oc

NEWSMAKER OF THE YEAR 2022

www.indiatoday.in January 9, 2023 `100

Volume 48-Number 2; Published on every Friday of Advance Week; Posted at LPc Delhi – RMS – Delhi – 110006 on Every Friday & Saturday; Total number of Pages 68 (including cover pages)
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gau ta m a da n i

the
growth
king
EXPLOSIVE EXPANSION OF HIS BUSINESS
EMPIRE, DARING INVESTMENTS, DARLING OF THE
STOCK MARKET AND NOW THE WORLD’S THIRD
RICHEST PERSON. IN 2022, THE SELF-MADE
BILLIONAIRE HAD THE MIDAS TOUCH
FROM THE
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
A
s a year, 2022 has been difficult to define. The world
had believed it was out of the Covid-19 nightmare, and
that life was beginning to get back to a new spring. But
February itself got us the Ukraine war, plunging things
into a new uncertainty. And as the year winds down,
even as the war rages, the pandemic stalks us again. What made
the year special though is the human spirit, working its path across
domains—in business, sport, politics, cinema.
We feature in this issue the most engaging parts of what we
witnessed this year. Gautam Adani, chairman of the Ahmedabad-
based Adani Group, became the richest person in India and Asia
and the third richest in the world. The self-made entrepreneur did so
with his explosive growth strategy in 2022 that propelled his group
to the pinnacle of Indian business. His group’s market capitalisation
grew nine-fold in just three years to cross Rs 17.9 lakh crore, making
it India’s second most valuable business house, just behind the Tatas
but ahead of Reliance. The $10.5 billion (around Rs 87,000 crore)
buyout of Swiss firm Holcim’s stake in ACC and Ambuja Cements
has become his latest—and perhaps boldest—move, making it
India’s single largest deal in infrastructure. In doing so, the Adani
Group became the second-largest cement producer in the country.
Adani is already India’s largest private sector power producer, port
operator, airport operator, consumer gas and electric transmission
company, apart from being the largest infrastructure developer and
generator of renewable energy. This year saw his ever-expanding
empire encompass the country’s largest marine services company,
R ahul Gandhi has been often called an absentee politician, not
a media network, telecom and foodgrains. And all this while his
group committed Rs 60,000 crore to charity on his 60th
birthday this June—money that will go into health and
education, the two things that will create a foundation for
future growth for everyone.
It was because of his explosive growth both in busi-
ness and personal wealth, in the face of extreme adversity,
that india today has made Gautam Adani our News-
maker of the Year 2022. Gautam wears his richness
lightly and with a becoming modesty, as Group Editorial
Director Raj Chengappa and Executive Editor M.G. Arun
Jan. 10, 2022
found when they met him at the Adani headquarters in
Ahmedabad. What was to be a half-hour chat went on
for nearly 90 minutes as the elusive billionaire opened up on how he
grew his business, his management style and his life’s philosophy.
Gautam then agreed to go on record with a print and video inter-
view with Chengappa and did not shy away from answering his crit-
ics, who see his phenomenal rise as linked to that of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, and the charge that his companies were heavily
overleveraged. “Rankings and numbers do not matter to me,” he told
india today. “I get my thrills from handling challenges—the bigger
they are, the happier I am.” That is an ambition, in small or big ways,
that we can all aspire to in the coming year.
There were others who were a powerful influence in the events
that shaped 2022. Prime Minister Modi not only exhibited his
enduring hold on the Indian political mind with perhaps the most
stunning electoral victories in his career—in March, Uttar Pradesh,
and as the year wound down, in Gujarat. Despite the world economy
being in recession, India remained the fastest-growing large econ-
omy in the world. There were challenges, with rising inflation and
shortage of jobs, but he persevered on the path of reforms. PM Modi
has aggressively pushed the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) in
various sectors to boost exports and improve the share of manufac-
turing in the nation’s GDP. His commitment to investing massively
in the nation’s infrastructure remained steadfast, committing about
NEWSMAKER
OF THE
YEAR
Rs 100 lakh crore till just 2025. He contin-
ued his penchant for bold initiatives with
the introduction of the Agniveer scheme for
the armed forces in an effort to reform them, by
cutting flab and injecting younger blood. It was a brave idea whose
time had come because a huge chunk of the defence budget—53 per
cent—was going towards paying salaries and pensions, with capital
expenditure for new equipment and infrastructure shrinking to
27.4 per cent. The year saw India reaping early yield trade pacts
with Australia and the UAE. The country also leaped to 5G telecom
technology, and added modern semi-high-speed trains. Always
keeping the needy in mind, PM Modi also announced the continu-
ation of the scheme for free 5 kg of foodgrains per person for 800
million for another year. He remains the defining force on India’s
political landscape and internationally his voice is taken seriously.
From December, G20 got into Indian leadership for a year, allow-
ing PM Modi to showcase his idea of globalisation, especially when
the world order is altering. He also crafted another decisive move,
one that has the capacity to alter the polity. The Adivasi has hith-
erto been the furthermost from the mainstream. But 2022 gave us
Droupadi Murmu. The new President of India, through the passage
of her own life, defines what the country really is.
capable of matching up to his own illustrious forebears. But
he has put his own mind and body to the most exacting engage-
ment with the soil. The politics he serves are not in the most robust
state, though. The grand drama through which Eknath
Shinde departed from the MVA alliance in Maharashtra
proved that. But alliances being made up of the unlikeli-
est of partners only shows how Indian politics is evolving
beyond the terms set decades ago. The coming together of
the Bihar politicians, Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav,
is a measure of that. So is the coming to maturity of the
Aam Aadmi Party as it got certified as a national party.
Bhagwant Mann, who started as a comedian, became the
AAP’s chief minister for Punjab, making history of sorts.
Rishi Sunak, as the first Asian-origin prime minister of
the UK, too has it, in a development that would have been
unthinkable even two decades ago.
The year was also made up of a rather diverse cast of characters.
If Sukash Chandrashekar shocked us with what smart chicanery
can do, cricketer Suryakumar Yadav was the new hero for our
cricket-crazed country. South Indian cinema was seen as provin-
cial, as something that belongs only to people who speak languages
that others do not understand. It bested the mighty Bollywood at
the box-office and has gone global, attracting plaudits from every
savant out there. The success of films like RRR makes us all proud.
There are many other newsmakers you will find in this issue who
made a difference of one kind or another. All of this speaks of India
not as a static tradition but as an evolving entity.
Such were the people and the events that contributed to 2022
being an exciting, even if turbulent, year. And then there was the
return of the cheetah to India after 70-odd years—all the way
from Africa. New beginnings for them, and wishing you all Happy
New Beginnings for 2023.
(Aroon Purie)
JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 3
 AHEAD OF THE GAME
Billionaire industrialist
Gautam Adani at
his residence in
Ahmedabad
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Billionaire Gautam Adani had an exceptional 2022 even by his own

standards, including closing the largest infrastructure deal India has seen

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 UPFRONT
UP: RLD’S NEW MAHARASHTRA:
CASTE MATRIX UDDHAV’S IMAGE
PG 9 CHANGE PG 10

AP: JAGAN LEANS TELANGANA: CONG

BACKWARDS IN CRISIS
PG 12 PG 13
MANISH RAJPUT

DANGER AHEAD?
A health worker in
the Covid-19 ward
at LNJP Hospital

C OV I D - 1 9

MAXIMUM ALERT By Sonali Acharjee

O
n December 27, Delhi’s larg-
est Covid hospital, the Lok
Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan
Hospital (LNJP), began a
mock drill to prepare for a possible
surge in infections in the country. At
the time, however, the hospital’s 450-
bed Covid ward was empty, and in the
entire capital, only 14 of over 8,000
Covid beds were occupied.
It is true that India is currently in a
comfortable position even as countries
like the US, Brazil, Japan, Korea, and
especially China, battle a fresh spike
in infections on account of the BF.7
Omicron sub-variant. On December
25, India had only 187 new Covid cases,
a figure that has not seen any major
jumps in the last two months. More
importantly, deaths have remained
low, too—only two were recorded on
December 25, and the preceding week
had seen three deaths on average. In
contrast, China, after dropping all
Covid restrictions recently, is seeing
infections spread like wildfire. Though
it has stopped publishing daily case
counts, a recently leaked government
document hinted that 250 million
cases may have been recorded in China
in the first 20 days of December 2022.
Experts in India, however, are
optimistic. The key variant behind
the surge in China, the BF.7, is already
present in India. “What is happening
in China is due to a different popula-

