Smugglers and What Else

Smugglers and What Else Romesh Thapar ONE never ceases to wonder at the way policy gets made in India. For years now, smugglers have been operating throughout the subcontinent. Able to buy their way through anything, they have been patronised by businessman, trader, manufacturer, film-maker, importer, exporter and by the whole corrupt machinery of administration. All this was possible because the ruling politicians, and even those who aspire to rule, protected these elements. And protection implied prime-ministerial protection.