these years, and due to which even though India was led by the best economists in the recent past, the country's growth has faltered.

He praised industry for driving economic and inclusive growth and said that it was business that is best suited to address needs such as "inclusive growth" through the creation of jobs. The Government, he said, cannot create jobs; it can only create an eco-system that supports the creation of jobs.

Elaborating on the role of the Government, Kejriwal said that the Government must provide "security, justice and corruption-free governance" for growth and development to take place.

Sharing his views on improving governance and therefore the eco-system within the country, Kejriwal said, "we want to end inspector and license raj and corruption."

He spoke of measures such as creating a strong deterrence to corruption, revisiting the existing systems, using technology efficiently, and decentralizing power that would help them achieve their goal.

Responding to specific queries from industry leaders on issues such as funding of political parties - largely perceived as prone to corruption - Kejriwal said that his party had been exploring viable means of addressing this "serious and complicated" issue and had discussed options such as state funding and a transparent cheque-based system.

However, he stressed, there are no easy solutions and invited industry to participate with them in finding solutions to various issues. "We need to simplify laws, the judicial system and have a stable tax regime, among other measures that will all work together to boost India's growth, and would like industry's views on how it can be done," he said.

Stressing that his Government had achieved more in 49 days of power than other Governments had over several years, Kejriwal appealed to industry "to join the revolution" in creating a new corruption-free India through greater participation of people and transparency at all levels.