My Columns: Without Fear and Favour

The Adani-Modi Relationship By  Deepak Parvatiyar December 20, 2014 The state-owned State Bank of India’s recent $1 billion line of credit to the Adani Group for a coal mining project in Australia stirred up a hornet’s nest. The Opposition smelled a rat in the deal and attributed it to the ‘blessings’ of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Gautam Adani – the first-generation billionaire businessman from Gujarat. The controversy has shifted the spotlight on Adani yet again. He was very much in news when Modi used his private jets for his electrifying campaigns as the prime ministerial candidate during the last General Elections. Adani’s Fortunes Rose Phenomenally during Modi’s Stint as Gujarat CM The strides that the Adani group made during Modi’s chief ministership in Gujarat are very much envied by his rivals. You may also like to read Modi in Fiji: Visit of Geo-Strategic Significance Causes of Corruption in Indian Bureaucracy Figures suggest that du...

Religious Conversions: Decoding Modi’s Silence By  Deepak Parvatiyar December 19, 2014 In late nineties, the issue of religious conversion in Dangs in Surat had invited a prompt response from the then prime minister and the founder of the BJP, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and he had personally visited the place for a first hand assessment of the situation and, thereafter, called for a nationwide debate on the issue of conversion on whether it should be banned at all. Opposition Wants Modi to break his Silence over Religious Conversions The silence of Narendra Modi – only the second BJP PM after Vajpayee – therefore has created a ruckus in Parliament when the issue of reconversion has yet again raised its head after the return of the Lotus to power at Centre after a decade. The Opposition wants to corner the prime minister on the issue of alleged forced conversions recently in Agra, and it did score a brownie point when the Chairman allowed a debate on the issue in the...