‘Ek Hai Toh Safe Hai’ is for Adani, says Rahul

He said that the slogan was meant to safeguard the interests of Adani by handing him land worth ₹1 lakh crore

MUMBAI: Senor Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday gave the Bharatiya Janata Party’s slogan ‘Ek Hai Toh Safe Hai’ a political twist, alleging that it served to primarily benefit industrialist Gautam Adani. Gandhi was referring to the Adani Group being awarded the project to redevelop Dharavi, one of Asia’s largest slums, for which the industrialist had been handed land allegedly worth ₹1 lakh crore.

Mumbai. India. Nov 18, 2024: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi addressed a press conference in Mumbai on Monday. Rahul Gandhi accused the central government of transferring ₹7 lakh crore worth of projects from Maharashtra to Gujarat. Speaking ahead of Maharashtra assembly elections, he mocked BJP`s EK Hai Toh Safe Hai and said the Dharavi Slum Project is designed to benefit Adani. Mumbai, India. Nov 18, 2024. (Photo by Raju Shinde/HT Photo) (Hindustan Times)

Gandhi, who is also leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, was addressing the media in Mumbai on the last day of campaigning for the November 20 assembly election. He said, “The ‘Ek Hai Toh Safe Hai’ slogan was meant to safeguard the interests of Adani by handing him land worth ₹1 lakh crore. ‘Ek Hai’ stands for the unity of Narendra Modi, Adani and Amit Shah. They are ‘safe’ at the cost of the pain of the residents of Dharavi. They and their small and medium-size businesses will be at a loss, and it is being done for just one individual,” he alleged.

Adding a touch of theatrics to drive home his point, Gandhi unfurled a banner dramatically drawn out of a ‘safe’ that was carried onto the dais. The banner bore a photograph of Modi and Adani, with the slogan ‘Ek Hai Toh Safe Hai’ emblazoned across it.

He said that massive projects in airports, defence, manufacturing and other industries were also being handed over to Adani due to his proximity to the top political leadership. “Everybody knows how the tendering process is carried out and how central agencies like the CBI, Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax department are used to pressure (other industrialists). The best example is of the Mumbai airport and how it was handed over to the industrialist.”

Reacting to Gandhi’s allegations, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called them a “big lie”, claiming he was misleading people. BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde, in fact, attributed the rise of Adani to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre. Tawde claimed that the UPA government had granted the industrialist big-ticket projects since the 1990s.

Gandhi told the media that if voted to power, the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance (MVA) would take all the stakeholders in the Dharavi project into confidence and their interest would be taken into consideration. Calling the Dharavi Redevelopment Project an “unfair deal”, Gandhi remarked, “The entire political machinery is being twisted to help one person. Also, we are not convinced of how the tendering process was worked out. We are convinced this is the theft of Dharavi land. It is an attempt to grab the land and wealth of Mumbai, wealth of residents of Dharavi and unemployed youth. It is an attempt to change the nature of Mumbai.”

He said the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra and the central government had facilitated the transfer of big-ticket projects out of Maharashtra, to other states including Gujarat. These included the Vedanta Foxconn semiconductor project, Tata Airbus project, iPhone manufacturing project, International Financial Services Centre, GAIL petrochemical project, a bulk drug park, and a semiconductor plant. “Maharashtra has thus lost investment of ₹7 lakh crore and 5 lakh jobs,” he said.

The BJP countered Gandhi’s attack, with the party’s national general secretary Vinod Tawde saying, “It has been clarified time and again that none of the projects has gone out during our government. I dare Rahul Gandhi to come face to face for a debate on this issue. In fact, during the UPA government, the Mundra project was given to Adani in 1990; six SEZs to the company in 2006-08; and a Food Corporation (of India) project in 2005 to an Adani-led company was given by the Congress-led government,” he said.

Tawde alleged that Gandhi was misleading people. “In fact, more projects and land was given by the Congress-led government in Rajasthan, Telangana and Haryana in the past few years. Adani group prospered before 2014, with the help of projects given by the Congress government, and this fact was underlined by the industrialist himself in an interview. Rajasthan’s former chief minister Ashok Gehlot had given 16,000 hectares for the project to the industrialist,” he said.

Adani Realty did not respond to a request for their reaction to the allegations.