Cornered by the Opposition from all sides on the Adani issue, PM Narendra Modi in his reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s speech on Wednesday hit back and listed scams under the Congress-led UPA regime.
PM Modi didn’t for once refer to the Adani Group issue, so vociferously raised by the Opposition, or name industrialist Gautam Adani during his over one-hour-long speech.
The PM attacked the Congress-led UPA by referring to the 2G, Coalgate, cash-for-votes and Commonwealth Games scams. PM Modi also spoke about the defence scams under Congress-led governments and called the decade between 2004 and 2014 “The Lost Decade”.
His speech was punctuated by opposition MPs demanding a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the allegations against the Adani Group.
PM Modi said that the 10 years of UPA between 2004 to 2014 saw the highest number of corruption cases in the history of Independent India. That decade also saw terrorist forces rear their heads. He said that India lost its global standing in those 10 years. “That decade will be known as the lost decade,” said Modi.
The Opposition Salvo
Opposition MPs, including Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, TMC’s Mahua Moitra and RJD’s Manoj Jha, had earlier attacked the Modi-led government over the Adani issue.
Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday levelled the charges that the Modi government had bent rules to benefit Adani. He also wanted to know what PM Modi’s ties were with the industrialist.
“From Tamil Nadu, Kerala to Himachal Pradesh, we have been hearing one name everywhere ‘Adani’. Across the entire country, it’s just ‘Adani’, ‘Adani’, ‘Adani’…Adani ji never fails in any business he ventures into – solar energy, wind energy. During my yatra people asked me how Adani achieved such success in so many sectors, what is his relationship with the Prime Minister,” Rahul Gandhi said.
Earlier On Wednesday, Congress chief and the Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, while speaking in the Rajya Sabha attacked the government on the Adani issue. He also said that every issue was being communalised. He questioned PM Modi’s silence on those who are spreading hatred in the country.
“In 2014, PM Modi said na khaunga na khane dunga. Now I want to ask why is he letting some industrialists ‘eat’. The wealth of one of the closest friends of PM Modi increased by 13 times in 2.5 years. In 2014, it was ₹50,000 crore while in 2019 it became ₹1 lakh crore. I don’t know what magic happened that his assets touched ₹12 lakh crore in just two years,” Kharge said in the Upper House.
Kharge alleged that PM Modi was “always in election mood”. “The Prime Minister should spend more time in the house. Why is the PM so silent?”, asked Kharge.
TMC’s Mahua Moitra had launched a stinging attack on the government in the Lok Sabha over the Adani row on Tuesday, saying “A, the billionaire businessman,” has ‘topi pehnau-ed’ or duped the country.
Participating in the debate on the ‘Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address’, Mahua Moitra said a famous person whose name starts with ‘A’ and ends with ‘I’, who stinks of crony capitalism, has duped everyone.
RJD’s Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha also demanded a probe by a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) into the alleged issues in the Adani Group highlighted by US firm Hindenburg Research.
Jha said: “People are worried but the government is trying to cover up the Adani issue. Gautam Adani is claiming that this is an attack on the nation, but when did he become a national person?” He demanded a JPC probe into the issue as soon as possible.