Almost as if like a parting gift, US President Joe Biden granted ‘full and unconditional’ presidential pardon to his son Hunter Biden on all the criminal charges for which he is currently being prosecuted. Biden while granting the pardon stated that ‘raw politics has infected this process, and it has led to a miscarriage of justice’ by which he certainly meant the US justice system. It is for sure he meant the same US Justice system which indicted the Adani Group a few days back, and surrounding which lot of eyebrows are being raised concerning the propriety and integrity of the US judicial process. Meanwhile Pentagon finds it difficult to audit, and entirely account for, of its $824 billion budget, and where it has been spent. One wonders if the US Judicial System had anything to say on this.
Meanwhile, nowadays in India, every time the parliament session or a crucial election is round the corner, a common question in the minds of many is, ‘how come the something against Adanis have not yet been published by any Western media house, a Soros funded entity or a US based short-seller?’ It has almost become a cliché now that no parliament session is complete in India without the Adanis being at the wrong end of a hitjob. Therefore, when the news of a US Court indicting members of Adani Group, surfaced a few days back, it came as no surprise for most.
Are Such Indictments Free of any Ulterior Motives?
Should India take such indictments or petitions filed in US Courts against Indian industrialists or even Government of India, seriously? Well, close on the heels of visit by PM Modi in US in September, 2024, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the face of banned entity Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), and himself a designated terrorist in India, filed a civil lawsuit against Government of India, NSA Ajit Doval, in a US federal district court. Could Pannun, allegedly a favorite of certain agencies in Biden Administration, file such a petition against India, when PM Modi was to visit US, without tacit approval from the establishment in US?
Herein, comes the duality of approach of the US Government. Under Biden Administration, while Department of Defense has consistently sought close cooperation with India, wanted better strategic ties and defense deals, the Department of State, or other arms of US Govt, left no stone unturned to corner India, project secessionist activities, and threats to India’s critical infrastructures, given from North American soils by designated terrorists as ‘dissent’ or ‘Free Speech’, use indexes made by think-tanks and NGOs with questionable neutrality, to paint India as worse than Pakistan in Hunger Index, worse than Sub-Saharan African countries in Press Freedom or Democracy, and use organisations like USCIRF to falsely project India as anti-minority.
The manner in which Hindenburg, a short selling entity, tried desperately to wreak havoc against Adani Group in stock markets, on more than one occasion, and the manner in which George Soros had openly stated that he hoped the turmoil over the Adani issue would weaken PM Modi’s hold on the Government, vindicates that there is much more than what meets the eyes, on the issue of sustained attacks on Adani Group from US based short-sellers, media houses, and now even the US judiciary.
What Trump Had to Say on Politicisation of US Judiciary
Before getting into the issue of why there is sustained attack on the Adani Group, let us also not forget this is was the same judiciary in US, which had desperately tried to debar Donald Trump from contesting the US Presidential Elections in 2024. Eventually Trump won with an overwhelming mandate. It must be remembered that unlike in India, it is the Senate Judiciary Committee that has the responsibility ‘for the initial stages of the confirmation process of all judicial nominations for the federal judiciary’.
On the recent issue of five judicial nominees by President Biden, that was put to vote, Trump tweeted the following, ‘The Democrats are trying to stack the Courts with Radical left Judges on their way out’ He asked the Republican senators to ‘hold the line’, so that no more judges are confirmed before Trump Administration takes over. Politicisation of judiciary in US, by default or design, is a reality. During his tenure, President Biden nominated more than 200 judges, ‘highlighting stakes for the courts in the 2024 election’, as NBC News puts it
Earlier, on the issue of Stormy Daniels case, here is what Trump had to say about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. He termed Bragg as a ‘radical left George Soros-backed prosecutor’. Trump stated, ‘This is where we are right now. I have a Trump-hating Judge, with a Trump-hating wife and family, whose daughter worked for Kamala Harris and now receives money from Biden Harris campaign’.
Jeffrey Hawkins wrote in an article for Institute of International and Strategic Relations,
‘In many state and local jurisdictions, although not all, the judicial system seeks to ensure that officials are directly responsible to the electorate. This means that in municipalities, counties, and states across the country, officers of the court are elected. Sometimes, although again not always, these elections are politically partisan.’ That says it all.
