Rahul Gandhi Fails to Take Modi’s Response in Adani Fraud Case

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi raised in parliament the issue of alleged corporate fraud in the Adani Group of companies. In January 2023, a Hindenburg investigative report accused oligarch Gautam Adani of a massive corporate fraud.

The Congress leader also sought the response of prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi because Adani Group chief Gautam Adani is a close companion of Modi.

But Modi refused to answer any question that Rahul Gandhi asked him in this case. Rather, in his long rhetoric in the parliament, Modi did not even touch the Adani case and spent his entire time on praising himself and accusing Congress of corruption. In his tweeted video message on February 8, Rahul Gandhi acknowledged his failure to get Modi’s response and said Modi will neither order a probe in this case nor will he respond because he wants to support his friend.

Congress - which is a defunct political party - has been using all ordinary tricks to make its presence felt in the Indian political space. After the failure of its recent Bharat Jodo Yatra (or Unite India March), Congress is trying to leverage the Hindenburg Research report for its revival.

Now Congress is leading a group of tired and retired politicians of opposition parties to target Modi and Adani. Besides holding closed-door meetings with a handful of other politicians, Congress is organizing directionless street demonstrations against the central public sector undertakings such as the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India and State Bank of India (SBI) which invested money in the Adani Group.

The Congress party - which is full of naive politicians - is demanding a discussion in the parliament on the Adani Group fraud case. It has also called for an investigation into the Adani Group’s business deals by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) or a team under the supervision of the Chief Justice of India (CJI).

But the foolish Congress leaders fail to understand that a discussion in parliament has no meaning at all, as such discussions cannot force the Modi regime (which is in fact Modi alone) to change its decisions. In this case, Modi is not willing to hear anything about his friend Adani’s alleged frauds.

In order to show its fake concerns for the public, Congress is ostensibly demanding a JPC or a Supreme Court-monitored probe. But the dumb Congress leaders fail to learn from their mistakes in the past.

Old Tricks

Congress has demanded such JPC- or court-directed investigations multiple times in the past in cases such as Rafale corruption case, Pegasus spyware scandal, Pulwama terror attack case, Judge Loya’s death case, and a slew of other cases in which Modi or his regime is allegedly involved.

But Modi has simply ignored all such demands even when they were discussed in the parliament. So, parliament has completely lost its relevance, courts cannot dare to do anything against Modi, and the street demonstrations are so weak that they cannot influence the decisions of the Modi government.

Now it appears that Congress - along with other opposition parties - is deliberately ignoring this harsh reality of the Modi regime and misleading the public by repeating all those mistakes that it has been making in the past.

In the Modi-Adani case, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been leveling wild allegations of links between Modi and Adani without any substantiation. But he could never articulate his random allegations to challenge the Modi regime.

If Congress was really concerned about the unholy relations between Modi and Adani, it could have produced and publicly released a research report like the Hindenburg report to expose the Modi-Adani connections.

Similarly, instead of holding its protests on the barren roads, Congress should have held regular protests in front of the Supreme Court when the court was arbitrarily exonerating Modi in different cases of crime and corruption.

In the Adani case, a pliant Supreme Court judge Justice Arun Mishra has given multiple judgments in favour of the Adani Group of companies. But Congress never challenged those murky judgments while Modi praiser Mishra was given the plum position of chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India in 2021 after his retirement from the Supreme Court.

Future Strategy

Although the detailed Hindenburg report has given enough evidence of irregularities in the Adani Group, instead of using the findings of the report to accuse Adani, Congress is unnecessarily demanding another layer of investigation through the JPC or court.

There is a possibility that some leaders of Congress or other political parties also have some hidden financial connections with Adani. That is why they are subtly trying to dilute the issue by deploying the old tricks that have failed in the past. If an investigation by the JPC or court takes place, it will be so slow and useless that its findings will be dumped without any consequence for the Modi government.

And by that time, it is probable that Modi will become the PM again by winning the Lok Sabha election in 2024 to further ruin the country which is already facing unprecedented disaster including corruption, unemployment, inflation, and religious animosity under his 9-year rule.

If Congress and other political outfits really want to save India and Indians from Modi’s autocracy, they must act in a professional manner. Content, communications, and street protests should become the backbone of their strategy.

In the current Adani case, for example, if Congress is clean, it should create a multilingual microsite to reveal every aspect of the case and Congress’s strategy to protest until the issue is satisfactorily resolved.

Similarly, Congress should create comprehensive microsites on other issues such as Rafale corruption case, Gujarat riots case, Pegasus scandal, and others and regularly update these sites. The party should use digital media and traditional media channels to communicate its actions.

Particularly, Congress and other political parties should not forget the electronic voting machines (EVMs) that may be manipulated to help Modi and his party win again in 2024. All opposition parties should vehemently oppose the use of EVMs in elections.

This exercise by Congress and other political groups should be supported by sustained field protests similar to farmers’ protest on the outskirts of Delhi a couple of years ago. With all these steps, Congress can hope to win the 2024 Lok Sabha election and bring India back on the path of progress.

Council of Europe Launches Action Plan to Support Belarusian Democratic Forces

The action plan was presented to the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers on 1 February, 2023.

The Council of Europe (COE) Secretary General, Marija Pejčinović Burić, has announced a 15-point action plan to support civil society and democracy representatives working towards a future free and democratic Belarus.

Developed jointly in the framework of the Council of Europe Contact Group on Belarus the list covers 15 specific activities including human rights training, workshops on the European Convention on Human Rights, and study visits to bring Belarussian lawyers to the Council of Europe headquarters in Strasbourg.

