NOT BREAKING INDIA IS SOROS'S SORROW

THIS time, it is the dragon that is slaying St George in the clash between the BJP and the Congress. George Soros's buccaneering habits came to the fore in 1992 when he bet on the British pound, made a $1-billion profit, and brought the British economy to its knees.

- PRABHU CHAWLA

This time, the target of the 94-year-old Hungarian-American tycoon, investor, philanthropist and liberal political activist is Narendra Modi and his government. Saffron scuttlebutt is amplifying a propaganda storm by accusing Soros of doing the same to the Indian economy in cahoots with the Congress. Though his targeting has flopped so far, it has succeeded in setting the narrative and disrupting parliament for almost a week.

Soros controls an estimated $25-billion-plus that includes assets of six Open Society foundations: the Open Society Institute, Foundation for an Open Society, Open Society Fund, Soros Fund Charitable Foundation, Soros Economic Development Foundation and the Fund for Policy Reform. His personal wealth alone is over $8 billion. The cause of the current political turmoil in India is the disbursal of over $18 billion in grants given by his foundations.

Open Society is not an open-and-shut case. Soros has invited BJP's wrath with his continuous interference in India's domestic affairs and vicious personal attacks on Modi. A super-active market player deploying millions to make billions, his modus operandi is to oblige ruling parties in countries where he does business. The Congress, its old leaders and many retired civil servants have enjoyed his hospitality and facilities to promote their international agendas.

The Soros model is transparent. He establishes Open Society foundations in places he thinks are closed societies, to disrupt the socio-political ecosystem. China, Russia and Turkey have been among his previous targets. Since India's Congress-led governments and Soros were ideologically compatible, the brazen businessman rarely targeted its leaders. Instead, he used his charitable entities to co-opt them at international forums. The BJP has called out Sonia Gandhi as an office bearer of one such forum.