Adani issue continues to draw attention

The customary debate on the motion of thanks to the President for her address to the joint session of the two houses of Parliament gave the Opposition ample opportunity last week to embarrass Prime Minister Narendra Modi by raising the issue of the alleged shenanigans of billionaire businessman Gautam Adani, who is known to be close to him. The Congress party used it fully.

A report published by US financial activist group Hindenburg Research last month had accused Adani of stock exchange manipulation and said the shares of his companies were overvalued. Prices of the companies’ shares nosedived immediately. Gautam Adani tumbled down from the second place in the list of the world’s billionaires.

Adani was able to arrest the fall in the prices of his companies’ shares and even make a modest recovery in a few days’ time. That raised him to the 17th place in the billionaire’s list. But his troubles are not over yet.

There was nothing political about the Hindenburg report. However, in India it acquired a political dimension in view of Adani’s proximity to Modi since the latter’s days as Gujarat’s Chief Minister. He was one of the businessmen whom Modi took with him on foreign tours as the Prime Minister.

Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha and Mallikarjuna Kharge in the Rajya Sabha accused Modi of helping Adani to get foreign contracts. They also referred to the role of the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation, the country’s largest stock market investor, and the public sector banks in Gautam Adani’s meteoric rise.

Citing figures, Gandhi said Adani’s assets rose from $8 billion in 2014 to $140 billion in 2022. That lifted him from the 609th place to the second in the list of billionaires.

Members of other Opposition parties also raised the issue of alleged favours shown to Adani by Modi.

Several Opposition parties demanded probe by a joint parliamentary committee into the Adani affair. An alternative suggestion was an official investigation under the Supreme Court’s supervision.

The Opposition parties have been unable to formulate a common demand on the Adani matter and evolve a joint strategy to press it. The government will, therefore, find it easy to overcome their efforts to use this issue for political gains.

When Gandhi and Kharge spoke of Modi-Adani links, members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party objected to their making allegations without offering any evidence. The presiding officers of the two houses later went through the records and removed big chunks from their speeches.

It is the standard practice for the Prime Minister to respond to criticisms and allegations raised by the Opposition when he replies to the debate on the thanks motion. Modi did not respond to any of the points raised by members with regard to Adani. Instead, he dwelt on the scandals of the previous Congress-led governments.

According to media reports the BJP has asked its leaders not to talk about the Adani matter. All this indicates that Modi has decided that the best way to contain the political fallout of the Adani matter is to stay mum.

The Opposition parties will get another opportunity to raise the Adani issue during the budget debate this week. They have said they would pursue the matter during this debate too.

It is Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman who will be replying to the budget debate. The stock market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India, has been looking into certain complaints against the Adani group for some time. Both SEBI and the government have been tight-lipped about this investigation so far. Ms. Sitharaman has a duty to provide information about the probe to Parliament.

Rahul Gandhi asked Modi four questions about his visits to different countries in an attempt to establish a link between his visits and the contracts the countries awarded to Adani’s firms. Modi can refuse to answer them. The Speaker can keep them out of the records of the Lok Sabha. But in a democracy the government must be ready to face questions and respond to them.