The proposal to allow 26 per cent FDI in the print media had many takers in the Cabinet, including home minister L K Advani, foreign minister Jaswant Singh, disinvestment minister Arun Shourie, law minister Arun Jaitley, communications minister Pramod Mahajan and human resource development minister Murli Manohar Joshi.
Only two Cabinet members opposed the proposal, finance minister Yashwant Sinha and minister for youth affairs and sports Uma Bharti. Those who supported the proposal argued that India could not indefinitely continue to oppose FDI in the print media and still claim that it supported globalisation. Ministers pointed out that there were enough riders in the proposal to ensure that Indian culture and tradition were safeguarded.
Singh said there was little justification of a ban on FDI in the print media when it was allowed in broadcasting.
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Shourie even went a step ahead by arguing that capping FDI in the print media at 26 per cent was not good enough as it would fail to attract foreign capital. Jaitley argued that the proposal was in tune with the reforms programme being pursued by the government. Bharti argued that foreign investment in such a sensitive sector posed a serious threat to Indian culture and tradition. At this point, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee advised her to calm down and hear out her Cabinet colleagues.
Sinha spoke at length and argued that with even a small element of foreign investment and despite all possible safeguards, India would lose control over the media and would be vulnerable to political manipulation.
Several ministers confessed to Business Standard that they were startled to find Sinha making a case against foreign investment.
Most ministers were even more surprised because they knew that Vajpayee and Advani had conferred before asking information minister Sushma Swaraj to bring the matter for Cabinet approval.
The clincher came from railway minister Nitish Kumar. He said: