Text of a talk delivered by Abir Dasgupta at the Anti Fascist Grand Conference in Calcutta. The talk was in Hindi, this is the English original. The environmental and human rights struggle should not be framed solely as a fight against fascism. The Adani Group’s role is ideological, not just as a beneficiary of crony capitalism. The group is an exemplary product of Hindu Fascist political economy.
An AdaniWatch investigation finds that the 2014 election campaigning by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a private jet owned by the Adani Group was not disclosed as election expenditure, potentially violating the law of the land. If payments were made to the relevant Adani company for the lease of its aircraft by Modi for election campaigning, they were not reported by Modi or the BJP to the Election Commission.
An engineers’ union has alleged that an Adani-owned coal-power station is part of an unauthorised scheme to divert electricity that is contracted to supply the northern Indian state of Haryana to the western state of Gujarat – the home state of Adani chairman Gautam Adani and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to the union’s complaint to authorities, the diversion occurred in the peak of the summer months, while Haryana was facing a debilitating heat wave and rolling blackouts.
Appeals before electricity regulatory authorities against a hike in tariffs by Adani Power’s plant in Mundra, Gujarat, that had been granted in December 2018, have reopened an issue that was presumed to have been settled by the Supreme Court.
Draft report proposes that “the burden of hardships” be borne by all stakeholders – developers, lending banks, and consumers.
The government has quietly tweaked rules relating to special economic zones – and the new rules specifically favour the Adani Group. The government recently took a decision to quietly tweak the rules relating to special economic zones (SEZs) which has enabled a company in the Adani Group to reap a bonanza of around Rs 500 crore.
