Amid ongoing Hindenburg-Adani row, the Congress on Wednesday took exception to the expunging of certain parts of Rahul Gandhi’s speech the party MP delivered while participating in a debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address in Lok Sabha yesterday. In the speech he had levelled allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Certain parts of Rahul Gandhi’s speech yesterday were expunged from the Lok Sabha records,” an official confirmed.
Reacting to the move, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh, in a tweet on Wednesday, said, “With the expunging of @RahulGandhi’s remarks on PM linked Adani MahaMegaScam, deMOcracy was cremated in the Lok Sabha. OM Shanti.”
Later, the Congress general secretary in-charge communications also issued a statement along with a tweet saying, “Here is HAHK-4 (Hum Adanike Hain Kaun), the fourth in the series of questions to the PM on the PM-linked Adani MahaMegaScam.”
Posing three fresh questions to the prime minister, the Congress general secretary in-charge of communications in a statement demanded that the Centre to come clean on how the Adani Group emerged as the largest airport operator in India in a short period.
Ramesh claimed the Adani Group won six out of six airport concessions that the government awarded in 2019, and took over Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, the second busiest airport in the country, under questionable circumstances in 2021.
“On December 10, 2018, a NITI Aayog memo argued that ‘a bidder lacking sufficient technical capacity’ could jeopardise the project and compromise the quality of services the government is committed to provide.”
It pointed out that the model Request for Quotes (RFQ) document already gave points for project experience outside the airport’s sector, but that experience in the airports sector was important. A government official quoted in an earlier news report (dated 22 April 2018) stated that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had ‘directed’ the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) in the Ministry of Finance and the NITI Aayog to prepare model concession agreements for airport privatisations,” Ramesh said in the statement.
“Why did the PMO and the NITI Aayog chairman who headed the Empowered Group of Secretaries ignore this recommendation and facilitate a clean sweep of six airports by the inexperienced Adani Group?” he questioned.
The Congress leader further said on the same day the NITI Aayog filed its objection, a note from the DEA had strongly recommended that no more than two airports be awarded to a single bidder to reduce risk and to facilitate competition.
“Yet this too was ignored by the ruling dispensation in its rush to help its cronies. Who instructed the Empowered Group of Secretaries to set aside this prior condition, thus clearing the way for the Adani Group to build a virtual monopoly in the sector?” he questioned.
The Congress leader claimed that the Adani Group’s takeover of Mumbai airport was a case study in ‘crony capitalism’.
“The GVK Group had vigorously contested the Adani Group’s attempts to buy a stake in Mumbai airport in 2019, going to the courts and raising funds to buy out its joint venture partners Bidvest and ACSA,” the statement said.
“Yet in August 2020, only one month following raids by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement DIrectorate (ED), GVK felt compelled to sell its most valuable asset to the Adani Group,” the statement said.
“What happened to the CBI and ED investigations against GVK? How did they miraculously disappear after the sale of Mumbai airport to the Adani Group? Are those cases being used to apply pressure on GVK to defend the very group that forced it to divest India’s second busiest airport?” Ramesh questioned.
A January 24 report by Hindenburg Research alleged that the Adani Group had weak business fundamentals, and was involved in stock manipulation and accounting fraud, among others. The report triggered a sell-off of shares of Adani Group companies.