Adani is a symbol of corruption, says Rahul Gandhi in Kolar rally

Ramping up his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said billionaire businessman Gautam Adani is “a symbol of corruption” and vowed that he would continue asking questions.

“Adani is a symbol...a symbol of corruption,” Gandhi said addressing the Jai Bharat rally in Kolar, the same place where his August 2019 speech led to his disqualification as Wayanad MP.

“They think that by removing me from Parliament and intimidating me, they’ll scare me. I don’t fear them,” Gandhi said.

“I repeat again: PM, what is your relationship with Adani? And whose money is Rs 20,000 crore lying in Adani’s shell companies? I won’t keep quiet until I get an answer,” he said, adding that he won’t be perturbed even if he is disqualified or jailed.

Also Read | Rahul Gandhi dares PM to make 2011 caste census data public

Gandhi charged that “thousands of crores magically go into” Adani’s companies.

“Defence infrastructure is most critical. There’s one Chinese director sitting in one of Adani’s shell companies. No investigation is taking place. How is a Chinese director in the company? Who made him sit there? Nobody is answering,” he said.

Gandhi said his mic was turned off in Parliament when he asked how Modi and Adani were related. “I said in Parliament that Adani has shell companies, benami... whose are they? These companies have Rs 20,000 crore... whose money is it? After that, for the first time in history, the government did not allow Parliament to function,” he said.

Accusing Modi of crony capitalism, Gandhi said Adani is “taking away” India’s infrastructure - airports, ports and roads.

Caste census

Referring to his August 2019 speech in which he was accused of “insulting” OBCs, Gandhi dared Modi to release the findings of a caste census commissioned by the UPA government.

“The biggest question when it comes to OBCs, Dalits and people of India is, who has how much population. Only 7 per cent of secretaries in Government of India are Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs. In 2011, a caste-based census was done by UPA government. There’s data on every caste. Modi, you speak on OBCs. Make this data public,” Gandhi said. Gandhi also dared Modi to increase the 50 per cent reservation ceiling.