Legalizing Lobbying in India is a horrible Idea

We all know that corruption is pretty severe in India. And it looks like the government is about to oblige us with an elegant solution – legalize it!

Many of us in India are new to formal lobbying – something which has existed in the US for years. The idea goes something like this. It’s illegal to use one’s money to buy a politicians vote or support for a certain action. But it’s legal to buy access to a politician. Meaning that you pay so that you can talk to them and get your views across. Now it’s possible I’m missing something here, but isn’t that pretty much the same thing? Won’t politicians support those people who will “buy” access to them?

I’ve often said that corruption exists at a very high level in the US. It’s not called corruption and it’s done openly in two ways – lobbying and campaign contributions. By law, every Senator in the US is required to disclose how much money they receive from corporate lobbying. These amounts are public knowledge and are often displayed openly.

During the BP oil spill, the US government wanted to raise the maximum liability of oil companies to $10 billion instead of the measly $75 million. An Alaskan senator blocked the motion giving a variety of reasons. But publicly declared figures show that she received $289,000 from the Oil & Gas sector as campaign contributions! This information isn’t hidden – it’s perfectly legal and out in the open.

Currently in India, such deals are shameful. When they’re performed, they’re done in secret. And for good reason. Lobbying and “campaign contributions” are nothing less than bribery. Legalize it and there’s no more shame in using money to dictate national policy. Vast sums of money will change hands openly and citizens will watch helplessly on the sidelines. The richer you are, the more power you legally have. Those supporting the legalization of lobbying have to explain how legalizing corruption can lower it.

It gets worse. In the US till last year, there was a limit to the amount of money corporations could spend to influence politicians. But the US Supreme Court in a shocking decision said that money was equal to speech and that freedom of speech meant that there could be no limit to how much money could be used to buy a politician’s support! Wonderful. So now a rich person has more freedom of speech than a poor one.

I know that the US is better than us in a lot of ways – mostly with regard to people being a lot more conscientious. But campaign contributions and lobbying is not one of them. Lobbying is corruption and campaign contributions are bribes, plain and simple. Legalizing them will benefit no one except for politicians and corporations. The country will merely suffer.