6 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
SEARCH FOR
EDITORIAL IMAGES
ENDS HERE
UPFRONT
ALL BASES COVERED?
The pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen plant at the LNJP Hospital
tion demographic. In India, we have
natural and vaccine-acquired immu-
nity and a larger population of young
people. In China, natural immunity
has been low and they have a higher
share of the elderly. What the world
experienced over years, China will now
experience in weeks,” says renowned
virologist Gagandeep Kang.
I
ndeed, India has already escaped
major surges due to a number of
other Omicron sub-variants. Ex-
perts feel it was the widespread Delta
wave earlier along with the three doses
of vaccines that have primed our im-
mune systems to respond effectively to
the virus, making it no more dangerous
than a common cold for most people.
Additionally, what China is facing is a
sub-variant that developed amongst
vaccinated populations and thus is far
more infectious than those that caused
major waves in other countries over the
last few years. The BF.7 is believed to
have a reproductive (R) number (the
number of people an infected person
can spread the virus to) between 10
and 18.6, while the BA.2, which caused
India’s last major wave in January
2022, had the highest reproductive
value of 2.98 in India.
8 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
MANISH RAJPUT
Before the present spike in China,
variants with similar genetic make-up
as the BF.7 had already been spotted
in about 90 countries since February
2021, according to data by the Scripps
Research Institute. The variant still
accounts for less than 0.5 per cent of
samples worldwide. Experts say it is
unlikely to have a major impact on India,
where a majority of the population now
has double immunity due to natural
infection and vaccines. “BF.7 is not new
to India and we have not seen any major
waves by any of Omicron’s sub-variants
in the last few months. BF.7 is unlikely
to behave any differently,” says Dr Kang.
There are 10 variants of Covid circulating
MOST INDIANS
NOW HAVE
DOUBLE
IMMUNITY,
DEVELOPED
NATURALLY AND
BY VACCINATION
in India at present, and despite that, no
uptick has been recorded.
Covid symptoms are unlikely to
change either. Most people will experi-
ence mild, flu-like symptoms, which
could include fever. In China, too, the
virus is not behaving differently—it is
still causing upper respiratory tract
symptoms, unlike the Delta variant,
which infected the lower respiratory
tract. However, since the wave of infec-
tions has come during winter, other
secondary viruses are also circulating,
aggravating Covid infections. More-
over, given the sheer number of people
getting infected in China, even a small
share that is at risk from severe Covid
(the elderly and the unvaccinated in
particular) will be enough to over-
whelm any health system.
Experts have not sounded any
major alarm, but the Indian govern-
ment is taking no chances. Alongside
mock drills in public hospitals across
the country, there has been special
emphasis on increasing genomic
sequencing of positive samples. China’s
situation is of particular concern to
epidemiologists as unrestricted spread
of the virus in populations with low
immunity increases the chances of new
mutations and variants. Surveillance
will be key to spotting any potential
new variants that might emerge from
China, as recently noted by Ned Price,
the US state department spokesperson.
Back home, N.K. Arora, co-chair of
INSACOG, the national consortium of
labs dedicated to genomic sequencing
of Covid samples, seconds this view:
“Genomic sequencing will help you get
a sense of the spread of Covid variants,
and if one variant is spreading faster,
then you know there is cause to be
careful. It will also help us catch new
variants that might be more infectious
or better at evading immunity.”
Booster doses, too, will help the
elderly, although experts feel mRNA
boosters may be more effective. One
such vaccine has already received
emergency use authorisation (de-
veloped indigenously by Gennova
Biopharmaceuticals in Pune) and is
likely to be introduced into the booster
programme soon. However, experts
say that waiting for mRNA boosters is
not needed and at the moment, added
immunity is more important.
India is also resuming its five-fold
Covid strategy: test, track, treat, vac-
cinate and adhere to Covid-appropriate
behaviour. Since the January 2022
wave in India, the world has seen over
U T TA R P R A D E S H
JAYANT BETS ON JATS,
JATAVS AND MORE
By Prashant Srivastava
T
he bypoll wins in the Main-
puri Lok Sabha seat and
Rampur and Khatauli assem-
bly constituencies in Uttar
Pradesh have brought several positives
for the opposition Samajwadi Party
(SP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).
The Khatauli seat, which it wrested
from the ruling BJP after a long time,
could emerge as a gamechanger for the
10 more infectious sub-variants of
Omicron. Even during periods of small
surges, such as the one in July 2022,
when the BA.2.75 was detected in India,
the number of deaths stayed at an aver-
age of around 40 per week. At present,
the four new cases of BF.7 in India have
shown only mild symptoms. “There is
no need to panic as we are keeping a
opposition, especially for the Jayant
Chaudhary-led RLD.
Chaudhary’s experiment in bring-
ing the Jat, Gujjar, Muslim and Dalit
communities under one fold worked
in Khatauli, where the RLD’s Gujjar
candidate Madan Bhaiyya defeated the
BJP’s Rajkumari Saini. Just before the
election, firebrand Dalit leader Chan-
drashekhar Azad’s Azad Samaj Party
also announced their support to the
SP-RLD alliance, which too played a
strict eye on new variants and signs of
major outbreaks. But one should not be
complacent—boosters should be taken
and rules must be followed,” says Dr
Arora. There are no clear answers for
whether the Covid pandemic has run its
course. And until we have one, it’s best
to stick to what we know for certain:
precaution is the best strategy. n
THE REBOUND
Bhim Army’s
Chandrashekhar
Azad (left) with
RLD chief Jayant
Chaudhary
major role in the victory of the alliance.
Jayant has announced that the
alliance will continue till the 2024
general election. His push to bring the
Jats and Jatavs (a Dalit community)
together has raised some tension in the
BJP camp as the party has high hopes
for Uttar Pradesh’s 80 Lok Sabha seats
(the BJP alliance has 65 seats now).
Together, the Jats, Jatavs, Gujjars
and Muslims make up over 40 per cent
of the population of western UP. Jay-
ant’s coup in bringing in Bhim Army
chief Azad and sealing the pact with the
SP has shifted the focus to the castes.
“The message from the Khatauli bypolls
has gone to the whole sugarcane belt
of UP where the government has not
fulfilled the expectations of farmers. We
are young leaders, me, Akhilesh (Yadav)
and Chandrashekhar, and the public
JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 9
UPFRONT

connects with us. If the youth come
together under one fold, we can defeat
the BJP,’’ says Jayant.
Politics in the western districts of
Uttar Pradesh has revolved principally
THE CASTE politics, especially among the youth.
MATRIX Azad believes the alliance worked well as
3-4 he and Jayant are from western UP, and
2 understand the problems of the region.
“Together, we’ll take the fight ahead,”

10
12

18
10
around the Jat-Jatav caste dynamics. he says. “This time the results changed

-1
7-

9-
4 - 58

9
The schisms between the two social 20
groups have always cast a shadow on 18 -
WEST
politics in the region but now unem- UP
25 -26
ployment, inflation and several other
local factors are bringing them together.
And as Jayant himself admitted, a cru- As % of
cial factor in this was also the support population
of Azad’s Bhim Army. At a time when Jats (OBC)
Mayawati’s BSP has lost its sheen, he Jatavs (Dalit) Gujjar (OBC)
has emerged as the rising star of Dalit Yadav (OBC) Muslims Others
because our social coalition worked well.”
Dr Shilp Shikha Singh, a UP-based
political analyst and assistant profes-
UP
sor at the Giri Institute of Development
Studies, says, “Jats are a big community
in west UP but their presence is mainly
in a dozen districts and their dominance
is in six, including Muzzaffarnagar,
Shamli, Meerut, Baghpat, Hathras
and Bulandshahr. On the other hand,

M A H A R A S H T R A / U D D H AV T H AC K E R AY licks its wounds after a maul-

ing by former leader and ON FRONT FOOT
incumbent chief minister Thackeray at a protest

A CHANGE Eknath Shinde and the BJP,

Thackeray seems to have
hit the ground running. “The
march in Mumbai

OF IMAGE credit (for Thackeray’s public

By Dhaval Kulkarni about Maharashtra’s border
dispute with Karnataka.
Over the last few months,
activity) goes to Shinde. We
must give credit where it is
due,” says a Shiv Sena source,
speaking in a lighter vein.
Though the Shiv Sena is
no stranger to splits since its

T
hese days, Uddhav
Thackeray is visible!
On December 17, the
Shiv Sena (Uddhav
Balasaheb Thackeray) presi-
dent walked for over 3 km in
the morcha organised by the
Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi
(MVA) over issues like com-
ments against social icons by
governor B.S. Koshyari.
“One of the messages of
this morcha is that Uddhav
Thackeray is in good health.
Thackeray has also visited
parts of Aurangabad dis-
trict (October), which were
affected by unseasonal
rains, and held a public meet-
ing at Chikhli in Vidarbha’s
Buldhana district (November).
Thackeray has also been
meeting party workers at his
residence ‘Matoshri’ or the
party headquarters—Shiv
Sena Bhavan—and is inducting
leaders from other parties.
This sudden public out-
inception in 1966, Shinde’s
mutiny is unlike that by rebels
such as Bandu Shingre, Dr
Hemchandra Gupte, Chhagan
Bhujbal, Narayan Rane or
even Raj Thackeray. For,
Shinde, whose revolt in June
brought down the MVA coali-
tion, walked away with 39
other MLAs and 13 Lok Sabha
MPs into the waiting arms of
the BJP, leaving Thackeray
with just 16 MLAs and six
Lok Sabha MPs. The Shinde
ANI

