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India Opposition Says Modi Government Afraid of Adani Debate
(Bloomberg) -- India’s opposition parties said parliament has been repeatedly adjourned as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is “afraid” to discuss their demand for a probe into billionaire Gautam Adani’s fight with a US short seller.
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Parliament has been adjourned for three days and was briefly suspended on Tuesday as the opposition draws attention to what they describe as Adani and Modi’s close links. They are demanding a parliamentary investigation into Hindenburg Research’s allegations of fraud and market manipulation by the tycoon’s conglomerate. The market value of Adani Group has almost halved since 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 opposition has so far not been able to gain much traction for their protests outside of parliament.
After a brief adjournment on Tuesday, the opposition lawmakers used a debate over the president’s address made at the start of this budget session of parliament last week to bring up the Adani issue. They plan to resume their demand for an investigation after the debate.
Rahul Gandhi, a leader of the main opposition Congress party, used his time in parliament to draw attention to Adani’s meteoric rise.
“All over the country, one word that I heard is ‘Adani, Adani, Adani,’” Gandhi said in reference to his march across the country. “Everywhere people asked me how how come Adani is successful in every business, how come he never failed? And the most important question — what is his relationship with the country’s prime minister?”
“The house will function. We will ensure that there is a debate on the issue,” said Sougata Ray, a lawmaker of the opposition Trinamool Congress Party. “Adjourning the house will not work as a strategy.”
Four lawmakers from Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party declined to comment on the opposition allegations. The party did not discuss the Adani matter at a parliamentary meeting Tuesday, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The BJP and its allies have a 300 plus-strong majority in the 543-member powerful lower house of parliament, making it an uphill task for the opposition parties to force a debate.
“It will 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,” said Arati Jerath, a New Delhi-based political analyst. “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 elected 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 State Bank of India to highlight what they describe 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 Monday.
However, both protests failed to draw crowds and dispersed quickly.
--With assistance from Sudhi Ranjan Sen and Eltaf Najafizada.
(Updates with fresh quotes from Rahul Gandhi in parliament.)
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