Unanswered Questions

adani

The fog enveloping both the subjects discussed in my last article has not cleared thanks to the studied silence of the accused.If Hindenburgh Research is to be believed, Adani’s 413 page is not much of an answer as it allegedly fudges or skips over key issues.We are only spectators in the game but we are keen that things should be settled early.

In answer to a letter from the TMC MP Mohua Moitra,the Union Minister of State for Finance has written to say that both SEBI and ED have started looking into some of the deals involved.But since it is a public issue now and since ED is given to holding press conferences in connection with such inquiries as with Manish Sisodia,handing out blow by blow reports on their progress, it is only fair that the Adani matter be equally transparent and the public informed about progress of such probe.Further the tag of ‘crony capitalism’ that has been bandied about so often these days,the public deserves to know if it has any relevance, for if it has,it has got to be regarded as serious corruption.The government also needs to clear its name as it has obviously favoured Adani to gain control over major infrastructure of the country like airports and ports and reportedly enabled huge loans from SBI and LICI.Only state agencies tasked with just such vigilance are best suited to handle such matters,provided it is done without interference from the government.

The BBC documentary has been more or less banned in this country but social media are abuzz with it.There are interesting international reactions.The UK Prime Minister Sunak has expressly and officially kept distance from its content.That itself provokes some intriguing new questions.

The BBC documentary purports to have been commissioned by the British High Commission.And the British government had considered and acted on it,denying visa to the Gujarat Chief Minister at that time for years together.So it cannot be rejected today as some stuff for which the government is not responsible. For certain matters for which decisions were taken by a previous government may not be discarded as rubbish by successive governments, unless the latter officially assess the report with a fresh independent scrutiny of the evidence.To the best of our knowledge there has been no such impartial review.

As for the American position on the debate while the government has reiterated its faith in freedom of expression and opposed its banning in India,it refrained from an unqualified assent to its contents.There is some ambiguity here which might be used to arm-twist the Modi government to coax some material concessions from it.

The Russian president Putin is far from a witness to the truth,as he is always in search of some political advantage in his political stances.And his equating of incessant barracking of him by Western foes with this alleged attack on Narendra Modi’s role in the heinous 2002 pogrom is one more such instance.Yet unless there is some new light on the ghastly incidents of 2002 in the documentary as clinching evidence of Narendra Modi’s complicity, we can neither just brush it aside nor swallow it whole.

Since it involves the Prime Minister himself,an independent impartial enquiry is called for.At the time of publication of the report of court-directed SIT despite its conclusion being negative many people expressed their doubts about its findings. Since the matter has acquired urgency because of such confusion,there is no harm in examining the evidence afresh.

Hiren Gohain is a political commentator

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