His participation in this long
march has also scotched any
rumours about this,” explains
a senior Congress leader.
Thackeray’s aides say that he
will also undertake a state-
wide tour early next year to
rally his forces. Similarly, his
son and former environment
minister Aaditya Thackeray
has toured parts of the state.
The former CM also attended
the winter session of the
state legislature at Nagpur
and spoke in the legislative
council on December 26
reach is aimed at stemming
any further damage to the
otherwise monolithic organ-
isation and capitalising on any
sympathy among the masses
after his government was
ousted. As chief minister in the
MVA regime, Thackeray’s lack
of accessibility and hands-off
approach were seen as rea-
sons for the discontent in the
Shiv Sena reaching disruptive
levels. This culminated in the
midnight coup that toppled his
government.
Now, as the Shiv Sena
camp also laid claim to being
the “real” Shiv Sena. The
resultant battle in the Election
Commission saw the Shiv
Sena’s original name
and bow-and-arrow symbol
being frozen.
This forced the
Thackeray-led party to
take on the name of Shiv
Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb
Thackeray) and the mashaal
(flaming torch) symbol.
Shinde named his break-
away group ‘Balasahebanchi
Shiv Sena’ and has taken
the dhaal-talwar (shield with
sheathed swords) symbol. Put
together, this has created an
existential crisis of sorts for the
“original” Shiv Sena.
Thackeray’s party colleagues
admit that their litmus test will
be holding on to power in the
Mumbai civic body, which is the
richest in India. The Shiv Sena
has controlled the Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation (BMC) for
the past 25 years (since 1997).
This helps the party nurture its
Jatavs too are very significant and are
important for all political parties in these
dozen seats, so if a large chunk votes
unitedly, it could change the election
narrative. If the Gujjars, Yadavs and
some OBC communities also support the
same party, then the combination could
be a big challenge to the ruling BJP.’’
The RLD had been in the wilder-
ness since the 2014 general election,
when the Jats shifted allegiance to
the BJP, a direct fallout of the ‘Jat vs
Muslim’ schisms created after the 2013
Muzaffarnagar riots. The party had
been reduced to a single seat in the 2017
assembly election; it won eight in the
2022 edition, mostly due to the work
put in by Jayant, especially during the
anti-farm law protests. Now with the
victory in Khatauli, it has nine seats.
In 2021, Jayant came up with the
‘Bhaichara zindabad’ campaign to try
and bridge the gap between Jats and
the other sections including Muslims,
Dalits and other weaker sections. This
also involved creating a socio-cultural
platform for poetry and drama perfor-
mances, as also discussions on contem-
porary topics, which went a long way in
bringing together the different groups.
Many of the events were delayed due to
Covid but after the assembly polls in
February 2022, the RLD had restarted
the campaign covering all the districts
of western UP. “People won’t always vote
on the same Hindu-Muslim agenda.
Western UP is fed up with the hate
politics of the BJP,” says Jayant.
Meanwhile, state BJP chief and
western UP native Bhupendra Chaud-
hary feels the new caste equations being
spun by Jayant won’t work in the 2024
Lok Sabha election. “We accept the
defeat in Khatauli but the kind of narra-
tive the SP-RLD-Bhim Army combine is
spinning is not true. Bypolls always in-
volve several local factors, the Lok Sabha
election will be different,’’ he says. n

lakh crore Vedanta-Foxconn blew over, it was back to square

semiconductor plant, which
has chosen to drop anchor in
Gujarat instead.
The Shiv Sena claims that
the BJP-led Union government
is being partial to Gujarat at
the cost of Maharashtra and
wants to sever Mumbai from
Maharashtra. It projects the
state government as the client
regime of the Centre.
one,” he laments.
For decades, Thackeray has
been seen as being surrounded
by a coterie which controls
access to him. As the chief minis-
ter of Maharashtra for two-and-
a-half years, he was blamed for
being inaccessible to his minis-
ters and legislators, preferring
to operate from his residence
rather than his sixth-floor office
in the state administrative head-

“reward economy” mecha-
nism by ensuring that material
LACK OF benefits accrued from the
control over the BMC trickle
ACCESSIBILITY down to the cadre.
HAS BEEN AN In Mumbai, Thackeray’s
Shiv Sena is sniffing a politi-
ENDEMIC ISSUE WITH cal opening on issues that
THACKERAY SINCE HIS may help polarise voters
on grounds of linguistic and
FORMAL ENTRY INTO regional pride. It includes the
POLITICS IN 1990 “injustice” perpetrated on
Maharashtra by depriving it of
investments like the Rs 1.54
A
ny linguistic polarisa-
tion in the BMC polls
may help the party
hold on to its core Marathi vot-
ers. The issue of Mumbai being
severed from Maharashtra has
a strong emotional connection
for Maharashtrians and has
been used successfully by the
Shiv Sena to bolster its elec-
toral fortunes (1985 and 2012).
Abhay Deshpande, senior
journalist and political com-
mentator, says that Thackeray
had no option but to increase
his public presence after the
massive setback to his party.
“Thackeray has to prevent any
fence-sitters from leaving. It
is obvious that for this, he has
to play on the front foot,” he
observes.
However, a senior Shiv
Sena worker notes that
Thackeray had similarly
changed his style of function-
ing in the past after Rane and
Raj Thackeray’s revolts (2005),
which posed a major threat to
the party. “But after the crisis
quarters of Mantralaya. Indeed,
when he visited Mantralaya in
April this year, it became a story
in itself! The BJP, which was then
in the opposition, had attacked
his absence from office.
His aides then had pointed
out that Thackeray (61), who
underwent an angioplasty in
2012, had merely followed physi-
cal distancing norms during the
Covid-19 pandemic. He had also
undergone spine surgery in 2021.
Later, he found it difficult to bend
his neck, which has been affect-
ing his movements.
Despite this, Shiv Sena insid-
ers admit that lack of accessibil-
ity has been an endemic issue
with Thackeray since his formal
entry into politics in April 1990.
Till he took over as the party
working president in January
2003, and by extension as the
political heir of his father, the
late Shiv Sena supremo Bal
Thackeray, he operated more as
a backroom strategist, preferring
it to the hurly-burly of the Sena’s
street-level politics. n
UPFRONT

By Amarnath K. Menon A N D H R A P R A D E S H / J AG A N R E D DY

I LEANING OVER
t’s been seven decades since the first
elections were held in India, but
caste arithmetic still remains inte-

BACKWARDS
gral to this democratic exercise. So,
when Andhra Pradesh chief minister
Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy addressed the
ruling YSR Congress’s ‘Jayaho BC Ma-
hasabha’ in Vijayawada on December 7,
it was the same backward classes math
that was decidedly on his mind.
In February 2019, just ahead of the
last assembly election, Jagan—vying to
dethrone then CM and Telugu Desam
Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu
Naidu—had tried to woo the Other
Backward Classes (OBCs) in the state
with a slew of promises in his party’s
BC Declaration unveiled at Eluru. Now,
with the next state poll due in 2024—
coinciding with the general election—
Jagan shared his government’s ‘report
card’ at the well-attended outreach pro-
gramme in Vijayawada, spelling out the
promises fulfilled so far and reaffirming
his commitment to social justice.
About 145 socially and econo-
mically backward classes (notified as
OBCs collectively) account for 45-50
per cent of the state’s population, and
have traditionally backed the TDP ever
since its founder, the late N.T. Rama
Rao, stormed the undivided Andhra
Pradesh in 1983. Their support was a
key factor that helped the TDP garner
nearly 40 per cent vote share in the
2019 election, even as it could net just
23, or 13 per cent, of the 175 assembly
MOHAMMAD ALEEMUDDIN

seats. The Jagan-led YSRC won 151

seats with a 50 per cent vote share.
“BCs are not backward classes but RAISING THE BAR
the backbone of society,” emphasised Jagan at his party’s
the YSRC supremo at Vijayawada, Jayaho BC Mahasabha
pointing out that the government had in Vijayawada, Dec. 7
disbursed Rs 1,63,000 crore, including
Rs 86,000 crore under Direct Benefit
Transfer (DBT), to BC communities in TAKING A CUE FROM that is, ensuring the economic empow-
the past three-and-a-half years. “We YSR’S STRATEGY erment of all sections of society. So, if
have taken steps to empower every the YSRC chief has launched specific
OF SOCIAL JUSTICE,
disadvantaged section,” he added. In schemes targeting BC groups according
doing so, Jagan has relied on the same
JAGAN IS BANKING to their occupation, such as Matsya-
strategy his father Y.S. Rajasekhara ON OBC OUTREACH kara Bharosa for fishermen, there are
Reddy had adopted as the Congress TO OVERCOME also schemes like Cheyutha, Amma
CM of undivided Andhra Pradesh— ANTI-INCUMBENCY Vodi and Jagananna Vasathi Deevena

12 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
 TROUBLESHOOTER
Digvijay Singh at a
presser in Hyderabad
that aim to empower women and provide
financial assistance to students from his-
torically disadvantaged groups.
Going a step further than his father,
Jagan has also ensured the political
empowerment of OBCs. His government
has nominated four OBC members to
the Rajya Sabha and 18 to the legislative
council. Eleven OBC legislators have been
made ministers and they along with SC,
ST and minority members account for 70
per cent of Jagan’s cabinet. At the grass-
roots level, where the YSRC controls 635 of
the 648 local bodies, 239 posts of mandal MOHAMMAD ALEEMUDDIN

praja parishad president have been given

to OBCs—38 per cent of the total.
That said, this welfare-focused app-
roach comes with its own set of challenges.
The opposition, including the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP), has been trying to
corner Jagan by demanding a white paper
on the state’s finances given the mounting TEL A NGA NA/ CONGR ESS
debt. Winning over the OBCs becomes
even more important given the high
stakes, as Jagan has to not only beat anti-
incumbency but, in all likelihood, do so
while taking on a united Opposition if he
EXISTENTIAL CRISIS
wants to come close to his ambitious target By Amarnath K. Menon
of winning all 175 assembly seats in 2024.
The TDP is already trying to get

F
back its core voters, especially the OBCs, or veteran Congress
and has the potential to win over other leader Digvijay Singh,
social groups not happy with Jagan, says essaying the role of a
Harathi Vageeshan, who teaches politi- troubleshooter comes
cal science at the NALSAR University of with effortless ease. So, as the
Law, Hyderabad. “If Naidu’s TDP enters Congress stares at a political cri-
into a pre-poll alliance with actor Pawan sis in Telangana, the party bosses
Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party (JSP), which dispatched him to defuse the in-
is quite likely, then it will not be an easy fighting that is fast transforming
election to win for Jagan,” adds G. Kiran into an unseemly ‘native-versus-
Kumar, national president, All India OBC migrant’ conflict.
Students Association. On gauging that an amicable
Meanwhile, the BJP is also trying hard solution was unreachable, Singh
to woo the OBCs with an eye on the Lok spent an entire day (December
Sabha election, and has deployed their 22) meeting party heavyweights
national general secretary Satya Kumar and other leaders one by one—
to work out the strategy. The challenge for only to announce in the end that
Jagan will only multiply if the BJP joins Telangana Pradesh Congress
hands with the possible TDP-JSP combine. Committee (TPCC) president
Against this backdrop, he is appointing re- A. Revanth Reddy will lead the
gional coordinators in each district and an party into the 2023 assembly
observer for each assembly segment to ad- election and present a report to
dress rifts within the party. With multiple the party high command on how
variables at play, Jagan knows he cannot to dissolve the sharpening divide.
afford any miscalculation at this stage. n Some of the leaders are learnt
to be furious over a social media
campaign being run against them,
allegedly at Revanth Reddy’s
behest. The crisis deepened after
a group of dissident leaders held
a meeting on December 17 and
voiced their objection to the pack-
ing of party panels with turncoats
from other parties. The TPCC
chief himself joined the Congress
after resigning from the Telugu
Desam Party (TDP) in 2017.
Such is the acrimony that
several senior Congress leaders
say replacing Revanth Reddy is
the only way the Grand Old Party
will have any chance of wresting
power from the Bharatiya Rash-
tra Samithi (BRS). Moreover,
the Congress cadre’s morale is at
an all-time low since the debacle
in the assembly bypoll for the
Munugode seat, which was forced
by the resignation of sitting party
MLA K. Raj Gopal Reddy, who

JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 13
UPFRONT

had defected to the BJP. The
seat has now been annexed by
the ruling BRS—an ominous
sign for the Congress that has
been reduced to an also-ran
with the 2023 poll increasingly
becoming a race between the
BRS, steered by Chief Minister
K. Chandrashekar Rao, and
the BJP, which is rapidly grow-
ing in influence in the state.
After 12 of the 18 MLAs
elected on the Congress ticket
in 2018 switched to the ruling
party in 2019 (when N. Uttam
Kumar Reddy was the TPCC
chief), the party has been los-
ing influential leaders steadily
to the BJP and BRS. Among
them are M. Shashidhar
WITH LESS THAN
A YEAR TO GO
from the deep lack of morale
in the leadership to stand its
ground. Since the formation
of Telangana, the traditional
Reddy leadership has been
content with the way the ruling
BRS is treating them which
has, in turn, compromised
their fighting capabilities,”
explains Harathi Vageeshan,
who teaches political science
at the NALSAR University of
Law, Hyderabad.
Further, Revanth Reddy’s
entry had been a long-drawn
process after the non-Reddy
Congress elite, comprising BCs,
SCs and STs, yielded space
instead of taking the party’s
reins, as Siddaramaiah did in
Karnataka. As a consequence,
sections of Dalits and Muslims
have drifted away from the
By Pradip R. Sagar
Congress in Telangana. “The
Congress may have to shed

FOR ASSEMBLY
ELECTION, THE
CONGRESS FINDS
ITSELF IN DISARRAY
IN TELANGANA
Reddy, son of former Andhra
Pradesh CM M. Channa
Reddy who had steered the
first separate statehood
agitation in the 1970s, former
MP K. Vishweshwar Reddy,
former MLA Challa Venka-
trami Reddy and former AICC
spokesperson Dasoju Sravan
Kumar. More heavyweights
are expected to drift from the
Congress towards the saffron
party, which is banking on
anti-incumbency and focusing
on about 75 of the 119 assembly
seats to dislodge the two-term
BRS government.
So, is it the end of the road
for the Congress in Telangana?
“The primary crisis springs
14 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
some of its troublesome dead-
weight, the so-called senior
leaders, considering it still has
a good base in the state as was
evident during Rahul Gandhi’s
Bharat Jodo Yatra,” says Vag-
eeshan. He believes that with
such an excision, a new balance
can be struck in the party in the
coming months.
Meanwhile, with the reacti-
vation of the TDP in Telan-
gana, the Congress faces yet
another challenge. Poll pundits
argue that the BJP, with
Sharmila Reddy’s fledgling
YSR Telangana Party and pos-
sibly the TDP, has the potential
to poach from the Congress
vote bank. “The current crisis
will only weaken the electoral
prospects of the Congress fur-
ther,” says E. Venkatesu of the
political science department,
University of Hyderabad. Fac-
ing a grim future in what was
once its bastion, the Congress
will have to keep its house in
order if it wants to put up any
sort of challenge in 2023. n
I
n September 1999, a Japanese-owned,
Panama-registered ship, the MV Alondra
Rainbow, was hijacked by Indonesian
pirates. The ship was repainted and
renamed MV Mega Rama by the pirates.
Within days, it was apprehended by the
Indian Coast Guard off the Mumbai coast
in the Arabian Sea. It was India’s first case
dealing with pirates. The Mumbai sessions
court tried and convicted the pirates under
various sections of the Indian Penal Code
(IPC). However, on April 18, 2005, the Bom-
bay High Court overruled the lower court’s
decision and acquitted all the accused. The
reason: the IPC and Criminal Procedure
Code (CrPC) were invalid beyond Indian
territorial waters, which stretches up to 12
nautical miles from any Indian coastal state.
That legal gap has now been filled. To deal
with the menace of piracy on the high seas,
both houses of Parliament last week passed
the Maritime Anti-Piracy Bill 2022, which
provides for the prevention of maritime piracy
and stringent punishment to those convicted
of such crimes. Despite a sharp rise in piracy,
there had been no legislation in India specifi-
cally dealing
1 2 with
INDIAthe crime.NOV M BE R 7, 2 02 2
TODAY
The ‘Piracy Bill’ was first tabled in April
2012 by the then external affairs minister,
S.M. Krishna. The Narendra Modi-led gov-
ernment reintroduced the bill as the Mari-
time Anti-Piracy Bill in the Lok Sabha on

M A R I T I M E L AW
LEGAL CHAIN
FOR PIRATES
December 9, 2019, and referred it to the
standing committee on external affairs.
External affairs Mminister S. Jaishan-
kar, who moved the bill now, told Parlia-
ment that out of 18 recommendations of
the standing committee, 14 have been
incorporated in the bill.
The problem of piracy is as old as
the history of maritime navigation.
However, with the rapid growth in
international sea trade, piracy has proli-
ferated at an alarming pace in recent
decades. India is actively engaged in
anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of
Aden and the eastern Arabian Sea. The
Indian navy commenced anti-piracy
patrols in the Gulf of Aden in Octo-
ber 2008; since then a ship has been
deployed there permanently. Besides
escorting Indian-flagged vessels, ships
from other nations have been provided
protection. No ship under Indian escort
has thus far been hijacked by pirates.
Jaishankar claimed the bill will
UNDER THE NET
Suspected Somali
pirates captured
by the Indian Navy
in a 2011 operation
in the Arabian Sea
AFP
strengthen India’s maritime security
and give it an effective legal instrument
to combat the scourge of piracy. Since
over 90 per cent of India’s trade takes
place by sea routes and over 80 per cent
of the country’s hydrocarbon require-
ments is sea-borne, security of these
lanes of communication is critical. With
India providing around 9.35 per cent
of global seafarers, ranking third in the
list of nations with most seafarers in
the world maritime industry, piracy is
a particular danger for over 200,000
Indian sailors and mariners. While
debating the bill, Jaishankar said that
between 2008 and 2011, there were 27
THE NEW ANTI-
PIRACY BILL ALLOWS
FOR COMBATING
PIRATES IN THE
HIGH SEAS AS WELL
AS IN INDIA’S EEZ
maritime incidents, affecting 288 In-
dians. “Between 2014 and 2022, there
were 19 piracy cases in which 155 In-
dian crew members were involved. The
numbers show why the country needs
this bill so badly,” he added. Jaishankar
said the bill would enable India to fulfil
its international obligations, especially
under the United Nations Convention
on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to
which it is a signatory.
C
rucially, the Anti-Maritime
Piracy Bill enables Indian
authorities to take action
against piracy on the high seas. It
also applies to the sea beyond India’s
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)—an
area beyond and adjacent to the territ-
orial waters that can be used for the
exploration/ exploitation of marine
resources—which is 200 nautical miles
from India’s coastline. The bill defines
piracy as any illegal act of violence,
detention or destruction against a ship,
aircraft, person or property by the
crew or passengers of a private ship or
aircraft. Piracy also includes facilitat-
ing such acts of violence and volun-
tarily participating in the operation of
a pirate ship or aircraft.
The bill provides for a maximum
punishment of life imprisonment or
fine or both, for anyone proven guilty of
piracy. There is a provision of the death
penalty—to be applied in the rarest of
rare cases—if any person is found to
have caused somebody’s death or att-
empts to cause somebody’s death while
committing an act of piracy. An attempt
at piracy or helping someone to commit
piracy is punishable with a jail term of
up to 10 years. Participating, organis-
ing, or directing others to participate in
piracy will be punishable with up to 14
years of jail, a fine, or both.
While confronting pirates on the
high seas, there is always a chance of
collateral damage, with hostages being
taken by pirates in many cases. So, the
bill has granted some immunity to
uniformed security forces involved in
an operation. Vijay Digambar Chafekar,
additional director general (retd) of the
Indian Coast Guard, says all success-
ful anti-piracy operations of the Indian
navy and Coast Guard occurred within
the EEZ and that the bill has the provi-
sion to take action against pirates there
now. It was a longstanding demand of
the Coast Guard, he adds. n
 UPFRONT

