India opposition says Modi government afraid of Adani debate
INDIA’S opposition parties said that parliament has been repeatedly adjourned, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is “afraid” to discuss their demands for a probe into billionaire Gautam Adani’s fight with a US short seller.
Parliament has been adjourned for three days and was briefly suspended on Tuesday (Feb 7) as the opposition drew attention to what they described as Adani and Modi’s close links.
The parties are demanding a parliamentary investigation into activist short-seller Hindenburg Research’s allegations of fraud and market manipulation by the tycoon’s conglomerate.
The Adani Group’s market value has nearly halved since the release of the allegations, which company executives have repeatedly denied.
The crisis comes as Modi is set to seek a third term in office in national elections due next year. Allegations of corruption or damage to small investors because of the exposure of some state-run institutions to the Adani empire could dent his vote base.
“The government is afraid of a discussion in parliament about Adani,” Rahul Gandhi, a leader of the main opposition party, Congress, told reporters on Monday. “The country should find out who is the force behind Adani.”
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The opposition has so far not been able to gain much traction for their protests outside of parliament.
The Congress and several other opposition parties said they wanted parliament proceedings to take place on Tuesday. After a brief adjournment, they began participating in a debate over the president’s address, which was delivered last week at the start of the parliament’s budget session. They plan to resume their demand for an investigation after the debate.
“The house will function. We will ensure that there is a debate on the issue,” said Sougata Ray, a lawmaker of opposition party Trinamool Congress. “Adjourning the house will not work as a strategy.”
Four lawmakers from Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) declined to comment on the opposition’s allegations. The party did not discuss the Adani matter at a parliamentary meeting held on Tuesday, said people with knowledge of the matter.
The BJP and its allies have a 300-strong majority in the 543-member lower house of parliament, making it an uphill task for the opposition parties to force a debate.
Arati Jerath, a New Delhi-based political analyst, said it would be “embarrassing for the government if they allow a Joint Parliamentary Committee investigation into the Adani issue because it has the authority to summon information from anywhere”, and this “may involve top government officials”.
She added: “Modi’s government is afraid of that.”
Gandhi and other opposition leaders have talked about the close ties between the embattled tycoon and Modi in the past as well. Both men are from the western state of Gujarat. The stunning rise of Adani’s business empire follows the same timeline as Modi’s ascension to the country’s top political office.
The group’s businesses are often aligned with Modi’s development goals, building capital-intensive infrastructure such as ports and airports.
On Tuesday, lawmakers of the Trinamool Congress party briefly protested in front of the New Delhi offices of the Life Insurance Corporation and the State Bank of India to highlight what they described as the risks to millions of small investors, due to these state-owned institutions’ exposure to the tycoon’s companies. The Congress party held a similar protest on Monday.
However, both protests failed to draw crowds and dispersed quickly. BLOOMBERG
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