The Soros Connection
Much has also been said about alleged connection of Breon Peace (the US Attorney who presided over the indictment on Adani Group) with George Soros, as also that of Chuck Schumer the Senate Majority Leader. Schumer’s ‘long standing’ connections with George Soros, and the pivotal role played by Schumer in nomination of Breon Peace for the said judicial position in 2021 is no more a secret, giving further credence to Trump’s persistent allegations on US Judiciary. Also, no prize for guessing the tens of millions of dollars that the Soros founded and funded organisations have donated to the Democratic Party and its candidates over the years.
It is also interesting to note that Kenya, which recently claimed to have cancelled $2.5 billion worth of projects awarded earlier to Adani Group, following the indictment by US Court, had earlier this year been accorded the status of Major Non-Nato Ally by Biden Administration. A picture of Kenyan President William Ruto with Alex Soros, the scion of Soros empire during a state dinner at White House, got considerable traction. It has also raised quite a few eyebrows about the real reasons behind the deal cancellation. Incidentally, the President of Soros funded Open Society Foundation, Benaifar Nowrojee is herself of Kenyan origin.
Hitjobs, One After Another. But Why?
Had the Adanis not been targeted persistently through Hindenburg, followed by George Soros funded OCCRP, had George Soros not openly admitted about his fascination to witness PM Modi in political trouble, over Adani issue, one could have still given some credence to the allegations mentioned in the indictment against Adanis.
But given the timing of the indictment, and given the manner in which elements of Biden Administration has been deliberately gaslighting situations elsewhere as well, as if to leave behind major mess before Trump takes over, including provoking Russia by allowing Ukraine to use ATACMS missiles inside Russian territory, opening up the Syria front, and now pushing Adanis to a corner through US judiciary, one is compelled to consider if there are other considerations at play than just an issue of corporate irregularity.
The recent revelations by France based Mediapart about the close linkages between OCCRP and US Government, raises further eyebrows about this George Soros and Rockefeller funded organisation, and the integrity of its reports against Adani Group.
Mediapart report stated, ‘Our investigation reveals that the OCCRP was created thanks to the financial support of the US Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. Still today, Washington provides around half of the budget of the OCCRP, and has the power to veto the nomination of “key personnel” in the NGO, including Drew Sullivan’.
To understand why the alleged Deep State Players, also known as the Shadow Government behind the chosen one in USA, as also the Democratic Party run US Government has been targeting Adani in particular, and PM Modi in general, over the last few years, one has to comprehend what their problem with Modi Government is.
India’s Defiant Rise in the Last One Decade
While India always have had an independent foreign policy, in the last few years, especially when the Ukraine-Russia conflict started, Modi Government’s defiant refusal to heed to Western sanctions against Russia, in the greater interest of India, and continuation of its procurement of weapon systems, as well as crude oil from Russia, as also India’s ardent demand for reforms in global multilateral institutions, like UN, to make them more amenable to the aspirations of Global South, has not been taken lightly by belligerent interventionists and business lobbies behind Biden Administration.
Further, India’s refusal to import vaccines during the peak of covid pandemic, its quest for replacing imports by boosting domestic manufacturing, and its creation of the Voice of Global South Summits, to emerge as the pied piper of developing world (Global South), along with its refusal to condemn Russia in the Russia-Ukraine war, its showing of mirror to the double standards of the Global North countries, on various matters, has indeed been a sore for Deep State of the West.
India’s rise in the last ten years has been one in which the nation under PM Modi embraced technology, economic growth and embedded it with India’s age-old cultural ethos, traditions, heritage, philosophy, and pride for the nation. India’s growth therefore has happened largely without embracing wokeism. For the West, growth and success of any nation which does not co-opt into Western version of world order, is an anathema. Contrary to expectations of many in the West, the Indian growth story, not just survived the onslaught of Covid but also emerged stronger. It is not for nothing that India has been defined as a ‘bright spot on this otherwise darker horizon’ by IMF.
In the post-Covid era, India has not only maintained its economic ascent to climb to the fifth spot globally, in terms of GDP, but is now steering into the trajectory of developing resilient supply chains domestically. A combination of various factors including a rapidly growing urban population, strong technical education base, fast improving infrastructure, financial incentives from both Central and State Governments, are also playing pivotal roles in turning India into a major industrial and manufacturing hub in the times to come.
