The Adani crisis is greeted as ‘Modani’ crisis. In several ways some of the mud that is hurled on the face of the Prime Minister seems to stick. This is because it is Adani, who has framed the crisis as a calculated attack on India. In his attempt to seek cover behind the proverbial foreign hand, Adani dragged the Government into his own crisis. There is some truth to Adani’s allegations to the extent that the attack on Adani is to some extent an attack on India as it seems to have dissuaded foreign investments bringing Indian financial system under suspicion. Perhaps, it has been a wakeup call for the government to relook at its tall claims of having put our financial system on right track. The fact that travail of one single company becomes a thunder bolt for country seems to suggest that much of the rhetoric that said ‘na kahunga na kahane dunga’ is hyperbolic. We have to accept that the Adani mess has put a spotlight on our governance practices manifesting failures of our regulatory system.
The Adani fiasco is troubling, yet an important question still lingers on for us in Goa. We might ask: What does it have for us in Goa? One important takeaway for us in Goa is the suspicion about the Sagar Mala Project. What is presented as nationalisation of our rivers appears nothing but corporatisation of the same. In the name of nationalisation of our rivers, Goa is put on a fast track to become a coal hub for the likes of Adani to exploit our natural resources to amass wealth. While the grain of suspicion hangs on the Sagar Mala Project, the real issue is whether Adani will abandon his coal project in Goa. May be this is nothing more than wishful thinking on our part. But our anxieties refuse to calm down and we still hope that the Adani crisis might disrupt his coal interest in Goa. While this hope is welcome, it also raises questions on the manner in which Goa Government is bending backwards to please its master at the Centre, which seems to be treating us and Goa as its ‘colony’ even after liberation.
The fact that the Supreme Court has rejected a sealed envelope mode to investigate the misdeeds of Adani as proposed by the government and brought it under public scrutiny laying emphasis that it has to be under its eyes much to the dislike of our government, we can see light at the end of the tunnel. But we, as Goans, have to be cautious. The light that we see, can be the headlight of another engine that is coming to crush us. The dramatic fall of Adani is also the symbolic fall of the government. The optics is not good for both Adani and the government in Delhi. Hence, there is a total silence of Prime Minister while a vociferous defence is being taken up by a few ministers and some sections of the godi-media. There is an attempt to shut down all opposition on this issue even in our Parliament. All this presents Prime Minister as weak and vulnerable. Unfortunately, his strong man image has taken a beating.
From the triumphant moment when the winning Modi flew to Delhi in Adani’s aircraft to the several foreign trips as well to the rise of Adani mirroring the rise of Modi at the level of optics one can see a partnership between Adani and Modi. Adani’s growth story was proclaimed as India’s growth story. Adani’s astounding debt-fuelled rise points at his links with the ruling benches. This grand standing seems to have come back to haunt the ruling party. His fall from the top leaves several questions unanswered and casts aspersions on the government’s role in his meteoric rise . The Adani bubble seems to have burst. If it has not burst, it has certainly halved its size. Although, Adani group has declared its intent to continue with all its business plans, it is likely that some of them will be pulled back given the jolt it received because of the Hindenberg Report. There are several lessons in the Adani fiasco. BJP’s grand standing seems to be found out as mere public posturing. It might reveal that its tall promises are only realised for the rich. We seem to have to understand that India cannot grow on the back of corporate monopolies. It tells us that heavy debts, complex finances and opaque governance cannot be India’s growth engine.
The loss of credibility of the national government has strengthened the perception that the double engine government in Goa too has sacrificed the interest of Goans when it comes to our rivers. The diversion of Mhadei water speaks volumes. The government’s defence that positions the Adani saga as a conspiracy engineered by the ‘colonial’ West, does not seem to cut the ice. What has haunted Congress on the verge of its loss to BJP in 2014 has come to haunt the BJP in 2023. If then, we had anti-corruption movement led by India Against Corruption, we have Bharat Jodo Yatra of Rahul Gandhi today. If there were red flags about the corruption in Congress and its several scams, today we have the BBC documentary on the Modi Question and downfall of Adani. Will these parallel storms change the electoral fortunes of Opposition in our country? What will become of the aspirations of the middle class? Will the middle class feel betrayed and let down by the ruling BJP? Maybe time that is to come has answers to these questions . Given the power of the political actors, Adani may stage a comeback. Yet to us in Goa, it seems to become crystal clear that our government is nothing more than the servant of its masters in Delhi.
(Fr Victor Ferrao is an
independent researcher attached to St Francis Xavier Church, Borim, Ponda)
