NEW DELHI: Questioning the allocation of contracts for airports to the Adani group, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that the billionaire industrialist benefited from the central authorities’s “magic” and asserted that he was not in opposition to companies however the creation of monopolies. In a five-minute video titled ‘Mitr-kaal’ launched on his social media accounts, Gandhi mentioned his remarks in Parliament on the “truth” concerning the businessman had been expunged and faraway from the data.
“The magic of the ‘fakir’ – took the airport out of his bag and handed it over in Adani’s hands,” Gandhi mentioned in a tweet in Hindi.
“I talked the truth about the relationship between Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Adani and how India’s wealth was being ‘looted’. But all my remarks and the truth were removed from the records of Parliament … My remarks were expunged,” he alleged in the video.
“This story is about the ‘kabza-raaj’ (control) during ‘Mitr-kaal’. Control over airports, control over ports, roads and defence forces, control over the media, coal and energy and overall over the government of India…,” he mentioned, claiming that the media didn’t converse on this and the prime minister didn’t reply to the questions posed by him.
“Speaking the truth and facing it is our country’s history,” he mentioned.
‘फ़क़ीर’ का जादू – झोले से एयरपोर्ट निकाला, अडानी के कब्ज़े में डाला!https://t.co/zuRqi2WJ0g pic.twitter.com/k3IpSFXHjv
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 20, 2023
Rahul Gandhi and his Congress occasion have been attacking the prime minister and the federal government over the expansion of the Adani group through the BJP rule and have claimed that that is taking place as a result of businessman’s proximity to the occasion and its management.
The BJP had slammed the allegations as “reckless and baseless” and reminded the opposition occasion that there have been large scams when the Congress-led UPA was in energy that tarnished the picture of the nation.
Even as he focused the Adani group, Rahul Gandhi on Monday mentioned he was not in opposition to companies and claimed he was “pro-business”.
“But I am against the creation of monopolies and I am against ‘jadu’ (magic). What ‘jadu’? From 609 to 2 (richest individuals) and the ‘jadu’ of 4 to 14 (sectors) and the magic of zero to six (airports). It is said that everyone does not get everything one desires, but that is not applicable to the prime minister’s ‘friend’,” he mentioned.
An individual who has by no means run an airport and doesn’t even perceive the enterprise, and probably the most worthwhile airports had been handed over to him, Gandhi alleged.
“My query is why one particular person was handed over six airports because the rule was to not give greater than two airports to at least one particular person.
“Another question is that when the Airports Authority of India, Union Finance Ministry and Niti Aayog all objected to this decision and termed it as wrong, then who overturned these objections and why. The contract was for 30 years, then why was it changed to 50 years? Why was the revenue model changed ?” he requested, posing a set of questions.
“The last ‘jadu’ was the Mumbai airport, the golden sparrow of India’s airports. There was pressure from the agencies – the CBI and ED – on the Mumbai airport operator. The moment the Mumbai operator handed over the airport to Adani, the agencies give him a clean chit,” he alleged, claiming that he raised all these points in Parliament.