Star-struck
D uring her visit to Madhya

Illustration by SIDDHANT JUMDE

Pradesh’s Satpura Tiger
Reserve in November, actor
Raveena Tandon found herself
in a controversy after a
complaint was filed regarding
her safari vehicle trying to
obstruct a tiger’s movement.
Raveena raised the matter
with the Maharashtra forest
authorities who spoke to their
MP counterparts. Result?
MP forest minister Kunwar
GL ASSHOUSE Vijay Shah invited Raveena
to a ‘forest fair’ in Bhopal as a
THICK SKIN guest and then sent her on a
safari to Satpura with his family

O
n December 25, Delhi was shivering. Yet, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was members. Later, the actor
clarified that she was unfairly
seen only in a T-shirt while paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi and former prime
targeted. This was not the first
ministers, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Even during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, amid
time Shah displayed star-struck
the chilling winters of north India, Rahul has been seen only in his trademark white T-shirt,
behaviour. In 2020, he had sent
while other leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Mallikarjun Kharge, a dinner invite to Vidya Balan
were seen wearing gloves, mufflers, and jackets. As social media was abuzz wondering who was shooting for a film in
what kept Rahul warm, he sought to philosophise: “They keep asking me how I do not feel MP. When the actor declined the
cold. But they do not ask the farmer, the worker, poor children, this question.” But the best invite, he reportedly disallowed
answer came from party communication in-charge Jairam Ramesh. He said Rahul had the film’s shooting, something
developed a thick skin, surviving the daily assault of the BJP for nearly two decades. the minister denied later.

WHAT’S Restless For Reward

IN A T he downside of a sweeping
victory is the hollowness that
COLOUR? follows. Gujarat BJP president
C.R. Paatil is learnt to be getting

W est Bengal’s new

governor C.V.
Ananda Bose, whom
chief minister Mamata
Banerjee has eulogised as a thorough
gentleman, felt uneasy wearing the saffron
robe at Jadavpur University’s convocation
ceremony. With a frown on his face, he said
that it was time to get rid of the colonial
practices and embrace Indian costume and
culture. Many wondered if his discomfiture
had anything to do with the colour, often
associated with the BJP. While the state
BJP has been seeking to paint Bose as PM
Narendra Modi’s man, the governor has
been making efforts to project himself
neutral. He has not hesitated to praise
Mamata in public. Certainly, Bose doesn’t
want a coloured assessment of his tenure.
restless and is seeking a higher
reward than the result itself. It BARGAIN DEAL
A fter a four-year hiatus,
is believed he is eyeing a key
role in the organisation, possibly TDP chief N. Chandrababu
succeeding J.P. Nadda as the next Naidu addressed a well-attended
party president. Observers term party rally in Telangana’s
this target too ambitious for Paatil, Khammam on December 22.
given that another top post cannot His renewed interest in the
go to a leader from Gujarat. But they state raises prospects of a grand
believe he would be rewarded alliance for the 2023 assembly
with either a berth in the poll with the BJP, which has
Union cabinet or a key been aggressive in its goal of
role in the upcoming ruling the state. By playing the
elections in Maharashtra, second fiddle, Naidu hopes to
considering his get similar support from the
dual identity of a BJP, along with Pawan Kalyan’s
Marathi-origin Jana Sena Party, for another
leader based in alliance to enable the TDP to
Gujarat. wrest power in Andhra in 2024.

Kaushik Deka with Romita Datta, Rahul Noronha, CHANDRADEEP KUMAR

Jumana Shah and Amarnath K. Menon
 THE
COVER STORY

NEWSMAKER
OF THE YEAR

GROWTH
G AU TA M
A DA N I

KINGSelf-made billionaire Gautam Adani had

an exceptional 2022 even by his own
standards, including closing the largest
infrastructure deal India has seen

By Raj Chengappa and

M.G. Arun in Ahmedabad
Photograph by BANDEEP SINGH

18 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 19

I
COVER STORY
NEWSMAKER
OF THE YEAR
G AU TA M
A DA N I
It’s the festive season and the atrium of the
glass-walled Adani conglomerate headquar-
ters in Shantigram, Ahmedabad, is decked
up with white cardboard boxes stacked in
tapering rows to resemble a giant pyramid
reaching to the skies. The installation, ‘Con-
vergence’, is meant to depict a united Adani
vision of the future.
The Adani Group and founder-chairman Gautam
Adani’s vision was in full flow in 2022 with much to
celebrate. Expanding at an explosive rate, the group’s
market capitalisation grew nine-fold in just three years
to cross Rs 17.9 lakh crore as on December 23, making
it India’s second most valuable firm just behind the
Tata Group but ahead of Reliance Industries. Adani
even overtook Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani
to become the richest person in India and Asia, apart
from becoming the world’s third wealthiest with a per-
sonal net worth of over $125.8 billion (per the Forbes
list, as on December 28).
Demonstrating his penchant for betting big, in Sep-
tember Adani acquired the Swiss firm Holcim’s stake
in ACC and Ambuja Cements for $10.5 billion (around
Rs 87,000 crore), the single largest acquisition in the
infrastructure space. With that, his group became the
second largest cement manufacturer in the country
behind industry leader UltraTech of the Aditya Birla
Group. The year also saw Adani make acquisitions in
diverse sectors including two popular rice brands, the
22 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
MIDAS TOUCH
2022 saw Adani’s business expanding and
fortune soaring. A lowdown on his growth:
WORLD’S THIRD RICHEST
With a net worth of $125.8 billion,
Gautam Adani is the world’s third
richest person behind French
fashion business tycoon Bernard Arnault
($180.5 billion) and Tesla and Twitter CEO
Elon Musk ($138 billion). He also overtook
Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance
Industries, as the richest Indian
STOCK MARKET DARLING
His group’s total market
capitalisation registers a
phenomenal ninefold growth
from Rs 1,96,917 crore on December 23, 2019
to Rs 17,90,038 crore as on December 23, 2022
BETTING BIG
Acquires Swiss firm Holcim’s
stake in Ambuja Cements and
ACC for $10.5 billion (around
Rs 87,000 crore), India’s single largest deal in
the infra sector, and becomes the country’s
second largest cement manufacturer behind
Aditya Birla Group’s UltraTech
EXPLOSIVE EXPANSION
Takes over controlling stake
of NDTV; acquires India’s
largest marine services firm
Ocean Sparkle and Essar’s Mahan-Sipat
transmission project; buys Kohinoor and
Charminar rice brands from the US-based
McCormick; wins, along with Gadot, tender
to privatise Israel’s Haifa Port; achieves
financial closure for Navi Mumbai Airport for
Rs 12,770 crore; enters telecom space, buying
5G spectrum worth Rs 212 crore for industrial
applications; signs deal with the Odisha
government to invest Rs 57,575 crore in two
alumina refinery and iron ore projects
SECURING FINANCES
Gets Abu Dhabi’s International
Holding Company to invest
$2 billion (Rs 16,568 crore) in
group’s green portfolio. Adani’s Mumbai
International Airport raises $750 million
(Rs 6,213 crore) from Apollo Enterprises.
Adani-Wilmar’s Rs 3,600 crore IPO in
January over-subscribed 17.3 times
THE BIG GIVER
On his 60th birthday in June, the
Adani family commits Rs 60,000
crore to charity for healthcare,
education and skill development
 THE BUSINESS ADL*
EMPIRE (100%)
Digital
With Adani Enterprises AWL PVC*
(44.0%) Cement (100%)
as the flagship and
an incubator for new Food FMCG (63.2%#)
businesses, Gautam Adani’s
empire stretches from ports, DIRECT TO
airports and roads to power, CONSUMER Copper,
cement, renewables, and MATERIALS,
METAL & Aluminium*
new businesses like data (100%)
MINING
centres and media EMERGING Y
B2C AR Y
Graphic by TANMOY CHAKRABORTY IM TR
PR U S
D Mining
IN
The Services &
Commercial
Mining*
AEL FLAGSHIP
INCUBATOR (100%)
(72.6%)

Universe
AGEL ARTL*
(60.5%) (100%)
Renewables Roads
INFRASTRUCTURE
ATL & UTILITY CORE
(73.9%) PORTFOLIO TRANSPORT
T&D Adani
ConneX4* & LOGISTICS
(50%) AAHL*
ENERGY & Data Centre APSEZ (100%)
UTILITY (66%) Airports
Ports &
APL Logistics
(75%) NQXT*
IPP ANIL* Promoter equity
(100%) (100%)
Combined stake in Adani Portfolio
New Market Cap companies
ATGL Industries
(37.4%) `17.9 AEL equity stake
in its subsidiaries
Gas Discom lakh crore
Group structure as on #Stake in Ambuja Cement which owns 50% in
November 2022 (as on Dec. 23, 2022) ACC. Adani also directly owns 6.6% in ACC

AEL: Adani Enterprises Ltd.
AGEL: Adani Green Energy Ltd.
ATL: Adani Transmission Ltd.
APL: Adani Power Ltd.
ATGL: Adani Total Gas Ltd. NQXT: North Queensland ARTL: Adani Roads *Unlisted
ANIL: Adani New Industries Ltd. Export Terminal Transport Ltd. companies
APSEZ: Adani Ports and AAHL: Adani Airport ADL: Adani Digital Ltd.
Special Economic Zone Ltd. Holdings Ltd. AWL: Adani Wilmar Ltd.

