The Surprising Paris Court Verdict on Marine Le Pen Is A Blot On French Democracy

In a move, startling from a republic that is the supposedly modern torchbearer of Liberte,Egalite et Fraternite, the latest move smacks of a hatchet-job style dictatorship to fix the political arena. Albeit, it was a longish trial, with all the trappings of proper judicial examination and rigour. But is the judiciary in France, along with its now tottering government, infected with leftist bias?

Earlier this week, a Paris Court judge that banned far-right leader Marine Le Pen from contesting elections for five years acknowledged that the ‘embezzlement’ of Euro 4 million of EU funds between 2004-2016, to pay staff in her National Rally party, rather than parliamentary aides, did nor enrich her or her 24 co-defendants in their personal capacity.

The Paris Court judge described the diverted payments as a ‘democratic bypass’ that deceived both voters and the European Parliament, in what seems to many to be judicial overreach.

Le Pen has been fined Euro 100,000 and sentenced to four years in prison, two of which will be suspended, and the other two served under house arrest with electronic monitoring. But her ban from running for office is with immediate effect, even though she can continue to serve as a lawmaker till new elections are called for. If she is corrupt, how do these niceties work?

All but one of her co-defendants received suspended prison sentences of varying severity also affecting their ability to participate in the political process going forward. Le Pen has vowed to appeal the rulings, calling the verdict ‘political death’ for her personally.

Le Pen’s lawyers argued that the distinction between a politician’s work as a lawmaker and as a party member was artificial. Seeming to agree with this position, President Donald Trump said he had not expected a guilty verdict at all from the court proceedings.

But crucially, with Le Pen banned from contesting for five years, unless the appeal overturns her conviction, the focus has rapidly shifted to her protégé the 29 year-old Jordan Bardella, who could well become the National Rally’s presidential candidate in 2027. He may be inexperienced but Macron himself is still in his forties and began his rising political career much earlier.. Bardella called the rulings an ‘execution’ of democracy on X.

Le Pen can contest the elections in 2032, when she will be 64.

The rampant but unproven suspicion from those who support Le Pen and her National Rally Party, is that President Emmanuel Macron and his La Republique en Marche (LREM), may have worked behind the scenes to try and eliminate a formidable challenger from the fray. Marine Le Pen is the leader of the resurgent Conservative movement in French politics.

Could such a partisan ruling on questionable charges happen in India? Well it did. When the Allahabad High Court overturned Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s election, it resulted in the infamous Emergency. Of course, Mrs. Gandhi was the sitting prime minister at the time, with the entire machinery of government at her disposal. Nothing so dramatic has been tried by the judiciary since.

While Indian politics today routinely tolerates virulent opposition, any such move by the Indian courts against the opposition figures, would certainly activate the anti-India lobbies in Europe, America, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, and amongst dissidents such as Islamic militants and Khalistanis. They would unleash a massive vilification campaign. They would howl for the blood of the ruling ‘Hindu Nationalist Party’ that is dominant in the NDA. 

Fortunately, in India however, that ship seems to have sailed, because the voting public seems to much prefer the BJP and the NDA in most elections.

But surprisingly, little has surfaced by way of criticism in the European media against the bizarre Paris Court ruling.  Marine Le Pen is being supported, not by all the powers that are proxy fighting Russia in Ukraine, but by the other side.

From around the political universe, most conservative leaders have or are beginning to speak up in support.

Macron must have thought that with the confusion over Ukraine and beleaguered European support for its resistance, he could get away with this subversion of democracy at this time. However, many members of the French public per polls conducted after the verdict see it in terms of independence of the judiciary.  Who was polled however? If you poll the left they would signal good riddance of course.

Will the French general elections in 2027, still two years away, be affected? The Russia-Ukraine War is expected to end well before that. America’s support for the Europeans in NATO has already weakened. Other international fora are also in retreat as America withdraws into its ‘America First’ stance. Can Macron’s France carry its own left-of-centre torch in European politics in 2027?

