February, 2023
The Indian opposition is perhaps one of the most inept political factions in the world today. They squander every opportunity to earn brownie points with the electorate, which should perhaps be their sole priority.
Take for example the Adani issue. The opposition says the Prime Minister is complicit in the unusual rise in Adani’s wealth. I concede that there’s an unusual rise in his wealth, but it just isn’t politically sound to level direct corruption charges on as popular a PM as Modi.
There are two main issues around Adani - an abnormal rise in his share price and a meteoric rise in winning and fulfilling government, both central and state, projects. The opposition glosses over the former and goes fiercely after the latter.
First, it’s hypocritical to do so because many opposition parties themselves granted Adani contracts in the states they govern. But second and mainly, it’s just very hard to cast doubts on the electorate’s perception of Modi, let alone sway it, without any substantive proof.
And that also isn’t the rabbit hole that Hindenburg went down. Instead, Hindenburg questioned the abnormal increase in the stock price and health of their balance sheet. And, the institution responsible for the oversight of these is the market regulator and not the PM’s office.
So given all these constraints, how do you win brownie points with the electorate? In my view, it’s by putting forth a viewpoint that is so “right” that even the government can’t help but agree. This is showing the electorate that they can constructively outsmart the government.
So what’s something in this situation that even the government can’t deny? The abnormal increase in the stock price being solely within the purview of the market regulator. In that case, shouldn’t the opposition attack the market regulator and ask tough questions?
Next, the opposition should have demanded the government’s cooperation in accepting the regulator’s role here and reinforcing the demand for answers. If the government denies, bingo, you have political capital, and you can also make a claim around deteriorating institutions.
And if the government joins you, bingo again, you just slapped your agenda onto them. But guess what? While the opposition was busy sloganeering on the floor of the parliament, the government already came out and themselves questioned the regulator’s role in the fiasco.