Role of Indian Companies in Developing Domestic Resilient Supply Chains
India’s major push towards Atmanirbhar Bharat, and development of resilient supply chains, is not dependent on FDI alone, as is the trend with many other developing countries. Several major Indian companies have also been playing critical roles in making India a name to reckon with, in both traditional and new age businesses. There are many major names, from Reliance to Tatas, from Adanis to Vedanta, from Birlas to L&T, to name a few, from top PSUs, to a whole array of start-ups and MSME companies, who have been playing stellar roles in India’s journey towards Atmanirbharta, and development of domestic resilient supply chains.
While Reliance played a pivotal role in providing India with massive crude oil refining capacity, followed by revolutionising the telecom market, pioneering in making internet data affordable, and creating a major footprint in the e-commerce and organised retail spectrum, through Reliance Retail and JioMart, and now into green energy with a $75 billion capex plan in developing a new energy ecosystem, Adanis meanwhile have developed major proficiency in management of seaports, and airports, apart from emerging a major player in the energy market too. The Tata Group, apart from helping India get a major global foothold in traditional industrial and commodity sectors, has also emerged as one of the most promising players in aerospace & defence, IT, contract manufacturing of electronics, and now semiconductors.
The Strategic Importance of Adani Group’s Investments
It has to be remembered that if India has to emerge as a $5 trillion economy by 2027-28 and a $10 trillion by 2034-35, if it has to assert itself in the Indo-Pacific region, its military and strategic outreach has to have footprints across South-East Asia, Middle-East, Africa, Europe and even Far East. In this realm, the Adani Group, through its proficiency in port management, and major plans for global port acquisitions is essentially playing a critical role in developing the perfect landscape for India’s strategic rise through its development of ports across major regions of the world, and thereby positioning India as a hub for global trade.
India’s golden era before the invaders impoverished its economy and society, was based on massive maritime trade across the spectrum, that not only ensured India’s rise as a global trader, making India one the of the richest countries, but also helped in exporting Indian culture, ethos, traditions beyond the present-day territorial India. It is also important to understand that if India has to achieve the stated target of $2 trillion annual exports by 2030, and emerge as a major alternate hub for global manufacturing, it then has to have a large number of rapidly modernising and expanding seaports dotted across the entire spectrum of its coastal landscape, and with turnaround times at par with global benchmarks.
The Adani Group with its rapidly expanding portfolio of 15 domestic ports spread across eight maritime states of India, with cargo handling capacity of more than 600 MMTPA, as well as its ambitious scale up of expansive port operations abroad, with presence in Sri Lanka, Israel, East Africa, and South East Asia, fits rightly into the strategic endeavor of Modi Government to make India an economic and military powerhouse with considerable global footprint.
Even in Communist ruled state of Kerala, Adani Group was chosen for construction and managing operations of Vizhinjam International Seaport, India’s first deep-water container transshipment port, which would be located right adjacent to one of the busiest shipping lanes of the world. Even after the reports of indictments surfaced, Kerala Government ignored it, and went ahead with signing of a supplementary concession agreement with Adanis that paves the way for construction of Vizhinjam port being fast-tracked with a completion target of 2028 for the second and third phases, entailing investments of Rs 10,000 crore more, which would ensure massive capacity expansion of the port. Political rhetoric aside, most in India, across political spectrum, know the intrinsic strength of Adani Group and why it is indispensable especially in development of ports.
It must be remembered that development and operations of ports are an extremely complex process with huge gestation periods, before any viable financial returns accrue to the port operators. Adanis, over the years have developed considerable proficiency in port management, and are now considered among the best in the world. This gives India a much-needed added advantage in its quest to scale up its strategic footprint.
The Green Energy Matrix
The Adani Group, apart from its presence in seaport and airport operations, has also been consistently building a massive presence in the energy matrix. From energy transmission, to building and operating super critical thermal power plants, the group has boldly ventured in to development of green hydrogen and renewable energy. Much like in the port sector, Adanis have been working to considerably develop scalability and proficiency in this arena. With an ‘operational portfolio’ of 10,000 MW of renewable energy, target of 25 GW of green energy by 2025 and 45 GW by 2030, Adanis have pledged investments of over $35 billion for the same. A critical aspect of Adani’s energy matrix has been its quest for making green hydrogen commercially viable, and for which it has committed considerable investments for production and transport of the same. With a massive city gas distribution network across India, it is suitably poised for the green hydrogen revolution.