ON THE FAST TRACK THE BIG LEAGUE

The listed Adani Group companies and how they Adani Group is India’s second
Figures in crore
fare in terms of creating shareholder value (for 2021-22)
largest in market capitalisation

Consolidated Comprehensive Market Cap as on Market cap in ’000 crore Growth

Revenue* Income# Total debt Dec. 26, 2022 1,201
Tata
AEL Group 2,050 71%
69,420 1,233 28,482 4,23,710
APL 27,711 4,955 41,418 1,06,182 Adani 197
809%
APSEZ 15,934 4,721 45,453 1,74,118 Group 1,790
ATL 11,258 984 27,491 2,75,097 Reliance 996 70%
AGEL
Industries 1,693
5,133 405 44,390 2,97,299
ATGL 3,206 510 995 3,64,224 Aditya Birla 274 86%
Group 508
AWL 54,214 800 2,568 68,181
Ambuja
Mahindra 169 73%
28,965 3,722 44 1,02,092 Group 293
* Ambuja’s consolidated figures include ACC’s; as on Dec. 31, 2021
Dec. 23, 2019 Dec. 23, 2022
# Total comprehensive income includes profit attributable to non-controlling interest as well
Sources: Adani Group & BT Research
THE RISE 1962
June 24:

AND RISE
Gautam Adani is
born as the seventh child
to Shantaben and Shantilal

OF GAUTAM
Adani at Ahmedabad

1978
A 16, leaves for Bombay to realise his

ADANI
dream of setting up a business

1979
Negotiates his first deal by selling a
Slow and steady...the journey to parcel of diamonds at Dhanji Street 2
become the world’s third richest person 1982
Returns to Ahmedabad and joins Ezy
Packaging, a family plastic processing unit;
takes charge of procurement and marketing

1986
Apr. 1: Adani Agency and
Adani Associates are formed for
export/ import of plastics, metals,
pharmaceuticals, etc.
May 1: Marries Pritiben Vora
in Ahmedabad

1987
Apr. 7: Their first child, son
Karan, is born

1988
Nov. 1: Adani Exports, founded
in March, lists on the BSE; IPO
oversubscribed by 25 times
3
Nov. 7: Second son Jeet is born
A LIFE IN PICTURES
1. Adani with his father (1989), 2. playing cricket
1 at an inhouse league (1996), 3. inaugurating
jetty at Mundra (1998), 4. holding granddaughter
Gayatri, 5. signing the Holcim deal (2022)

largest marine services company, a transmission project and
media company NDTV. All this despite the lingering Covid
pandemic and a still raging war in Ukraine that continues to
cause global disruptions in business.
The Adani Group has grown at an astonishing pace despite
hurdles and strife. In a little over a decade, Adani has become
India’s largest private sector power producer, port operator,
airport operator, consumer gas business and electric trans-
mission company, apart from being the largest infrastructure
developer and generator of renewable energy. If Adani was the
poster boy of the 1991 reforms, today, with his Midas touch, he
is the epitome of the India story–a self-made billionaire who
carved out a gigantic, diverse empire in less than three decades.
He now has global ambitions and is braced to deal with the
stiff resistance his ventures face abroad (and sometimes even
in India). As he told india today, “Giving up has never been
part of the Adani culture. Having honed my skills in a dynamic
democracy like India, me and my group are confident we can
deliver and do business in any part of the world. I have faced
adversity and crisis from childhood. Each occasion taught me
several valuable lessons and made me stronger (see interview:
‘I always tell my team–never waste a crisis’).”
THE MEANING OF MONEY
When Adani speaks, he does so with a quiet conviction, and a
disarming candour. He knows he has arrived but that hasn’t
changed the simplicity with which he expresses his feelings
or the humility with which he answers criticisms against his
business empire. The walls of his 16th floor office are lined with
massive paintings by well-known artists but Adani admits he
can’t recall half their names. He shuns parties and rather than
use his fleet of expensive cars prefers to come to office in a jet-
black, bulletproof Toyota Alphard with a convoy of bodyguards
accompanying him. The VIP entrance of his HQ bears a large
fibreglass sculpture done by Indian Gond and Australian Ab-
original artistes that celebrates two diverse cultures separated

24 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
 1998 2021
Jetty at Mundra becomes operational Jul.: Adani Airport Holdings
AEL commences coal trading Ltd takes over management
of Mumbai International
1999 Airport from GVK Group
Adani–Wilmar is founded, launches Sept.: APSEZ fully unlocks
Fortune (which goes on to become India’s India’s eastern hinterland
largest selling edible oil brand in 2012) 4 with Rs 6,200-crore
acquisition of Gangavaram
2006 Port in Visakhapatnam
Coal mining operations begin in Indonesia 2016 Dec.: Bags India’s largest
Commissions one of the world’s expressway project; makes
2007 largest solar power plants (648 the move to acquire SB
MPSEZL listed on BSE and NSE, IPO MW) in Tamil Nadu; ATL acquires Energy’s 5 GW renewable
oversubscribed by 116 times GMR Energy’s transmission assets power portfolio in India
Adani is listed among the top 10 richest Ventures into defence for 2022
Indians by Forbes making unmanned aerial vehicles
Jan.: Adani-Wilmar’s
2009 2017 Rs 3,200-crore IPO
Adani Power listed on BSE and NSE, IPO oversubscribed by 17 times
Takes over R-Infra’s Mumbai
oversubscribed by 21 times; its first unit electricity distribution—Adani Sept.: Acquires Swiss firm
(330 MW) of the Mundra thermal power Electricity is born Holcim’s stake in Ambuja
plant becomes operational in Oct. Cements and ACC, becoming
Adani Gas becomes the largest
India’s second largest
city gas distribution player
2012 cement manufacturer
APSEZ completes acquisition
Acquires Abbot Point Port in Australia Sept.: Becomes the
of Kattupalli and Krishnapatnam
and Carmichael coal mine in Queensland world’s third richest person
Ports on the eastern coast
AEL commissions a 40 MW solar Dec.: Gains a controlling
power plant at Bita, Gujarat 2020 stake in NDTV
2013 Adani Gas becomes a premier
integrated gas utility after a 50:50
Mundra becomes India’s No. 1 private port venture with Total Energies
2014 Wins the mandate to operate
six airports in India
Adani Power becomes largest private
thermal power generator (9,280 MW) Adani Green Energy wins the
Adani Ports acquires Dhamra Port in contract for the world’s largest
Odisha from Tata and L&T solar project, leapfrogs towards 5
the goal of 25 gigawatts (GW)

Extracted from Gautam Adani: Reimagining Business in India and the World by R.N. Bhaskar

by the Indian Ocean and symbolises his growing interna-
tional reach, including interests in an Australian coal mine.
His designer house in Ahmedabad city has a large bust of
Lord Shiva straddling the manicured garden with its flowing
fountains. Again, the works of famous painters are displayed
across the halls of the house. By itself, money is not fulfill-
ing for him. He understands that ultimately money means
power, not just to keep his family secure but also to influence
others. But, as he puts it, you “can’t chew on money” and the
greatest joy is in giving back to society. “I get my thrills from
handling challenges....the bigger they are, the happier I am,”
he says. That give-it-back feeling expressed itself on a major
scale this year in June when Adani turned 60. As a birthday
gift, his family decided to set aside Rs 60,000 crore for the
Adani Foundation that his wife Priti heads, for use in health
care, education and skill development for the needy.
Priti is a dentist by training and her marriage to Gautam
in 1986 was arranged by the families who shared business ties
and middle-class origins. For Gautam, his idea of relaxing is
still playing rummy with Priti at night, even when he returns
from office at midnight, which is often. He adds a trifle wist-
fully that she is always the winner, and he ends up owing her
money. Priti laughs and says she admires Gautam for his
ability to focus and the fact that once he makes up his mind
on a topic he cannot rest till he knows everything about it.
She likes that he is always open to new ideas, that he is a good
listener and, most of all, that he makes sure to spend quality
time with her and their two sons, Karan and Jeet, and their
extended families. Gautam says Priti is his “Lady Luck” be-
cause it’s after his marriage that he grew both personally and
professionally. He adds with a smile, “She is more qualified
than me–I am just a 10th pass and she is a doctor.” That vein
of thought leads him to one of his success mantras: “While
education equips you with knowledge, it’s life’s experiences
that give you wisdom. Knowledge combined with wisdom
ensures success,” he says.

JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 25
COVER STORY

NEWSMAKER
OF THE YEAR
G AU TA M
A DA N I

› Gautam Adani standing next to the Adiyogi

Shiva statue at his residence in Ahmedabad

THE TURNING POINTS

It’s his learn-by-earning model and faith in his own intuition that would
propel Gautam to greater heights. The seventh of eight children, he grew
up in Ahmedabad where his father, Shantilal Adani, was a textiles and
commodity trader. But while Gautam was good at studies, he dropped
Adani aligns his
out after passing his tenth class and decided to head to Mumbai (travel- business vision
ling in third class by train) to be a diamond trader. His logic was that his
elder brothers had gone on to do higher studies but they still returned to with that of the
work in the family business. Adani’s first big break as an entrepreneur
would come when his elder brother bought a plastics factory in Ahmed-
priorities of the
abad and asked him to return to help run it. Gautam soon found that the government.
raw material shortage was acute, not just for his brother’s factory but for
thousands of other small-scale manufacturers. So, when Rajiv Gandhi That gives him
as prime minister liberalised the export-import policy in 1985, he seized
the opportunity and began importing raw materials and supplying them
the tailwind to
to factories at a profit. succeed
The second big turning point would come in 1991, when the Narasimha
Rao government ended the licence raj, ushering in liberalisation and open-
ing up infrastructure development to public-private partnerships. With

26 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
 Photographs by BANDEEP SINGH

HIS WAY
Work, leisure, likes and more...
how Gautam Adani leads his life

WORKAHOLIC: Adani works

for 12 hours on most days. “I
always tell people that when I
am at work, I relax. Whenever I go on a
holiday, I work too,” he says
STRESS BUSTER: Plays a
game of rummy with his wife
Priti at least three to four
times a week, even if he reaches home
late. “She is always the winner. The
card game helps me relax and spend
some quality time with my wife.”
PERSONALITY TRAIT: A
positive thinker, does not get
worked up by any adverse
situation. Believes in destiny
MANAGEMENT STYLE:
Empowers professionals to
think as entrepreneurs and
take own decisions. Stands by them
even if things go wrong. Follows his
gut feeling, and prefers logical and
simple solutions over jargon
OTHER INTERESTS: Says
he doesn’t have many friends;
so likes going solo when
walking or exercising. Loves old Hindi
songs by Mukesh and Kishore Kumar
› (Sitting) Adani with brother Rajesh and wife Priti; (standing ROLE MODEL: Dhirubhai
from left) nephew Sagar, son Karan and nephew Pranav
Ambani, who he met only
once but has read a lot about.
Says he can relate to the difficulties
the margins for imports declining, Adani decided to expand his export Ambani faced during the ‘licence raj’
business and went public with his company, Adani Exports. While the
FAVOURITE FOOD: Is a
young Gautam was a savvy exporter, he soon realised that the real value foodie and vegetarian. Loves
of a company lay in creating assets. It was then, in 1995, that the third big Gujarati cuisine, but while
turning point unveiled itself when Keshubhai Patel, the then Gujarat chief travelling tries out local delicacies
minister, decided to push hard on developing the state’s coastal region.
FAVOURITE GETAWAY:
It was around this time that global commodities trader Cargill wanted
Destinations that have
to source salt produced across the Kutch coastline and chose Mundra as
great scenic beauty.
the best possible location to develop a port (it had good draught, making
Switzerland tops the list
it easy for big ships to dock there).
Cargill entered into a partnership with Adani Exports to build a jetty HOW HE TRAVELS: Does
but subsequently reneged on the deal. Adani saw opportunity in the crisis. not like to flaunt his wealth,
As a trader, he knew how profitable a port could be and applied for per- although he owns four
mission to convert the jetty into a full-fledged port. By 2001, he had won private jets for business
travel and has a fleet of luxury cars.
the rights to run the Mundra port for 30 years. That would be the biggest
Prefers to go to office in a jet-black,
turning point of his life. If others dismissed Mundra as a vast marshy
bulletproof Toyota Alphard
coastline in the wilderness, Adani saw it in the same light as Dhirubhai
Ambani did Jamnagar in Gujarat—a port town that would be the plat-
form to achieve his dreams. While Dhirubhai and his sons, Mukesh and

JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 27
 COVER STORY

NEWSMAKER
OF THE YEAR
G AU TA M
A DA N I

Anil, set up the country’s largest oil refinery plants, Gautam

steadily acquired vast tracts of land in Mundra. By 2007, his
acquisition totalled over 15,000 hectares spanning 40 km of
coastline on which he would construct a state-of-the-art port
with 26 berths, making it the largest port facility in the country.

THE ADANI WAY

The Mundra port provided a gateway for Adani to enter other
businesses—power generation, since it owned large tracts of
land and was a large importer of coal, a key input; the edible
oil business as it used to import the commodity for Singapore’s
Wilmar, later forming a 50:50 joint venture with it; the trans-
mission, distribution and renewables businesses since they
were natural extensions of power, as was piped gas; airports
and roads as an extension of the infrastructure story; and now
cement, since it can use fly ash from Adani’s power plants as
feedstock. Today, the group owns or operates 12 ports across
seven states and accounts for a quarter of the country’s ports
capacity. He is also India’s largest airport operator, handling
25 per cent of the passenger traffic and 40 per cent of the air
cargo, and its largest edible oils manufacturer. The group
employs over a 100,000 people, both directly and indirectly,
across the world.
The Mundra port experience would define the way Adani
does business. One signature move was to align his business
vision with the priorities of the government of the day. The
second was to expand business by venturing into what he
calls “adjacencies” or sectors complementary to his interests,
which he also describes as “connecting the dots”. He says,
“Our thinking is clear as to how we can help the country. This
aligns the businesses with the aspirations of the country and
also gives our activities the required tailwind that makes for
smooth sailing.” Veteran investment banker Nimesh Kampani
has been quoted saying, “Gautam Adani is an ideal example
of an empire builder who did not owe his growth to any of
the new-age technologies. Instead, he chose to be part of the
development scene of the country and achieve success through
the contributions he could make to society.”
How does the cement acquisition, then, fit into his overall
business ambitions? Adani explains that his business empire
has two large verticals. On the one side are ports, logistics
and airports, largely classified as ports and transport. On the
other are energy and utilities. The energy portfolio houses the
group’s thermal plants, renewables, transmission, distribu-
tion, LNG terminals and city gas distribution. “We are in-
creasing our positioning in every vertical, but at the same time
with these different verticals standing together, we are creat-
ing ‘adjacencies’. Cement is coming out of these adjacencies,”
he explains. The word, denoting the entry into businesses that
› Mundra Port, the largest private
port of India, on the north shores
of the Gulf of Kutch in Gujarat
have a “nearness” to existing business, has a close resonance
with the policy of backward and forward integration followed
by Reliance Industries founder Dhirubhai Ambani (whom
Adani considers his ‘inspiration’), while building his massive
petrochemicals empire.
BETTING BIG ON GREEN ENERGY
The biggest push from Adani is coming in the green energy
business. This again is in tandem with the Centre’s plans
to considerably scale up power generation from renewable
sources. In 2015-16, the Narendra Modi government had
committed to aggressive targets of installing 175 GW of re-
newable energy, excluding large hydro projects, by 2022.
Of this, the targeted solar energy capacity was 100 GW by
March 2023, 40 GW of which was to be rooftop solar and 60
GW ground-mounted. The targets were no doubt ambitious,
but it has given Adani the fodder to fuel his green energy
plans. Adani is clear that when the country’s huge energy
transition happens, it shouldn’t be dependent on China and
is setting up one of the most integrated green-energy value
chains. The giga factories will extend from polysilicon to solar
modules, complete manufacturing of wind turbines and the
manufacturing of hydrogen electrolysers. “When we are in full
command of the chain, we will see that India can produce the
cheapest fuel electron in the world,” he predicts. The factories
will also help generate an additional 45 GW of renewable
energy to add to the Adani Group’s existing 20 GW capacity,
as well as three million tonnes of hydrogen by 2030. Asked
about the possibility of hydrogen energy becoming viable
soon, he says, “The Indian government has brought out a very

