Targeting industrialists Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani has been the main political arrow in Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s quiver of attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the central theme of Gandhi and the Congress’s attacks on the BJP was Ambani and the Rafale fighter jet deal. “Crony capitalism”, with a specific focus on Adani’s alleged links to the BJP and the PM, has been the chosen path of attack since.
Whether the pitch will have resonance among voters has been the subject of much debate within the party. There have been arguments that the ever-rising aspirational Indian middle class was viewing the Congress’s repeated “crony capitalism” jibes as “anti-capital” and “anti-business”. Such was the perception that Gandhi had to issue statements claiming that he was not anti-business but was only opposed to monopoly.
In an article for The Indian Express on November 6, Gandhi said the “core competence” of monopolies was “not products, consumers or ideas,” but “their ability to control India’s governing institutions and regulators — and, in surveillance”. Delineating the difference between a monopoly and fair play in business, he wrote, “These groups decide what Indians read and watch, they influence how Indians think and what they speak. Today, market forces do not determine success, power relations do.”
But, even leaders within the Congress had their doubts about the anti-Adani pitch, with some saying that the absence of a clear money trail makes it difficult to make corruption charges against the government.
However, the indictment of Adani by US prosecutors for allegedly offering Rs 2,029 crore in bribes to Indian government officials to secure “lucrative solar energy supply contracts” is a vindication of sorts for the Congress leader. The indictment does not establish a direct link between the government and Adani but has at its centre the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a governmental body. The indictment says Adani offered the bribe to Indian government officials in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, and Tamil Nadu.
On Thursday, many eyes were on Gandhi’s response to the indictment. While Gandhi demanded the immediate arrest of Adani and reiterated his oft-repeated accusation that Modi was protecting him, he linked the “irregularities” to the daily lives of the people, including the middle class.
Gandhi said the indictment was concerned with the approximate amount of solar power a state or region would agree to purchase at inflated prices in exchange for the bribe. “It means that the power tariff is going up because Adani is indulging in corruption. Remember, every time you switch on the light, money is going into Adani’s pocket … money is going for running Modi’s system … That is why the indictment says bribe notes,” said the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
Gandhi also appealed to stock market investors. Demanding a probe, the arrest of Adani, and the replacement of SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch with a “credible” person, the Congress leader said: “If that does not happen … the retail investors of India will suffer. Yeh khilwaad, yeh game jo chal raha hai … isme anth main Hindustan ka jo retail investor hai…woh maar khayega (This game that is going on will take a toll on the retail investor) … Adani will go scot-free, big people will go scot-free, small investors … I am talking to you, you will suffer,” he said.
Gandhi also answered a question on whether his consistent targeting of Modi over Adani had worked. “It is not that nothing has happened. The PM’s credibility has been destroyed. We know that there is going to be no government institution that is going to help put Mr Adani where he belongs. We know that because the entire government is controlled by the PM… What we are doing, and we have done very successfully is prove to every single youngster that Mr Adani and Mr Modi are the same thing, that Mr Modi is corrupt, that Mr Adani is his bagman,” he said.
Gandhi said the Congress would find “different people in this network” and “expose them”, indicating that the US indictment had provided him and the Congress with the ammunition to keep targeting the BJP over this. This is likely to also feature prominently on the Opposition’s agenda during the Winter Session of Parliament, which begins on November 25, with calls to renew a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe most likely. The Opposition first raised the demand for a JPC probe into Adani in early 2023 after short-seller Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group of “brazen stock market manipulation” and “accounting fraud”. This August, the Opposition demanded a JPC inquiry into allegations of conflict of interest against market regulator SEBI’s chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch.
“We have already exposed to you one lady called Madhabi Buch. We have also shown you how she is connected to Mr Adani… We are going to show you a vast number of other people who are involved in this thing. By the end of it, India will know who are the people, every single one of them, who have hijacked this country,” Gandhi said on Thursday.
