Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was protecting billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani as he did not order an inquiry into the ‘stock manipulation’ allegations levelled against the industrialist by a US-based research firm Hindenburg Research.
The Wayanad MP, speaking to journalists, said that the PM is “shell-shocked” and didn’t answer any of the questions that he had posed to the BJP-ruled government over the meteoric rise of Gautam Adani’s fortunes.
“The Prime Minister was shell-shocked. He was in shock and there was no answer. The Prime Minister did not give a single answer. I had not asked any complicated questions. I had only asked how many times he (Gautam Adani) had travelled with you, how many times you had met him there. Those were simple questions but there were no answers,” Rahul said.
On PM’s reply to the motion of thanks on the President’s address, Gandhi said he was “not satisfied”.
“I am not satisfied, but it reveals the truth. There was no talk of an inquiry. If he is not a friend, then he should have agreed to an inquiry. There was no probe into shell companies in defence sector and benami money is changing hands, but the prime minister did not say anything on that.”
Gandhi, in an hour long speech in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, accused PM Modi and his government of helping the businessman since the saffron party came to power in 2014.
The Congress MP said that the Adani issue also found an echo in the recently-concluded Bharat Jodo Yatra.
“From Tamil Nadu to Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh…everywhere we heard one name, Adani….Everywhere Adani, Adani, Adani…People asked me how it is possible that Adani tastes success in whichever sector he enters, he never fails. And they asked how Adani is entering every sector, he used to be in one or two sectors now he is eight-ten sectors: airports, data centres, cement, solar energy, wind energy, aerospace and defence, consumer finance, renewables, media, ports, they asked how Adani’s net worth rose from 8 billion dollars to 140 billion dollars from 2014 to 2022,” Gandhi said.
Meanwhile, several remarks made by Gandhi were expunged by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla which drew sharp criticism from the Opposition party. A total of 18 remarks by the Congress leader made during his 53-minute speech were removed from the records, reported The Indian Express.
Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh had tweeted, “With the expunging of Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on PM linked Adani MahaMegaScam, deMOcracy was cremated in the Lok Sabha. OM Shanti.”