Everyone from anywhere in the world with a celebrity tag was in India to attend the wedding of Anant Ambani with Radhika Merchant. Anant Ambani is Mukesh Ambani’s son and Mukesh Ambani is India’s richest man and the world’s 11th richest. He apparently spent Rs. 5000/- crores (USD 600 Million) on his son’s wedding, a mere 0.5% of his wealth.
Is it an obscene amount of money to be spent on a wedding? For 99% of the world population, it is indeed an obscene amount of money but we really cannot expect anything less from the richest man in India.
The Robinhood Syndrome
For a long time I have been mulling over this Robinhood syndrome aka communism or socialism. The myth of Robinhood is that he was a benevolent thief in some forest in Scotland. He would rob the rich and give it to the poor. I didn’t like the story even as a child when I read it. Didn’t know why.
Seeing the following comments on the Ambani wedding brought back some memories of why I didn’t like the Robinhood story –
Now I know the reason why I don’t like this story – who is Robinhood to steal from the rich and give to the poor ? He didn’t work hard or setup industries to earn that money… am all for bringing corrupt folks to justice, but not every rich person is corrupt. In India, if Robinhood had to operate, he should not be targeting Mukesh Ambani but should target Sharad Pawar, Karunanidhi family, Mulayam Singh Yadav’s family or importantly the Gandhi Clan.
Has Rahul Gandhi worked a single day in his life ? How does he have so much wealth? Has Sonia Gandhi been walking the streets to sell Insurance ? How come she earned so much as an Insurance agent?
Communism tried to bring equality by force – exactly what Robinhood did. It failed spectacularly because it’s untenable. Why should I work hard and earn my livelihood if the Government will simply hand out Mukesh Ambani’s money to me as per its policy?
The inheritance tax that these CONgress commie jokers are trying to bring, smacks of this Robinhood Syndrome. If someone is poor, they need to make some effort to get out of their poverty. Yes, the Government needs to create a level playing field for opportunities but cannot redistribute what someone has earned through their hardwork.
The Ambani Wedding
One of my favourite handles on X, Nandini Bahri, had this to say for the Ambani wedding –
I have another point to add to the above, the Reliance group gives employment to nearly 400,000 people. They have never defaulted on their salary payment, they might have reduced it during Covid, like everyone else did, but they still paid people some money. The Reliance stock has made money for investors hand over fist, year after year, from the day it listed.
Their refinery in Jamnagar is the world’s largest. Their Jio network is the world’s largest consumer of mobile data and unbelievably inexpensive. These are just two of their achievements, there are several more.
Disclaimer – am no fan of Mukesh Ambani and I don’t like their way of working. But hey, I want a cellular network that works and Jio works everywhere. And just because I dislike the man, it doesn’t mean he is not doing good work. There are several ethical and moral questions that we can ask and they will be valid questions, but the money Mukesh Ambani has, he has earned it. Yes rules might have been bent to setup certain industries but no one is above such corruption. Personally, the man works really hard. His children didn’t inherit the wealth just like that … they work exceptionally hard as well.
In conclusion, I wish Anant and Radhika a wonderful married life. It was nice to see the celebrities dancing at their wedding. The fact that the rituals were meaningful Hindu wedding rituals, shows the Ambani family’s deep connect to Sanatana Dharma. How much they spent on the wedding is none of my concern.
Brilliant analysis!
Thanks Hareesh.