Much like in the port sector, renewable energy too is a critical area for India’s long term energy security driven growth projections to become a reality. Adanis, like many other major Indian corporate houses, do play a pivotal role in securely meandering India’s strategic economic future towards that direction.
Perhaps, Adanis are not the first and nor would be the last of the Indian companies that has faced smear campaigns and law suits that impede their growth. One thing however, that stands out for the likes of Adanis, and Reliance, is that they refuse to embrace the woke culture of West, have not abandoned their Indian ethos, unlike many others, who in spite of their massive contributions to the Indian economy, have been too happy to surrender to Western wokeism.
Why are India’s detractors not succeeding in their plans to pin down Adani Group?
What essentially is being done to Adanis is not just for Adanis, but a way of sending a message for others as well, perhaps from the Western cabal, the so-called ‘Deep State’ of the West. It is like, ‘either co-opt, maintain distance from the Indian establishment, be ambassadors of Western narrative or be prepared to on the firing line’. However, it is no more working perhaps.
What has shocked them even more is that in spite of their best efforts to push the Adanis to their knees, it hasn’t happened that way. Adanis have shown tremendous resilience, and investors could see through the motive behind the hitjobs. After every hitjob, the Adani stocks bounced back in due course of time, much to the frustration of Hindenburg, George Soros, and their handlers. In continuation of their efforts to pin down Adanis, it now seems that the real intention behind the indictment, is to ensure that Adanis cannot raise money from the US markets for some time to come. Stock manipulations through short-selling having failed, now the effort seems to be to push them out of funds. It may not work though.
Fact is that these new age Indian MNCs with global aspirations continue to have the promoter family at the helm of the operations, and keep their national pride, cultural adherence, honor for Indian traditions intact. At least an influential section of the Deep State Globalists from the Western Hemisphere, having become infamous in last few years for running parallel shadow governments from behind, in most Western states, abhor such organisations which are still family driven, nationalistic to the core and have refused to fall in line to their whims.
However, the ultimate target of the cabal, and their Indian proxies, is not Adani but PM Modi. From India being part of the ‘fragile five’ economies in 2013 to emerge as among the ‘major five’ economies of the world, within a decade, would not have been possible without the leadership of Narendra Modi, and his uncompromising principles surrounding ‘India First’.
Even as the hype around the indictment subsides, recent reports indicate that top executives of Adani Green Energy, including Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, and Vneet Jaain ‘have not been accused’ under Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, (FCPA). Interestingly, it is not just the Kerala Govt, even Abu Dhabi’s sovereign fund, International Holding Company (IHC), a major investor in Adani Group, has reposed its faith in the group, and so have authorities in Tanzania, Israel and Sri Lanka where the group has major investments, especially in development of ports.
Their objective is to hurt India’s growth story too
The stalemate continued for quite a few days in the Indian Parliament, with some top leaders of opposition INDI Alliance even asking for arrest of Gautam Adani. The question however that remains unanswered is this. If Indian Courts had accused top American business houses of any alleged ‘wrong-doing’ by them in American market, would US lawmakers have created ruckus in the US Senate for their arrest, or would they have stood by their companies, and asked India to back-off?
This is exactly the moot point. If Adanis or anyone else is alleged of any wrong doing in India, let the Indian judiciary do the needful and penalise the perpetrators. The US Courts have no jurisdiction in India. But such is the mindset of some, that even if the Indian judiciary or SEBI gives clean chit to Adanis, then instead of accepting the verdict, some have developed the art of even questioning integrity of institutions in India, if the verdicts are not of their liking. This has been the modus operandi for some since 2014.
Erik Solheim’s Questioning of ‘American Overreach’
Former UN Environment Programme Executive Director Erik Solheim, a Norwegian Diplomat, has questioned what he terms as American Overreach. He tweeted, ‘When will American overreach stop?’
He further wrote,
‘It is time the world starts asking when American overreach will stop…..Added it is now clear that the accusations are not against the top Adani leaders, Gautam and Sagar Adani.
Nor is there evidence that bribes were paid by Adani executives to Indian government officials. The indictment solely rest on claims that bribes were promised or discussed.
