Notes from India (12) - The Adani Indictments. Modi's Weak Link?

Jan 2023 - American short selling activist firm Hindenburg Research accuses Indian billionaire Gautam Adani of stock manipulation and fraud.

Jan 2024 - India Supreme Court resolves accusations in Adani favor. Dismisses Congress Party requests for Special Investigation Team (SIT) or Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) investigations.

Nov 2024 - Adani and seven other Adani executives indicted by US Department of Justice in connection with scheme to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes while concealing bribery scheme from U.S. investors.

Dec 2024 - Congress Party smells blood in the water seeing opportunity to undermine Prime Minister, BJP leader, Modi, deemed to be an Adani confidant. Congress (Rajiv Gandhi and his mom, Sonja Gandhi) demand specially constituted parliamentary committee to look into the matter.

Dec 2024 - BJP claims Congress (the Gandhis), in their quest to use the Adani indictments to undermine Modi, are in cahoots with George Soros pointing to links between Soros and Sonja Gandhi. BJP presents laundry list of Soros funded activities in India deemed to undermine BJP. BJP calls Raul Gandhi a traitor.

Analysis: The June 2024 general election was won by the Modi controlled NDA Alliance with 290 seats in the 543-member parliament. But the BJP alone did not reach the figure of 272 seats needed to form the government as had been the case in the previous two presidential elections. BJP, with strong Hindu backing, had been seen to be successful in casting Modi as a national father figure, in raising significant campaign funds, and in shifting campaign landscape from economic concerns to identity politics and religious/sectarian divisiveness. But BJP's success may be peaking. Following the 2024 elections, Modi is seen as being a much-diminished leader. The outcome is seen as a big comeback for Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi. Gandhi/Congress sees an opportunity to further diminish Modi and the BJP by alleging Adani and Modi cronyism. BJP/Modi counter that international financier, George Soros, is working to destabilize Modi's leadership. Soros intervention: a serious problem for BJP? or, a BJP head fake to throw off Congress? Time will tell. Clearly, success by US DOJ on the Adani indictments won't help Modi politically.

SDT,
Park City, UT (not currently in India but was there, in Gujarat, during the 2024 national elections.)

Notes: Daily Blog Notes from India 1 thru 11 can be found on my website: stephendewitttaylor.com.