Other actions include awareness raising on key issues including the abolition of the death penalty, non-discrimination, gender equality and countering violence against women. A workshop for journalists in exile is planned for March.

“The actions we have agreed in the Council of Europe Contact Group on Belarus for 2023 represent the most tangible and meaningful assistance, and I am proud our Organisation is playing a pioneering role in supporting democratic Belarus,” said the Secretary General. A third meeting of the Contact Group will take place in June 2023. The action plan was presented to the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers on 1 February, 2023.

Hundreds of Belarusians have been arrested and jailed because they peacefully exercised their rights to freedom of expression and assembly in response to a fraudulent election in August 2020 that allowed President Alexander Lukashenko to retain power.

When the intensity of protests increased, Lukashenko’s regime shut down dozens of independent organizations and media outlets.

Supreme Court Refuses to Ban BBC Documentary on Modi

The documentary sheds light on Modi’s role in the Gujarat violence of 2002 when Modi was the chief minister (CM) of Gujarat.

The Supreme Court of India on February 10 dismissed a petition seeking a ban on the recent BBC documentary that reveals prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s role in the Gujarat violence of 2022.

The Supreme Court dismissed the petition saying that it is a "totally misconceived and merit-less plea," which was filed by a right-wing outfit believed to be associated with Modi. While rejecting the petition, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and MM Sundresh said that such an appeal of banning a film cannot even be entertained in the court.

Earlier, on February 3, the Supreme Court had issued notice on another petition challenging the Indian government's decision to block the public access to this BBC documentary, "India: The Modi Question".

A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and MM Sundresh also directed the government to produce the original records related to the documentary ban order on the next date of hearing, which will be in April 2023.

The petition by journalist N. Ram, advocate Prashant Bhushan, and politician Mahua Moitra contends that the Central Government has violated citizens' Right To Know by blocking the documentary on PM Modi.

According to the Live Law news site, the petition seeks to restrain the Modi government from censoring the BBC documentary and to quash all orders which directly or indirectly block the online access to it.

Reports suggest that on January 21, India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had invoked its emergency powers under the IT Rules 2021 to order the removal of the links from YouTube and Twitter, after the first part of the documentary was aired.

The documentary sheds light on Modi’s role in the Gujarat violence of 2002 when Modi was the chief minister (CM) of Gujarat. The first part of the series aired in the United Kingdom on BBC Two channel on January 17.

As usual, without any substantiation, the Indian government has termed the BBC documentary a propaganda film, saying it aims to discredit Modi. The second part of the documentary was shown on BBC Two on January 24.

On January 23, The Caravan magazine published the text of the report of inquiry conducted by the UK government into the 2002 Gujarat violence, which was cited in the BBC documentary on Modi.

Although the BBC film is about Modi’s role in the Gujarat violence, the Modi government is projecting it as an attack on the Indian state and trying to block the screening of the film by hook or by crook.

The Modi government - under its draconian laws to censor online content - directed YouTube and Twitter to take down links of the BBC documentary and both the social media sites succumbed to the government’s pressure and blocked the film.

However, some media outlets have given details of the alternative channels that can be used to watch both the episodes of the two-part docuseries, “India: The Modi Question”.

On January 24, international human rights organization Human Rights Watch tweeted parts of the film and said, “India has banned a BBC documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role in the 2002 riots in Gujarat state. The documentary highlighted a report that found Modi ‘directly responsible’ for the ‘climate of impunity’ enabling the violence.” While about 2,000 Muslims were killed in the Gujarat riots, there were incidents of rape, robbery, and widespread destruction of property affecting Muslims. It was alleged that the killings were executed at the behest of Modi. Although Indian courts have exonerated Modi in this case, most Muslims in India still believe that Modi was responsible for the Gujarat massacre. The less said about the Indian courts, the better.

World Must Unite to Fight Hunger in Syria: RMN Foundation

As the economic conditions are deteriorating, an estimated 90% of the population is living under extreme poverty and 80% of Syrians are facing food insecurity. The 12-year-old conflict in Syria has left nearly 12 million people without adequate food for their survival. As the food scarcity persists, a large number of Syrians are struggling to arrange food for their families while prices of most food items are spiraling in the West Asian country.

Children at a shelter in Jibreen, Aleppo, Syria, play with a cart.

Photo: UNICEF/Rzehak

As the economic conditions are deteriorating, an estimated 90% of the population is living under extreme poverty and 80% of Syrians are facing food insecurity. According to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), 12 million people in

Syria are already affected by the food shortages and another 2.9 million people are at risk of sliding into hunger.

“All the humanitarian organizations in the world should unite to save people in Syria from the catastrophic conditions that have resulted as a fallout of the civil war that began in 2011,” said Rakesh Raman, founder of RMN Foundation.

He added that besides providing immediate succour to Syrians, the world community should also work seriously to set up a democratic political system in the country so that people could be empowered to earn their livelihoods gracefully.

RMN Foundation suggests that in order to help the struggling population, it is imperative to help the farming community in Syria with financial aid and modern farming techniques so that they could grow sufficient food for people affected by hunger.

Meanwhile, WFP says that it has started to help farmers in some areas by repairing the irrigation canals that were destroyed during the armed conflict. This step will help farmers grow wheat and other food items so that they can meet the food demand.

Also, WFP is working to irrigate nearly 28,000 hectares of land across the country. It is estimated that the food grown on this land can feed 620,000 people in Syria.

“The UN and its agencies should also help restore the education and industrial infrastructure in the country so that the local Syrians could be provided employment opportunities to bring long-term economic prosperity to Syria,” said Rakesh Raman of RMN Foundation.