This American overreach has serious consequences for peoples lifes. It makes it harder for one of Indias economic power houses to finance its operations. It forces the Adani Group to spend time and resources in court rather than building solar and wind plants. It simply slows down the green transformation of India’.
That is perhaps the moot question. Was this one of the many hitjobs by some before Biden Administration bids adieu in January 2025? It also seems that for many of those from the West who clamor for investments on green energy to ‘Save the Planet’, apparently does feel discomfort to witness companies in India developing global scale proficiency in that ecosystem. For many in the West, beyond the rhetoric surrounding concerns for environment, green energy is a lucrative business proposition, where they want the Global South to remain perpetually dependent on them for technology, and never develop competence of their own.
Why India must fiercely stand by its Industrialists
It has to be remembered that Chinese companies with global scalability played a critical role in making what China is today, in terms emerging as a $18 trillion economy. Likewise, the intrinsic strength of USA, comes from its economy predominantly driven by its corporate giants. As per Fortune 500, the US companies in their list, ‘represent two-thirds of the U.S. GDP with $18.8 trillion in revenues’, a vindication of how much Industrial Behemoths, Military industrial Complex, Big Tech and Asset Management Companies, play a critical role in USA’s overall strategic outreach and dominance.
In the same league, as India continues to challenge the global status quo, the dominance of Global North, and the bias of multilateral institutions, as it tries to come out of the closet to chart its own path of growth, India’s investors, companies and industrialists would play a critical role in helping India unshackle the Western chains, and steer towards self-reliance for herself. Invariably, the beneficiaries of global status quo would try to create roadblocks for India, and its pitch to charter a new path for Global South. Many in Western think tanks and academia already consider India as a potential problem for tomorrow, if its growth continues the way it is. It might, as per them, become ‘unmanageable’ like China, in times to come.
Therefore, to stymie India’s growth, persistent efforts have been made over the last few years to fuel unrest, create fault lines in Indian society, interfere in elections, and denigrate some of India’s top industrialists. It may not stop anytime soon and the hitjobs may not remain restricted to Adanis alone. Tomorrow it may be on someone else. India’s strategic autonomy is derived from growing strength of its economy. And thus, India must fiercely stand by its industrialists, startups, wealth creators and innovators, when it is becoming clear that efforts are being made by deeply entrenched Western cabals to destroy their credibility.
Will Critics of Adani in India Question Foreign MNCs as Well?
Those who have been clamoring against Adani Group over what seems to be a motivated indictment, must ask themselves how many times they have raised their voices against those foreign MNCs operating in India, and who have been severely penalized abroad for wrongdoings and malpractices. Has any opposition politician in India ever raised questions on reports on US FMCG giant Johnson & Johnson, which operates in India too, and which was compelled to agree to pay $8.9 billion to settle claims against innumerable lawsuits that were filed against some its products including Baby Powder, on the claims that they cause cancer?
In April 2011 European Commission had imposed a cumulative fine of over €315.2 million, on Procter & Gamble and Unilever, for collusion in fixing of prices of washing powders. Congress led UPA was in power in India then. What action did Congress leadership that time seek against such companies which operate in India too?
In October this year, European Court of Justice imposed a penalty of over Rs 26,000 crore (£2.4 billion) on Google ‘for abusing its market dominance’. Did any Indian opposition leader, seek investigations on Google, to ensure whether such abuse of market dominance, is happening in India or not? If not, then why single out Adanis? This invariably leads to questioning of the real intent behind targeting of Adanis, which now is being raised by BJP in parliament, whereby BJP MP Sambit Patra has termed Geroge Soros, Rahul Gandhi and OCCRP as part of a ‘dangerous triangle’. Also, even as President Biden has granted Presidential Pardon to his son Hunter Biden for criminal cases, one wonders as to why those clamoring for prosecution of Adani in India, remain silent on it.
It is time for India to come out of the colonial mindset and stop perceiving Indian companies in denigrating manner while iconizing foreign corporate entities. It is time for India to understand that in today’s era, the combination of hybrid and disinformation warfare permeates far beyond the realm of targeting only government institutions, but also attempts to pin down every major entity, even in the private sector domain, that is helping a competitive nation to emerge stronger. India must therefore steadfastly guard her army of nation builders from mischievous and malignant campaigns.
Comments