From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Congress general secretary (communication) Jairam Ramesh has said the ehtire country has observed a close connection between the Adani Group’s commercial interests and Prime Minister Modi’s eagerness to help him using the government policy.
In a statement, he said the pattern is consistent across sectors, ranging from agriculture to energy to transportation. He posed three more questions to Modi under the HAHK “Hum Adani ke Hain Kaun series:
1. The three farm laws you enacted in September 2020 met widespread opposition from the farmers of India, which forced you to repeal the black laws in November 2021. One of the biggest beneficiaries of the farm laws would have been Adani Agri Logistics. But even in the absence of the farm laws, Adani has become the major beneficiary of the Food Corporation of India’s silo contracts, the most recent award being one to set up 3.5 lakh metric tonnes of storage in UP and Bihar. Meanwhile Adani Farm-Pik has built a near-monopoly on apple procurement in Himachal Pradesh. Is there any sector of Indian agriculture that you have not tried to hand over to the Adani Group?
2. Renewable energy is yet another promising sector whose main goal for you seems to be to help Adani. On 14 June 2022, the Adani Group announced that it would invest $50 billion in green hydrogen in a strategic alliance with France’s TotalEnergies. Lo and behold, on 4 January 2023, the Union Cabinet approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission with an outlay of ₹19,744 crore to subsidise Adani. TotalEnergies has since suspended its participation in this venture, but is there any Adani business announcement that is not followed up with a major taxpayer-funded subsidy?
3. You successfully handed over six out of six airports to the Adani Group in 2019 by removing the condition that no single operator would be given more than two airports. In your ‘Mitr Kaal’ budget speech on 1 February, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that 50 more airports, heliports and water aerodromes would be revived in the next stage. How many of these will Adani end up winning? Will you restore the UPA-era rule that limited how many airports a single operator would be given to ensure competition, or will you continue to expand Adani’s airports monopoly?
