Silence all the answer at home; abroad, Adani a ‘private matter’: Rahul Gandhi

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday, 14 February, criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for shielding his ‘friend’ industrialist Gautam Adani from serious corruption and bribery allegations in the US.

Rahul Gandhi's suggested that corruption allegations against Adani are ignored within India — when, for instance, the Opposition seeks to raise the matter in Parliament — and dismissed as a "personal matter" when a journalist raises it abroad. Yes, Gandhi's clear implication is that the Modi government picks crony capitalism over transparency.

‘When filling a friend's pocket is 'nation building' for Modi-ji, then taking bribes and looting the nation's wealth becomes a 'personal matter',’ Rahul Gandhi posted on X.

Incidentally, the new Trump administration hit the pause button on the prosecution of foreign nationals — which implies the dropping of all charges when it comes to Adani.

Which, in turn, leaves the ball back in India's court — since, after all, it was Indian officials who were bribed, even if the funds arrived via the US.

That may have been the thinking of the journalist who put the question to Modi in Washington over the Adani Group's legal woes in the US — but the response received was baffling, to put it mildly.

Modi said, "India is a democracy and our culture is vasudhaiva kutumbakam (the whole world is my/our friend). We consider the whole world as one family."

He went on to state, "I believe every Indian is mine" — which might have been read as taking responsibility for the Adani antics, except... Modi added that "Two prominent leaders of two countries never discuss such individual issues."

Indian citizens may well be confused as to how an Indian being charged in another nation for bribing Indian government officials can be a matter of merely 'personal misconduct', as Modi implied here.

The Congress handle too spoke of the incident in the joint press conference held by US president Donald Trump and Modi, terming the latter’s response ‘shameful’:

‘In America, a journalist asked a question related to the corruption of Narendra Modi's best friend Adani. Narendra Modi called it a "personal matter" and started talking about other things. His face turned pale as soon as he heard the question.

• Investigations are going on against Adani in Sri Lanka, Kenya, Bangladesh, Australia and many other countries. People are taking to the streets and protesting.

• In America, even a warrant was issued in the corruption case.

• There are many allegations of corruption, but for Narendra Modi this is a ‘personal matter’.’

In November 2024, US prosecutors had indicted Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and several colleagues and Adani entities on charges of participating in a $ 250 million bribery and fraud scheme aimed at securing solar energy contracts in India.

The allegations suggest that Adani and his associates bribed Indian government officials to obtain these contracts and concealed their actions from US investors, the Guardian report noted.

Following these indictments, the Congress and other Opposition parties accused Modi of protecting Adani from legal repercussions in India. Gandhi has noted in the past repeatedly that despite the serious nature of the charges in the US, Adani continues to operate freely in India due to the prime minister's intervention.

The Adani Group has, predictably, denied all allegations, labelling them as baseless and emphasising their compliance with all laws.