The public has been showing growing preference for Le Pen’s far-right politics, with her finishing as runner-up to Macron as president in both 2017 and 2022. So, will this suspected skullduggery then work against Macron at the hustings?

 Support for Le Pen came in promptly from Hungary and Russia after the rulings. Both condemned them as an attack on democracy. Victor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister expressed solidarity by posting ‘Je Suis Marine!’ The Russian spokesman said the ruling showed a growing tendency to subvert democratic impulses in Western Europe. Particularly those that were conservative and favoured better relations with Russia.

In addition, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, US President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk have all spoken up in disapproval of the attempt to ban Le Pen from contesting elections. India, that enjoys excellent relations with Emmanuel Macron led France, particularly in the sphere of defence equipment, has been silent on this matter so far.

President Trump called the verdict ‘a big deal’ and said Le Pen was the leading contender. He also likened it to what was done to him in the lead-up to the 2024 elections in America. Others who have already spoken up in support of Le Pen are Italian League Party boss Matteo Salvini and Dutch populist Geert Wilders. Whatever  be the merits and demerits of the case, the timing of the sharp negative verdict raises more questions than it  lays to rest about the state of democratic norms in France.

(1,030 words)

April 2^nd, 2025

For: Firstpost, News18.com

Gautam Mukherjee

 

India Has Reinforced A Mauritius Advantage In The Indian Ocean

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was warmly received in Mauritius for its 57^th National Day celebrations and awarded the country’s highest civilian award during his recent two-day state visit. A large number of MOU’s, numbering eight, were signed. They covered space research, AI, digital health, the ocean economy, pharmaceuticals, ICT, FinTech, Cyber Security and maritime security. India announced a rupee-denominated credit to replace the water pipelines in Mauritius. India has a satellite tracking space station located in Mauritius.

The relationship has just been upgraded to an enhanced strategic partnership with maritime and defence cooperation as its cornerstones. India will continue to extend technology sharing, concessional loans and grants. Prime Minister Modi called Mauritius a bridge between India and the Global South and ‘family’.

The aerial distance between India and Mauritius is 5,247 km. and requires a flight that could take 6 to 8 hours. Its Agalega Islands, north and south, however, are almost half the distance, at 3,000 km from Southern India. This is comparable to that between India and the Maldives (2,200 km), also strategically important to India.

The two Agalega islands, about 25 sq.km. in total area, are 2,500 km southwest of Male in the Maldives where China has made substantial inroads.

India has built a long 3,000 metres runway on Agalega, after an MOU was signed in 2015, and heads of both countries inaugurated it in 2024. A substantial jetty has also been built. Both Mauritius and India deny that The Agalegas, population under 400, dependent mostly on fishing and coconuts, with other supplies coming in by ship, are being developed as an Indian military base. But it certainly helps the marine surveillance of the South Western part of the Indian Ocean both from the air and via radar installations set up by India as in the Port Louis area of the main Mauritius island.

Mauritius has been close to India, even since the British transported a large number of Indians in 1834 to work on the sugar plantations there. Prior to 1810, the French controlled Mauritius and they also took Indians from their holdings in Pondicherry (Puducherry today), and then there were the Dutch before the French. MK Gandhi also stopping by in 1901, and the Mauritius National Day chosen (12^th March) coincides with the start of the Dandi March.

 Mauritius gained its independence from Britain in 1968 and has a population of 1.2 million people, largely of Indian origin. Both French and Creole are spoken on the island. This, in addition to English, Hindi, Bhojpuri, Tamil, Telegu and Urdu. Diwali and Holi are celebrated on the island.  

Mauritius has had a defence treaty with India from 1964, and the Mauritius National Security Adviser (NSA) to date is an Indian national.

France, over and above the QUAD countries, also regularly patrols the Indian Ocean Region.

