Forget the icon, focus on the issue

It is time policymakers left the subject of free speech and expression to lawyers and focused on what can be done to instill greater confidence in banks and financial institutions

We are a society that handles icons far better than it handles issues. So much so that even when issues present themselves, we see the icons involved rather than the issues involved. Indian industry’s outspoken member Rahul Bajaj’s complaint about the environment of fear in corporate India is the latest case in point.

Bajaj spoke in the presence of three Union Cabinet ministers in a public meeting about the environment of fear that is impeding Indian industry’s functioning. Responding to Bajaj in person, the Union Home Minister handled his views with aplomb — no denigration that an actor’s expression of