The Adani group's slowing down can have an impact on the country, said speakers at an event held at the Marathi Patrakar Sangh on Thursday. The Adani group whose stock prices fell drastically post the Hindenburg report has, as a group, seen one of the most dizzying rises in India's history. The slowing down will not just affect the economy of the country but can also lead to large-scale unemployment and the use of public money to bail it out, said the speakers.
The speakers were addressing a public meeting on 'Decoding the Adani Scam', presided over by veteran freedom fighter Dr CG Parikh. Among the speakers were veteran journalist, writer and filmmaker Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, investigative journalist Ravi Nair, national vice-president of PUCL advocate Mihir Desai and social activist Feroze Mithiborwala.
The meet was organised by a host of civil and socio-religious organisations like the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Centre of Indian Trade Unions, Sarva Shramik Sangh, Maulana Azad Vichar Manch, the Bombay Catholic Sabha and Dalit Panther Samanvay Samiti, among others.
“The Adani group has expanded into many areas of business for which it has taken loans from various banks and even LIC. It is too big to fail but if it slows, it can certainly have an impact on the country,” said Thakurta. He said that the Adani group has filed six cases against him, including two gag orders, but he chose to speak as silence was no more an option.
Speakers said there has been a pattern in the rise of the Adani Conglomerate; a pattern in the filing of defamation cases against journalists who wrote against Adani, no publication of earlier enquiry reports in which Adani was accused and tweaking of government rules to favour Adani in getting airports where it had no experience.
“When he does not have money to make one airport, how will he get the money for others,” asked Nair. “Adani calls his rise mehnat (hard work), mehnat and mehnat. But it is Prime Minister Modi who has worked hard for him,” said Nair. He said that in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the Indian government made conditions that certain projects should go to Adani. “Bangladesh is paying more price to a private company who is exporting thermal electricity to them when India is not even a power surplus country. They forcibly took 2,000 acre of land from farmers to help them set up a power project. Then they wanted water from the Ganga which is 90 km away, so again they forcibly took more land. Now the area is an SEZ where he enjoys many tax exemptions,” said Nair.
Speakers said that the citizens of Bangladesh were against the terms and this could harm the relations between the two countries. In many cases, the speakers alleged that there was a lot of transfer of goods within the group itself. They further alleged that some of the companies were owned by relatives of Adani who are on the run for having defaulted on bank loans and their whereabouts are not even known. “There were to be inquiries against the Foreign Portfolio investors who were investing only in his companies in India. SEBI was to inquire but where are the earlier reports? Now, SEBI will be inquiring again,” said Nair.
“What about the large-scale unemployment, impact on marginalised communities, rights of Adivasis, environment degradation, and the question of the country's economy at large?” asked Desai.