And since 2015, when Prime Minister last visited the island nation, India has done a good deal to ramp up its infrastructure via soft loans and grants of over $1 billion USD. These include a metro system, a hospital, and even a new parliament building presently under construction.

Mauritius is famous in Indian financial circles because a great deal of the FDI (foreign direct investment) into India is routed via the island nation owing to its favourable tax laws and treaties with India. In fact, after Singapore, international companies registered in Mauritius account for the second biggest chunk of FDI. Mauritius, in turn, seeks much greater commercial interest as FDI from other countries, including India.   

Even as China wants to dominate the Indian Ocean with a massive blue water navy, India has strong inherent geographical advantages. Peninsular India not only borders both the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal but abuts the Indian Ocean at Kanyakumari.

China has a long way to come from its home bases on the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. However, it has indeed created a number of perches - in Sri Lanka’s largely deserted Hambantota, while India is also prominent on the island, on the Cocos Islands, ironically gifted to Myanmar by India’s then Prime Minister Nehru. Lately, it has made inroads into the cash-strapped Maldives. China has built yet another largely unused port at Gwadar in Baluchistan, now under threat of the latter’s independence movement. Earlier, it had set up a base in Djibouti on the Red Sea. It is currently angling for a port in turbulent Bangladesh as well.

India, on its part, has been modernising its existing ports on both seaboards, building new greenfield and sometimes contiguous ones, including transshipment ports, and setting up state-of-the-art ship repair and ship building facilities.

Some of this has been extended to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as well, alongside tourism infrastructure, particularly as some of them, the Nicobar islands, are very near the Malacca Straits, used extensively by Chinese shipping. The Andamans also overlook busy international shipping lanes.

India’s Lakshadweep Islands are just 820 km from the Maldives, and are now being developed by India both as a naval base and for tourism.  The British-American base at Diego Garcia, nominally owned by Mauritius, occupied by  India’s QUAD partners, is roughly 1,796 km southwest of India. The rest of the Chagos Islands, owned also by Mauritius, have just been returned to it. India has been diplomatically assisting this restoration for a long time.

The Indian ship repair and refurbishment facilities are routinely offered to India’s QUAD partners and other friendly countries active in the IOR (Indian Ocean Region). This is very useful for American and European ships operating in the region but far away from their home bases.

India’s ship-building expansion and modernisation includes submarine and aircraft carrier manufacturing, specialised vessels, ones for the coast guard and  last but not least, in-demand commercial tonnage.

All this capacity is developing rapidly, with an eye to bolstering both India’s commercial shipping status, incorporating the use of India-owned and manufactured ships, as well as for military purposes.

This activity is being fast-tracked in response to the rapid expansion and size of the Chinese capabilities, which are also being extended by China to assist Pakistan in our littoral.

The part that the India-Mauritius relationship plays in the stability and prosperity of the Indian Ocean region cannot be over emphasised.

Also, as India marches on towards becoming the 3^rd largest economy in the world, it engagement with the outside world and how it is viewed by it, is also changing fast. This may increasingly take the shape of out-size alliances with friendly countries farther away, and mergers of those countries and regions that are contiguous for mutual benefit.

(1098 words)

March 14^th 2025

For: Firstpost/News18.com

Gautam Mukherjee

 

Who can truly argue that life is not a beach?

‘Life is a Beach’ was a phrase invented to denote that it was both good and great to be in a relaxed, warm frame of mind and body. It was a worthwhile aspiration coined to counter the other negative phrase that ‘Life was a Bitch’. The latter, never mind its sexist connotations, was probably brought on by a slave-driving foreman like the infamous Simon Legree in the Harriet Beecher Stowe classic Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Legree, of course, whipped Uncle Tom to death with a cat ‘o nine tails just because he could. And still Uncle Tom did not complain.

