Rahul Gandhi on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would personally ensure that no discussion takes place in Parliament on the Adani Group while the Congress asked why the Life Insurance Corporation invested in a conglomerate against which allegations of fraud had been made for a long time.

As the parliamentary deadlock continued, Rahul told the media: “I have been saying this for several years that the government is all about ‘hum do, hamare do’. The government is frightened and doesn’t want any debate on Adani in Parliament. The government should allow a discussion. But you see, Modiji, not the government, will try his best to scuttle a discussion on Adani. There is a reason for this and you all know that.”

He added: “I have been talking about it for two-three years and I want a discussion on this so that the truth comes out. There must be a discussion on the scandal worth lakhs of crores and the way India’s infrastructure has been captured, and the country should know which is the power behind Adani.”

The dominant section of the Opposition, including the Congress, DMK, Trinamul and Left parties, wants the debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s address to be used for raising the Adani row.

The Trinamul Congress on Monday voiced its concern over the disruption even as the Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi wanted to continue with the protests.

The debate on the presidential address might start on Tuesday even as the joint Opposition asserted again that nothing less than a joint parliamentary committee or a Supreme Court-monitored probe was acceptable.

As promised on Sunday, the Congress asked three questions to the Prime Minister, describing his silence as disturbing. The questions were:

1. Your government has a track record of bailing out IDBI Bank and disinvestments in New India Assurance and General Insurance Corporation using LIC funds. It is one thing to bail out public sector companies and quite another to use the savings of 30 crore loyal policy-holders to enrich your friends. How did the LIC make such a heavy allocation to the risky Adani Group that even private fund managers had steered clear of ? Is it not the duty of the government to ensure that vital public sector financial institutions are more conservative in their investments than their private sector counterparts? Or was this another case of your “Mann Ki Banking” to benefit your cronies?
2. The allegations of fraud and money laundering against the Adani Group have been known for some time. There have been many questions about who are the ultimate beneficial owners of major funds investing in the Adani Group. There have been as many as four major fraud investigations, including one by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), into the true ownership of its offshore investors. Given this knowledge, did anyone in the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Finance or the LIC itself raise any concerns about these questionable investments? Were such concerns overruled and, if so, by whom?
3. After the first selloff following the Hindenburg allegations, the value of Adani Group stocks held by the LIC fell by Rs 32,000 crore, bringing the value of those holdings to Rs 56,142 crore on January 27, 2023, by the LIC’s own admission. Since then several Adani infrastructure stocks have further crashed by another 50 per cent. Will you share the true extent of the LIC’s losses from its Adani investments after January 24? The listed price of the LIC itself has fallen by 14 per cent in the last two weeks compared with a dip of 2 per cent in the Nifty 50 index. As the LIC’s misguided Adani investments are eroding the confidence of its 34 lakh retail shareholders, what steps will you take to ease their concerns?

The Congress held demonstrations in front of LIC offices and SBI branches across the country. While state units conducted the protests elsewhere, the Youth Congress organised the protests in Delhi. All Opposition parties held a demonstration in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue on the Parliament campus on Monday morning. Addressing the media after the Opposition meeting in the morning, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said: “Lakhs of crores of rupees got wiped out. Is this issue not serious enough for a discussion in Parliament? Why was the provision of Rule 267 created? Whenever an incident occurs in the country that affects crores of people, discussion takes place under this provision. Previous governments allowed debates under this rule.”

He added: “But today, we are astonished that the Chair bluntly rejects all the notices under this rule. We want the debate on the presidential address but the Prime Minister will have to reply to questions related to the Adani affair, which has hit the economy and affected crores of people. 17 political parties are demanding a discussion under Rule 267. Let the Rajya Sabha Chairman himself tell us what kind of topics will be allowed under Rule 267. Everything is done to protect one person who has flourished under Modi’s patronage.”

Rule 267 entails suspension of all other business in the Rajya Sabha to take up an urgent matter. In the Lok Sabha, it is called an adjournment motion. These provisions stipulate voting and every political party will have to take a clear stand on the issue. The government has given no indication it will accept such a debate in either House.