After being removed from Parliament, India’s opposition leader Rahul Gandhi asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘Modi ji, who owns the 20,000 crores invested in Adani Group?’.
Gandhi said on Saturday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s connection with the Adani Group was the reason for his conviction and disqualification from Parliament.
At a press conference at his Congress party headquarters in New Delhi on Saturday, Gandhi said he was expelled from Parliament to silence him over the infusion of an estimated $3 billion (20,000 crores) into shell companies owned by the Adani group.
“I have been disqualified because the Prime Minister is afraid of my next speech, he is afraid of my next speech on Adani,” Gandhi said at a press conference.
The 52-year-old opposition leader was sentenced to two years in prison on Thursday. The court found him guilty of defamation for a speech he gave in 2019. He is accused of referring to people with the surname Modi – like the current prime minister – as thieves.
The court granted bail to him and released the prison sentence for 30 days and opened the door for appeal.
‘I’m not afraid of them’
The opposition leader told reporters that he would do his best to “protect the democratic nature” of India.
“They are used to being afraid of everyone,” he said, referring to the ruling party. “I am not afraid of them.”
Rejecting Gandhi’s disqualification from Parliament, Congress party supporters took to the streets on Friday to protest.
Gandhi is the scion of India’s most famous political dynasty and the great-grandson of freedom leader Jawaharlal Nehru and the grandson of Indira Gandhi. He is preparing to compete with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in next year’s elections.
Although Congress has dominated politics in post-independence India, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has failed Congress in the last two elections. The Congress’s number of elected seats in the lower house has fallen to less than 10%.
Before Rahul Gandhi’s removal from parliament, Modi was expected to win the next general election and become India’s most popular politician.
Why is Gandhi attacking the Adani group?
Gandhi on Saturday criticized Modi for helping the Adani Group to get contracts in India, Sri Lanka and Australia. Opposition MPs had already demanded the formation of a parliamentary committee on the group.
Adani came under scrutiny following a report by US financial research firm Hindenburg alleging stock price manipulation and fraud. The group dismissed the allegation as an ‘attack on India’.
According to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, since Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014, the total assets of Gautam Adani, the founder and chairman of the group, have increased by almost 2,000 percent. He was among the top three richest people in the world. He was successful in securing contracts for many national projects in various sectors.
Modi’s rivals have long pointed to his alleged ties to the Adani group, which they say has been a close friendship since Modi was chief minister of the western state of Gujarat nearly two decades ago. The state is home to both Modi and Adani.
(With inputs from agencies)
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