After four days of continuous uproar, Parliament resumed functioning normally on Tuesday with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launching a series of attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Adani issue. Speaking on the Motion of Thanks to the President in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi accused the Modi government of going out of its way to help industrialist Gautam Adani. He alleged that Prime Minister Modi helped the Adani group to get contracts in Bangladesh, Australia, Sri Lanka and Israel.
Rahul Gandhi spoke on Adani for about 45 minutes in his 51-minute speech. He alleged that CBI, ED were used to help Adani get contracts. The BJP immediately dismissed Rahul’s allegations as baseless and challenged him to prove his allegations with evidence. Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said, whatever allegations Rahul is making, each one of them should be proved.
During his speech, Rahul Gandhi showed pictures of Modi and Adani sitting in a private plane. He questioned how Gautam Adani, who was ranked 609th in the Forbes list of the world’s richest people in 2014, rose to the second spot within eight years. He asked why the Adani group got contracts in most sectors like ports, airports, power transmission, green energy and gas. BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said that when UPA was in power, many projects were given to Adani Group. He pointed out how the turnover of the Adani group grew from Rs 2 crore to Rs 87,000 crore during the UPA rule.
Most of these questions were raised by Rahul in my interview with Gautam Adani on the show ‘Aap Ki Adalat’ last month. At the time, Adani had replied that his business had started flourishing since the nineties, when the Congress government led by PV Narasimha Rao opened up the economy. Adani had then said that he did not consider Rahul’s allegations as more than ‘political statements’.
On Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi alleged that rules were changed to help the Adani group secure six airports in India, even though the group had no previous experience in managing airports. I had questioned Adani about this in ‘Aap Ki Adalat’. He had said that his group got all the contracts through a fair bidding process.
The Adani group may have faced turmoil in the stock markets, but the fact remains that all their projects and assets are intact.
Secondly, Rahul’s allegation that Modi helped Adani is wrong. Those who know Narendra Modi’s way of working will tell you that Modi never shies away from helping any businessman, whoever he may be. The picture shown by Rahul Gandhi is from when Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat and he had used Adani’s aircraft many times. The BJP, on its part, also circulated pictures of Adani with Rahul’s brother-in-law, businessman Robert Vadra and Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot.
I agree that Rahul Gandhi has a democratic right to make a political statement, but he should be careful in choosing his words in foreign affairs. Rahul alleged that Modi took Adani with him in his plane when he visited foreign countries and helped his group in securing contracts. The fact is that Adani did not start its offshore business after 2014. They got their first overseas contract in Indonesia in 2008, their first mine in Australia in 2010 and a port in Australia in 2011. At that time Dr. Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister.
Rahul Gandhi has alleged that public sector banks and LIC helped the Adani group by investing in their shares and giving them loans. SBI gave a loan of Rs 27,000 crore to the Adani group, while LIC invested Rs 36,000 crore, he said. After the Hindenburg research report came out, both SBI and LIC have clarified that their investment in the Adani group is less than one per cent of their total investment. I had asked Adani about this in ‘Aap Ki Adalat’. His group, he said, has already started reducing its dependence on Indian banks.
There is nothing new in Rahul Gandhi’s allegations and Gautam Adani has answered almost all of them in my ‘Aap Ki Adalat’ show. Rahul’s questions are the same and Adani’s answers are the same. The government knew what allegations Rahul would make and as soon as Rahul’s speech was over, ministers and BJP leaders were ready to give point-by-point answers.
On Rahul’s allegation that Adani Group was given six airports despite having no prior experience, the government replied that the Airport Authority of India had removed the experience condition, as it was perceived that some companies with no experience Yes, they can form cartels and do whatever they want. Dialect.
I asked the same question on the show Aap Ki Adalat last month, and Gautam Adani replied that he was aware that there could be a political controversy once the airport contract was secured. Therefore, he said, his group had clearly decided that all contracts would be secured only after going through the bidding process.
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