The present top leadership of L&T seems to have stepped right into the proverbial dog poo that an indulgent pet parent neglected to scoop up. And what is worse, the previously obscure Chairman and Managing Director of the group, SNS, short for SN Subrahmanyan from Chennai, trailed his smelly and dirty shoes right into the board room.

Now the matter of his pronouncements on the 90 hour work-week and the even more outrageous one about how long one can stare at one’s wife at home have gone viral on the social and mainstream media. There are many memes. Fellow industrialist Anand Mahindra has posted a picture of himself gazing appreciatively at his own wife in riposte.

L&T, the hoary Indian engineering company now headed by SNS was established by Henning Holck-Larsen, a Danish engineer, along with his fellow school mate and engineer from Copenhagen, Soren Kristian Toubro in 1938. Both the visionary foreigners saw the potential for an engineering-based company in India even before WWII.

The idea for L&T was conceived by the duo during a holiday in the hill-station of Matheran, near then Bombay, and gradually, over their lifetimes, grew into a diverse conglomerate and one of India’s most successful companies.  

L& T is now also doing good work in defence manufacturing, and was previously helmed from 2003, by the legendary and down-to-earth AM Naik, even though SNS was there making his significant contributions to the company from 1984 too.

Naik not only grew the company manifold, turning it entrepreneurial, but successfully staved off a takeover attempt from Reliance Industries. But he never thought it necessary to lecture his coworkers into the necessity of working very long hours beyond the standard 48 hour 9 to 5 week.  

The Tata Group is often thought of as the leitmotif of Indian Industry, culture, and ethics. Some will remember the Homi Mody sponsored TV advertisements for Tata Steel that waxed eloquent on many lifestyle and fun things but ended with the tag line: We Also Make Steel. Many viewers thought it underscored the sheer classiness of the Tata Group.

While comparisons may be thought to be odious, AM Naik, SNS’s boss for many years who took the company to unprecedented heights of profitability and competence did not feel the need to hector his workforce. Personally, he too was a workaholic throughout his career, but that was just how he liked to play it. He did not make it a public virtue or a formula for others to follow, except if you like, by his example.

This whole work-life balance debate has adherents on both sides, but given the number of young CEOs and other young professionals who are dropping dead now, the medical fraternity that says job-induced stress is a killer needs to be heard.

This entire debate was sparked earlier by Narayana Murthy, the now elderly  Kannadiga former boss of Infosys, who appears to have had no life beyond his work, and is extremely proud of it. He asked for a 70 hour-week that he personally followed all his working life. Earlier, he said he has never bothered to read a novel. These men are indeed very successful, very rich, but hardly inspiring. They are more objects of ridicule despite their stellar careers because they may have missed the point of life and living entirely.

This obsession with long hours may also be an Indian thing, because others elsewhere are trying to both cut down their working weeks and trying to retire early. The Japanese company man, now largely extinct in his original form, died from overwork and excessive drinking after hours. They were meant to have lifetime jobs but began to be sacked in droves during the economic downturns through no fault of their own. Strict hierarchy and terms of conduct also took their toll. These same advocates of lengthy working hourse do not hesitate to sack people whenever the bottom line dictates it. Ditto for not paying increments when times are not so good.

If Tata paid all its employees both salary and compensation where applicable when the Taj Hotel in Mumbai was being restored for two years after the ghastly attacks of 26/11, it showed a cultural nobility unmatched by any other business group in India. Those employees who lost their lives, were or would be paid their full salaries and benefits till they would have retired. Their children were or are being educated at company expense.

SNS and Narayana Murthy would do well to learn the obligations of a good company before mouthing off in their bizarre manner like cats who have first swallowed the cream.

Work loyalty, a sense of duty, and esprit de coeur comes amply from the Armed  Forces where people bravely sacrifice their lives for their country. They don’t have to be hectored by fat cat corporate honchos whom nobody can respect for their one-way and graceless view of things like this.

(917 words)

January 13^th, 2025

For: Firstpost/News18.com

Gautam Mukherjee