The New Elite Question: Whose Power Do They Serve?
Catherine Belton, in Putin’s People , recalls Zbigniew Brzezinski’s piercing question to Russian officials: “ If so much Russian wealth is parked in Western accounts, whose elites are they — Russian or Western — and whom do they really serve?” That question no longer belongs only to Russia. It has become one of the defining questions of our age. A significant section of India’s political, judicial and corporate elite relies on foreign universities, careers and global residency options even while public discourse frequently stresses domestic education, self-reliance and institution-building. Vivek Doval, the younger son of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, is a British citizen and an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI). Separately, Isha Ambani and Akash Ambani, children of Mukesh Ambani, and Isha Ambani’s twins, Aadiya Piramal and Krishna Piramal, were reportedly born in the United States. Children and members of several prominent Indian political and corporate families have r...