“Privatization of everything is less about lessening the burden on taxpayer, but a guise to serve the interests of the bankrupt cronies and provide them a captured population of cheap labour”
Recall how King Leopold II of Belgium treated the Congo Free State(1885–1908), as his personal private property through a private holding company, the International Association of the Congo, which he presented as a humanitarian and philanthropic organisation, but focused on maximising personal profit by decreeing all vacant land belonged to the state, effectively seizing the entire territory and denying indigenous people any legal or property rights.
It appears, a narrative of the King Leopold II kind "treat the state a private property" is being played out in state of Andhra Pradesh where the government led by Nara Chandrababu Naidu is leasing out public lands for peanuts under the ruse of "Sampada Srishti" (Revenue Generation) to private entities.
The historical comparison between King Leopold II’s exploitation of the Congo Free State and modern governance in Andhra Pradesh centres on the transformation of public resources into private assets under the guise of progress.
King Leopold II maintained a dual identity: a humanitarian visionary on the international stage through his "philanthropic" International Association of the Congo, and a private proprietor who claimed all "vacant land" as state property.
By denying indigenous property rights, he created a system where land was leased to private concession companies for maximum extraction of rubber and ivory, leading to a "social apartheid" where the Congolese were forced labourers on their own soil.
In Comparison, the narrative of CBN’s governance strategy, framed as "CEO-kind Real-Time Governance," draws a parallel with historical colonial exploitation.
Critics argue that CBN is attempting a similar "wealth creation" narrative (Sampada Shristi) to facilitate a corporate-political nexus.
The publicly presented vision of "transforming the state into a trillion-dollar economic power’ masks a policy of aggressive privatization.
Recent policies have allowed for the leasing of assigned lands (originally given to the landless poor) to private renewable energy companies. While the government frames this as providing "steady income" for farmers, it effectively transfers long-term control of vast public acreage to private corporations for decades.
The amendment of rules to allow 33-year leases of temple lands to private organizations has drawn sharp criticism for potentially undermining public heritage in favor of private interest.
This strategy, involving the transfer of public assets and services into private hands, fundamentally shifts power dynamics.
Critics argue it creates a structural dependency, leaving the general populace vulnerable and forced to "live at the mercy of the private powers" controlling essential resources.
The widespread adoption of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models in sectors like healthcare and public welfare risks creating a two-tiered society. If essential services and public lands are concentrated in the hands of a few "corporate-political" elites, the state may inadvertently foster a class of landless poor dependent on private monopolies for basic survival.
The potential outcome, as suggested by the historical analogy, is a scenario where the state's economic growth benefits a select corporate-political nexus, while the majority faces a form of "social apartheid" or systemic disadvantage in a privatized landscape.
The Swarna Andhra @2047 strategy aims for a $2.4 trillion economy, but if this growth is driven by the divestment of public assets at nominal rates, similar to the controversial 99-year lease of prime Vizag land to the LuLu Group at a fraction of its value, the "Swarnandhra" (Golden Andhra) label may mask an underlying reality of "Private Andhra”.
While the modern state operates within a democratic framework, the "template of privatization" risks centralizing power such that the public interest is subordinated to corporate extraction, mirroring the structural imbalances of Leopold's private estate.
But, CBN, intoxicated by flattery over CEO kind working style is acting more like a realtor, is hell bent to maximize the privatization of the governance to turn the state into a “Private Limited Company” ignoring all the suggestions for a policy of balanced regional development in a state that is endowed with different natural resources.
Never in the history of civilisation has a state's total assets and infrastructure been disposed of so rapidly and in such a criminal fashion. Its machinations make Al Capone look like a paragon of capitalist virtue.
