Opposition parties have strongly condemned Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s removal of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s remarks linking Prime Minister Narendra Modi with businessman Gautam Adani during his address in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
In total, 18 comments made by Rahul Gandhi during his 53-minute speech were deleted from the parliamentary notes. The Congress leader responded by tweeting a video clip of his speech containing some questions to the Prime Minister. “Prime Minister, you cannot remove the voice of democracy. People of India are asking you questions, answer them.” mentioned that.
In his speech, Rahul Gandhi alleged that since the BJP government came to power in mid-2014, the fortunes of the Adani Group have risen tremendously. Among the comments culled from their notes were Rahul Gandhi’s questions about the Prime Minister’s relationship with Adani. Rahul Gandhi vomited some photos showing the closeness between them and their relationship dates back to Modi’s years as Chief Minister of Gujarat.
Among the comments expunged from their note were Rahul Gandhi’s allegations regarding the Mumbai airport. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has issued a detailed report on what Rahul Gandhi said about the airport. Adani Group’s takeover of Mumbai Airport will be a model study in Peruvian capitalism, says Jairam Ramesh.
“In 2019, the GVK Group vehemently opposed the Adani Group’s attempts to buy a stake in the Mumbai airport and went to court to raise funds to buy out its joint venture partners, Bidvest and ACSA. In August 2020, GVK was forced to sell its most valuable asset to the Adani Group, a month later following investigations by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate. What happened to the CBI and Enforcement Directorate investigation into GVK? How did they mysteriously disappear after selling Mumbai Airport to Adani Group? Are those cases being used to put pressure on GVK to protect the group that forced it to divest India’s second busiest airport?” Ramesh questioned.
Among the comments expunged from the note were Rahul Gandhi’s allegations that the Prime Minister had favorably pressured industrialists to get the Adani Group some defense deals from Israel, a power supply deal with Bangladesh, and the Adani Corporate Group’s offer to borrow from the State Bank of India (SBI).
His reference to the controversy surrounding the Adani Group’s involvement in a power project in Sri Lanka and his questions about Adani’s foreign travels were deleted.
Further, Ramesh said, “The Adani Group, in a short span of time, has emerged as India’s largest airport operator, winning 6 of the six airport concessions awarded by the government in 2019. Also, in 2021, Adani acquired Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, India’s second busiest airport, in a troubled scenario.” He said that.
Ramesh continued, “In 2006, the United Progressive Alliance government awarded concessions to GMR and GVK groups to operate Delhi and Mumbai airports respectively for 30 years. On November 7, 2006, the Supreme Court upheld the privatization with the condition that each bidder must partner with an experienced airport operator. “Although GMR came out on top in both the cases, it was decided not to award the two airports to the company in the interests of competition,” he said.
“In 2019, the rights to operate Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangalore, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram airports were awarded to the Adani Group, which has not operated a single airport in 50 years.” Ramesh said.
Pointing to the NITI Aayog’s note, Ramesh said, “A bidder without sufficient technical capacity could jeopardize the project and compromise the quality of services that the government is committed to providing.”
“Why did the Prime Minister’s Office and the Niti Aayog chairman who headed the Empowered Secretaries Committee ignore this recommendation and help the inexperienced Adani Group acquire 6 airports?” Ramesh questioned.
Ramesh argued that the Department of Economic Affairs has also strongly recommended that no more than 2 airports should be awarded to a single bidder to reduce risk and facilitate competition, as was the case with the privatization of Delhi and Mumbai airports.
“However, in the rush to help its partners, this too was ignored by the government, who instructed the Empowered Secretariat to shelve this pre-condition, paving the way for the Adani Group to create a virtual monopoly in the sector?” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has questioned.
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