Can Adani be described as Narendra Modi’s Elon Musk? Or conversely can Elon Musk be called Donald Trump’s Adani? There are striking parallels in the way both Adani and Musk enjoy a rare clout within the system they operate in.
Trump’s projection of Musk and their mutual reinforcement is quite open and transparent. When is the last time a US President-designate publicly extolled the virtues of a single businessman? Trump said in his victory speech that Musk “was a genius and that he can do things which no one else can…” Trump was openly expressing his gratitude for the support he got from the richest US billionaire whose personal wealth tops $400 billion today.
Modi doesn’t say anything explicitly but his government’s actions speak volumes about the special place the Adani Group has in the government’s scheme of things, especially its economic diplomacy globally.
Donald Trump has given every indication so far that Musk will be his world ambassador when it comes to doing critical trade/investment deals with major economic partners globally. For partner countries this could have a double edged effect.
Modi has already made Adani a lynchpin of his economic diplomacy outreach – albeit with mixed success – around the world, whether it is in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Africa, Myanmar, Israel , Europe, America or more recently China where Adani has opened a supply chain company for solar equipment manufacture. Adani had also announced an ambitious $10 billion investment plan in the US which is likely to be put off for now because of the US district court and Securities Commission indictments against his company on charges of corruption.
Also Read: Loss of Reputation Is the Real Damage, for Adani and for India
However, Adani is undeterred and has said he would fight the case and emerge stronger. One is already witnessing what can be described as unqualified support for Adani from the ruling party which has built a campaign within and outside Parliament suggesting that a foreign conspiracy against the group is in fact a larger attempt to hurt India’s sovereignty!
BJP has thus effectively declared that Adani is a proxy for India and has raised questions about whether the US deep state along with George Soros is funding global media organisations to hurt India’s growth story fuelled largely by the Adani group Like the umpteen narratives the BJP creates to protect its supreme leader, this one too is delusional on many levels. The ruling party has never let facts come in the way of their incredulous story telling. In a sense, the BJP is as transparent as Trump in the way narratives are spun.
What is to be noted is Trump is openly and explicitly projecting Musk as someone who will play a key role in his oft repeated “America First” policy. Trump does not at all hide that Musk will play a role in building and consolidating the US’s presence in critical technologies globally.
Meanwhile, Musk has already started publicly attacking the US Securities and Exchange Commission which has been investigating the manner in which Twitter was bought over by Musk in October 2022.
Musk recently mocked the US SEC as “just another weaponised institution doing political dirty work” in his post on X. Musk’s supporters say the SEC “cannot be trusted.”
This could be music to Adani’ s ears as he himself would like to project the SEC in the same light. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has indicted Adani for allegedly making a false declaration that the company will not resort to corrupt means while investing money raised from the US market. Musk’s attack on the SEC therefore will be welcomed by the Adanis.
Musk escalating his attacks could even mean a possible scrutiny of the US SEC after Trump formally takes charge of the administration. The billionaire owner of X had repeatedly clashed with the institution even during Trump’s first term.
Most recently, the SEC has been investigating Musk’s $44 billion purchase of X, which was then called Twitter. It is an open secret that Musk paid a grossly overvalued sum to gain political influence and to help Trump. The value of the X has fallen 70% since the change of ownership but it has brought immense political dividends for Musk as is evident now after Trump’s victory. It was a risky political bet which has come good for Trump.
Similarly, one can argue that the Adanis may also have made or are still making many such bets which are partly political and partly commercial. If you have a populist authoritarian leader backing these all the way and protecting you against legal, regulatory and legislative headwinds, it creates a favourable risk-reward ratio that would be the envy of any crony-led state capitalist enterprise.
