Rahul Gandhi never misses a chance to target Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, usually as proxies for Narendra Modi. In his narrative, the two businessmen are bad guys who grew rich with government support.
When the Hindenburg report surfaced, Rahul seized it like a gift from the heavens – demanding parliamentary debate, alleging corruption, and presenting it as final proof of corporate wrongdoing.
The report caused a temporary dip in Adani stocks, but the market eventually recovered as the allegations failed to sustain the hit. The much-hyped missile turned out to be a dud, though Rahul continued waving its fragments long after.
Telangana’s red carpet moment
The reality is far more awkward for Congress. Even as Rahul attacks Adani at every rally, Congress-ruled states are busy welcoming the same businessman with fresh investment proposals, employment promises, and MoUs.
Telangana is the latest example. Speaking at the Telangana Rising Global Summit, Karan Adani revealed that the Adani Group has invested Rs 10,000 crore in the state over the past three years, generating more than 7,000 jobs in infrastructure and manufacturing. Far from being hostile, the state rolled out the red carpet.
What Adani is building on the ground
The investments are substantial and diverse: A defence manufacturing and UAV facility in Hyderabad, already employing 1,500 people; Rs 4,000 crore in road infrastructure, building 100 kilometres of highways; Rs 2,000 crore in cement manufacturing, adding 7 million tonnes per annum capacity. And a marquee project – a 48-megawatt AI green data centre worth Rs 2,500 crore, focused on AI, cloud computing, and high-performance computing.
Revanth’s praise, Rahul’s predicament
Karan Adani even praised Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s governance for enabling industries to invest with confidence – an unlikely sentiment to be echoed from the Congress rally stage.
The contradiction is glaring. Rahul Gandhi is campaigning against Adani; Congress CMs are signing deals with him. One is shouting ‘corporate capture’; the other is banking cheques and cutting ribbons.
Rahul’s Jio–Adani mix-up
Rahul’s public comments often deepen the disconnect. At one rally, he claimed that when people use WhatsApp, Instagram, or watch Reels through the Jio network, ‘money goes directly to Adanni’.
This led to a collective facepalm, because Jio is owned by Mukesh Ambani, not Gautam Adani. The claim suggested either a basic misunderstanding of Indian business or a belief that all Gujarati industrialists are interchangeable.
CMs prefer development to drama
Congress chief ministers, however, are not concerned with rhetorical purity. They are focused on development, jobs, temples of modern industry, and the political dividends those bring. For them, capital is colourless, ideology-neutral, and welcome as long as it builds roads, factories, or data centres.
The paradox at the heart of Congress
So, while Rahul Gandhi keeps attacking Adani as a symbol of everything wrong with India, Congress states are discovering everything useful about him.
The paradox is simple: Rahul makes speeches; Adani builds stuff. One keeps the outrage machinery running; the other keeps the bulldozers, cement plants, and data servers running.
The Congress high command may continue tilting at the corporate windmill – but its chief ministers will continue laughing all the way to the bank.
