Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, on Wednesday demanded a probe into the Adani Group by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), and accused the Centre of being silent on a report by a US firm that alleged stock manipulation and accounting fraud by the group, triggering heated exchanges between the government and opposition benches.
Attacking the government over demonetisation, the failure to fulfil the promise of providing 20 million jobs a year, and for not empowering public sector units, Kharge said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has opted to remain silent on the Adani issue. “I want to ask the PM why you are so quiet. You scare off other people, why are you not scaring industrialists?” he asked.
To be sure, Modi spoke in the Lok Sabha later in the day, slamming the Opposition for making false allegations against him. He is slated to address the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. Kharge, who was speaking during the debate on Motion of Thanks to the President’s address, raised the issue of the Adani Group being allegedly given favours by the government, leading to a sharp increase in the assets of the promoters. Modi was present in the House during Kharge’s speech.
Referring to the Hindenburg Research report on the Adani Group, Kharge said the wealth of the businessman rose astronomically between 2014 and 2022, and particularly in the last two years.
“What magic is this?” Kharge asked, amid protest from the government benches.
Even as senior BJP leaders, including finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, objected to “insinuations” against the PM, Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar interrupted Kharge, reminding him that the LoP is an elevated constitutional position. “I expected that you will raise the level of the debate,” Dhankhar said. He also told Kharge to authenticate his statements, including his charge that the BJP used agencies such as CBI and ED to dislodge state governments. “Parliament cannot be a platform of free-fall of information, and casting aspersions,” he said.
Dhankhar, in response to Kharge’s allegation that the government was favouring a few conglomerates, said that statements seeking to tarnish the nation’s image should not be made “We have to say from this platform only that which is in national interest,” he said.
Sitharaman said that Kharge’s remarks were “infused with insinuation” and the government side objected to how he was “subtly and overtly insinuating against the PM.”
Leader of the House, Piyush Goyal, too, said Kharge was referring to purported wealth that does not have merit as it was based on share market calculations. “A JPC is formed when the allegations are proved, like in the case of coal-gate or the 2G scam or when there are any allegations against the government,” Goyal said, referring to scams dating back to the UPA era.
Kharge also accused the government of fostering communal polarisation, referring to former PM Atal Bihar Vajpayee’s “raj dharma” remark in the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The government, however, accused him of misquoting Vajpayee. Sitharaman said the former PM’s quote was incorrectly cited and it ended with “he (then chief minister Modi) is following raj dharma”. This time, Dhankhar asked both Kharge and Sitharaman to authenticate Vajpayee’s quoted remark.
There were some lighter moments during the debate, too. At one point, Kharge joked that the PM was always in election mode. Modi laughed when Kharge said that while he was in Parliament, Modi chose to address two rallies in his own constituency of Gulbarga. Dhankhar also drew laughs. After the LoP recalled how the chairman had once bought a cash-counting machine on starting his legal practice, Dhankhar said that Kharge would open a JPC probe against him as well.
