Will raise Adani issue in Parliament, says CPI(M); slams Centre on row over judges' appointment

It said a high-level inquiry monitored by the Supreme Court on a day-to-day basis is essential on the allegations levelled by Hindenburg Research against the Adani group

The CPI(M) has said that it will raise the issue of allegations levelled by Hindenburg Research against the Adani group during the Budget session of Parliament along with other opposition parties and demanded a high-level probe monitored on a day-to-day basis by the Supreme Court.

In a statement on Monday, after the Central Committee of the party met in Kolkata on January 28-29, the party also hit out at the Centre over alleged interference in the appointment of judges to the high courts and the Supreme Court and the actions of governors and Lieutenant Governors in non-BJP ruled states and UTs.

It said a high-level inquiry monitored by the Supreme Court on a day-to-day basis is essential on the allegations levelled by Hindenburg Research against the Adani group.

The US-based short seller Hindenburg Research has accused the Adani Group of wrongdoings like stock manipulation. Adani group had dismissed the allegations as "nothing but a lie" and said its report was "not merely an unwarranted attack on any specific company but a calculated attack on India, the independence, integrity and quality of Indian institutions, and the growth story and ambition of India."

Standing by its report, Hindenburg, however, disagreed with the Adani group's assertion and said a "fraud" cannot be obfuscated by nationalism or a bloated response that ignored key allegations.

Referring to the exposure of LIC and SBI to the Adani group, the CPI(M) on Monday said, "Till this inquiry is completed and the truth is known the interests of India and our people must be protected."

"Both the LIC and the SBI are institutions where crores of Indians park their life-long savings for their future security. Since this report became public, Adani group's capitalisation in the stock market dropped by over USD50 billion. This cannot lead to the ruination of people's lifelong savings in these public sector institutions," the party said.

The party also said that it was high time that the tax concessions for the rich that continue to be given by the Modi government are reversed.

"A wealth tax and an inheritance tax be introduced and GST on all essentials especially food items must be abolished," it said.

Also Read: Adani Group stocks continue to fall; Adani Total Gas tanks nearly 20 pc

The Left party in the statement also accused the BJP of making "efforts to sharpen communal polarisation".

It also alleged that to have a "tame" judiciary, the government is interfering in the appointment of judges to the high courts and the Supreme Court by delaying or refusing to clear various names recommended by the Supreme Court and the High Court collegiums.

"The Modi government aims to subordinate the higher judiciary to the executive. The erosion of judicial independence, as per the Constitutional scheme, would spell the complete domination of authoritarianism," it said

The party also raised concerns over the "assault on federalism", alleging governors and Lieutenant Governors in non-BJP ruled states and Union Territories were continuing to advance the political objectives of the ruling party "brazenly violating the Constitutional position".

Governors in Kerala, Telangana, Maharashtra and now Tamil Nadu and the Lieutenant Governors in Union Territories of Delhi, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Puducherry "grossly misuse their Constitutional positions", the party alleged.

"The governor's office is used as an instrument to undermine the Constitutional role of the state governments and smacks of an anti-federal tendency and penchant for centralization of powers," it alleged.

The party also announced a nationwide call for protest action in the last week of February from 22nd to February 28th against what it called the "continuing assaults on the people's livelihood with growing unemployment, poverty and inequalities".

It has also said that it extends its full support to the call of the Mazdur-Kisan rally to the Parliament on April 5, 2023.

In March, the CPI(M) said it will organise political campaigns and activities on a variety of issues including "attacks on federalism, protest against BJP's policies against elected state governments, particularly non-BJP state governments and opposing the efforts to impose a unitary state structure destroying the federal structure".

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