The Opposition led by Rahul Gandhi on Friday pounced on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s answer to a question on industrialist Gautam Adani as a “personal matter”.
Modi and US President Donald Trump addressed a press conference together, in which an American reporter asked both of them if they discussed the case of Gautam Adani. Modi replied in Hindi that heads of two states do not meet to discuss such “personal matters”. The word he used was vyaktigat.
“Questions raised inside the country are met with silence. When asked abroad it becomes a personal matter. In the US, Modi ji has attempted to cover up the crimes of Adani ji,” wrote Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) handle in Hindi.
“When filling up friend’s pocket is ‘building the country’ then bribery and looting the nation’s property becomes ‘personal matter’,” Rahul wrote.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha has been one of the loudest voices against what he calls a nexus between Modi and Adani.
The Adani question came on the heels of a report in The Guardian, the British newspaper citing Indian government documents claimed that the BJP government had tweaked India’s defence protocols to allow Adani to set up an energy project in Khavda, Gujarat, the home state of both Modi and Adani, close to the Pakistan border.
“The colour on Modi ji’s face drained at hearing the name of Adani. With some twist and turns and making out of context statement he said it was a personal matter. Since when did corruption become a personal matter?” Congress Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh asked on X.
Trinamul Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale claimed the US press conference was the reason why Modi does not address press conferences in India.
“Finally! PM Modi is FORCED to do a press conference in the US - something he hasn’t done in India in 11 years. THIS is why he NEVER takes press questions in India. THIS is why his “interviews” in India are fully scripted. He’s so ANGRY & FLUSTERED,” wrote Gokhale.
During his first national campaign from end of 2013 till he became the prime minister, Modi had capitalised on the popular resentment against corruption during the UPA government led by the Congress under the late Manmohan Singh.
Though Modi’s personal probity remains unscathed, his alleged proximity to Adani has been talked about in public even if in hushed tones.
According to The Guardian report, the Andhra Pradesh state government which had signed a deal with Adani to procure 7GW of solar power from the Khavda plant is keen to cancel the arrangement. French conglomerate TotalEnergies, which had reportedly paid $444 million in the Khavda project, has suspended further investment.
The now-shut US short-seller Hindenburg Research had claimed earlier that the Adani Group had used offshore tax havens and that certain offshore funds and shell companies tied to Adani Group "surreptitiously" owned stock in Adani's listed firms.
In August last year, the US company had accused the head of the Indian markets regulator, which was investigating the company, of owning shares in offshore funds held by the group.
The company has also faced legal trouble in Bangladesh, Kenya, Australia and Myanmar.
Adani Power reduced electricity supply to neighbouring Bangladesh this month after failing to recover more than $800 million in dues amid a political crisis in the country. And on Thursday Adani Green Energy told Sri Lanka it will withdraw from two proposed wind power projects, two weeks after Colombo said it was seeking to lower the cost of the power generated.
The Opposition has been flagging the Indian government’s leasing out airports and other infrastructure projects to the Adani Group.
The Adani Group has steadfastly denied all charges of wrongdoing levelled against it.