28 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3

Adani is unfazed by flak
that his group is ‘over-
leveraged’, and points
to the ratings from
global credit agencies
attractive production linked incentive (PLI) scheme which has
made the hydrogen business attractive and viable.”
In green energy, the rivalry between him and Mukesh
Ambani, India’s second richest man, is palpable. Adani’s an-
nouncement came just days after Ambani, whose Reliance In-
dustries plans to invest $75 billion in renewables infrastructure
including generation plants, solar panels and electrolysers, had
announced a fifth giga factory as part of RIL’s investment in low
carbon energy. Adani, who rubbishes suggestions of a business
rivalry with Ambani, says his relationship with “Mukeshbhai”
is of mutual respect, but adds that any new technology ‘’needs to
start somewhere”. Over the course of time, the cost of business
would drop, making such technologies more affordable. He
cites the example of the solar power business, where the high
cost of solar panels in the early days led to tariffs as high as Rs
18 per unit. However, as input costs came down, so did tariffs,
and today it is less than Rs 2.50 per unit.
› Kamuthi solar power
project, one of the world’s
largest, in Tamil Nadu
QUESTIONS ON FINANCES
Large acquisitions such as the one in cement require a huge
amount of capital. In fact, Adani’s growth is underlined by the
50 companies he bought in the past seven years. Having bor-
rowed heavily from banks to fuel his ambitions, the group debt
had swelled to around Rs 1.88 lakh crore, as of March 2022.
And there is more spending in the pipeline. Adani Enterprises,
which has interests in new energy, transport and consumer
businesses, plans to spend $10.4 billion (over Rs 86,000 crore)
as capital expenditure till 2024. In the following five years
from then on, the capex would be $49 billion (around Rs 4
lakh crore). Some critics say the group is ‘over-leveraged’, and
that the structures the group has created make it difficult to
determine the consolidated position of debt and equity.
Adani is unfazed by such criticism. His explanation is that
global rating agencies, whose credit ratings are critical to rais-
ing capital overseas, have given his companies ratings that are
equivalent to sovereign ratings (the country’s ratings). More-
over, in infrastructure, the biggest raw material is capital, and
capital is a mix of debt and equity. The Adani Group’s debt to
EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and
amortisation, a measure of profitability) ratio, which was 7.6
per cent some seven years ago, has shrunk to 3.2 per cent. The
group’s exposure to borrowings from banks, which was 86 per
cent nine years ago, is now down to 32 per cent with almost 50
per cent of the borrowings coming from international bonds.
THE POLITICS OF BUSINESS
How did Adani achieve all this in such a short time and also got
the stock markets to cheer him? The soft-spoken industrialist
JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 29
 COVER STORY
NEWSMAKER
OF THE YEAR
G AU TA M
A DA N I
is said to have a unique ability to build and maintain relation-
ships and has a reputation for not backing out of any deal he
enters into. He does not try to buy out or squeeze his partners.
When a deal does not work out as expected, Adani insists on
sitting down with the partner and ironing out the rough edges
to see it through. Investors love him for his steadfast way of not
raising money from them till a business starts to generate cash.
This method allows him to get higher valuations at the time
of fundraising. Those close to him cite the example of Adani
Wilmar. The 50:50 joint venture, stitched in January 1999,
remains an equal partnership, with Adani showing no desire
to increase his stake in the company. But Adani does believe
in size, scale and speed and wants to dominate any industry
he gets into.
Moreover, despite the popular notion
of him being close to Prime Minister Na-
renda Modi, he maintains relationships Adani says the
across party lines, making him acceptable
to every government. “He has concluded protests against
projects under the Congress government,
the BJP government, the National Demo-
his projects do
cratic Alliance, the Left parties in Kerala not bother him
and even the mercurial Mamata Banerjee
of the Trinamool Congress in West Ben- as they are “an
gal,” writes journalist R.N. Bhaskar in
the book, Gautam Adani: Reimagining
essential part of
Business in India and the World. Inter- the democratic
estingly, recent protests by a section of
fishermen and Catholic priests against process”
Adani’s Vizhinjam port project on the
southern tip of Kerala saw sworn enemies,
the ruling CPI(M) and the BJP, come together in support of the
project. Adani, in turn, says protests do not bother him as they
are “an essential part of the democratic process”.
He also shrugs off allegations that the rise of his business
empire has to do with Modi’s ascent to power, first as Gujarat
CM and, in 2014, as India’s prime minister. He emphasises
that the three major breaks in his entrepreneurial journey were
due to policies under former prime ministers Rajiv Gandhi
and Narasimha Rao, and ex-Gujarat CM Keshubhai Patel,
apart from policies pushed through by Modi when he became
CM in 2001 and PM in 2014. Adani emphatically says, “These
allegations are baseless and suffer from a recency bias, seeing
our group’s success through a short-term lens. My professional
success is not because of any individual leader but because of
the policy and institutional reforms initiated by several lead-
ers and governments over a long period of more than three
decades.” Adani brushes aside charges of what a former chief
economic advisor to the Union finance minister called “stig-
matised capitalism”, saying in his businesses he had always
pushed for a competitive bidding process to snuff out charges
of political patronage.
30 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
MANAGING THE EMPIRE
Adani likes to run his companies with a judicious mix of
professionals from within the family and outside. Brother
Rajesh Adani is group MD, sons Karan Adani and Jeet Adani
are CEO of Adani Ports and SEZ, and V-P, group finance,
respectively. Nephews Pranav Adani and Sagar Adani are
MD, agro, oil & gas and executive director, Adani Green
Energy, respectively. Asked how he manages such a giant
conglomerate, Adani says, “All our businesses are run by
professional, competent CEOs. I do not interfere in the day-
to-day functioning of the companies. My role is limited to
formulating strategy, capital allocation and performance
review. It’s also why I have the time to not only manage such
a large and diverse organisation but also incubate several new
businesses and look for new opportunities for acquisitions.”
Adani points out proudly that none of the 50-odd as-
sets he has bought in the past seven years, including the
distressed ones, have failed precisely
because of his “committed team”. He
believes in pushing his managers to
take “entrepreneurial” decisions, with
some hand-holding, of course. Execu-
tives are encouraged to take big bets,
and treat wrong decisions as part of
the learning curve. Insiders say he gives
operational freedom to the CEOs and
keeps his focus on broader strategies
and capital allocation. Adani leans on
his gut feeling while making decisions,
prefers simple and logical solutions,
and loathes jargon. He has been in
some life-threatening situations, in-
cluding being trapped in the Taj Mahal
Hotel in Mumbai in 2008 during the
terrorist attack. Adani had to hide in
the basement till they were eliminated. He says, “I am a
positive thinker and do not get worked up in any situation.
When things are not in your control, why worry? Destiny
decides such things. Even on days that have been traumatic,
I sleep peacefully.”
Adani believes this is India’s century and sees the country
becoming a $30 trillion economy by 2050 (it is at $3 trillion
now), because the median age of the population will still be
38–younger than for any other country. Apart from having
a young and aspirational workforce, India will also have the
world’s largest middle class population. That vision seems
to have given him a clear blueprint for the Adani Group’s
journey in the years ahead. He isn’t too fussed about predic-
tions of a global recession in 2023 either, saying, “I am a born
optimist and never lose hope. India will emerge stronger
from this.” It is his never-waste-a-crisis approach and the
extraordinary ability to create enormous value in whatever
he does that has propelled Adani to the pinnacle of Indian
business in just decades. With a large part of that expansive
growth happening in 2022, Gautam Adani is without doubt
india today’s Newsmaker of the Year. n
I N T E R V I E W | G A U TA M A D A N I

“I ALWAYS TELL
MY TEAM—NEVER
WASTE A CRISIS”
Photograph by BANDEEP SINGH
 Then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi
with Gautam Adani at a ‘Vibrant
R OF THE Y Gujarat’ summit in 2011
KE E
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NEWS

INTERVIEW

2022
G A U TA M
ADANI

GAUTAM ADANI, billionaire

industrialist and third richest
man in the world, is India Today’s
Newsmaker of the Year. In a
freewheeling interview with Group
Editorial Director RAJ CHENGAPPA,
he talks about the Adani Group’s
explosive expansion in 2022, future
plans, the many controversies and
even his relationship with Prime
Minister Narendra Modi. Excerpts:

Q.
Looking back at 2022, what makes this
year so special for you?
For me, 2022 was an exceptional year
in so many ways. We had a successful
Adani Wilmar IPO and now it is becom-
ing the seventh listed company in our
group. We have built a business model where we start one
from scratch, make it profitable and then go public. This IPO
was another example of that. We also became India’s second
largest cement manufacturer when we acquired ACC and
Ambuja Cements for around $10.5 billion (Rs 86,787 crore).
It is the largest acquisition we have ever made, and it is also
India’s largest-ever M&A transaction in the infrastructure and
materials space.
Q. Apart from being the richest Indian and the richest Asian,
you are also the world’s third richest person. How does it feel
to be that wealthy? What does money mean to you?
See, these rankings and numbers do not matter to me. They
are only media hype. I am a first-generation entrepreneur
who had to build everything from scratch. I get my thrills
from handling challenges—the bigger they are, the happier
I am. For me, the opportunity and ability to make a differ-
ence in the lives of people and contribute to the growth of
the nation is far more satisfying and important than being
on some wealth ranking or valuation list. I am thankful to
God that he has given me the opportunity to serve the nation
through infrastructure building.
Q. Can you define what makes you happy?
Personally speaking, this was the biggest year of my life. This
year, I celebrated my 60th birthday. The personal milestone
“My role is limited to formulating
strategy, capital allocation and
performance review. It’s why I
have the time to not only manage
such a large organisation but
also incubate new businesses”
apart, my family committed Rs 60,000 crore to the Adani
Foundation to support three social causes close to my heart—
education, healthcare and skill development—which are
foundational for any nation. This has given me immense sat-
isfaction and happiness which no professional achievement
can ever give.
Q. What motivates you in business and life?
As an ordinary man, the courage, strength, resilience and
tenacity of the average Indian are very inspiring and motivat-
ing for me. To share with you, at the 2nd edition of our ‘Green
Talks’ series, I was greatly moved by the stories of Arunima
Sinha and Kiran Kanojia, two extraordinary women who,
unfortunately, lost their limbs but still conquered the world.
Arunima climbed Mt Everest and Kiran, a ‘blade-runner’, is
running marathons. Both are incredible women and the pride
of India. They are the real heroes of naya India. Their stories
moved me to tears. I am truly humbled by their spirit. Could
there be anything more motivating than such courage, valour

32 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
 “The allegations about PM Modi and me
are baseless and suffer from a recency
bias, seeing our group’s success through a
short-term lens. My professional success
isn’t because of any individual leader but
because of the policy and institutional
reforms initiated by several leaders and
governments over three-plus decades”

GETTY IMAGES
and determination in the face of adversity? Seeing their story,
my belief is further reinforced that there is no machine stron-
ger than the human mind. Such stories are the biggest source
of motivation for me.
Q. What is the logic behind the Adani group’s expansion,
whether in building infrastructure or entry into new areas?
I was born in a middle-class family and I lived through the
1970s and ’80s when we had to struggle for bijli, sadak and
paani. That was a time when India had a huge infrastructure
deficit in ports, airports and other areas. In contrast, China,
which also became independent around the same time as
India and had a lower per capita income than India in 1990,
began leapfrogging ahead of us in development. All these
issues instilled a huge desire in me to do whatever I could to
transform India, particularly in infrastructure. Meanwhile,
starting from 1991, policy changes created an enabling envi-
ronment for the entry of the private sector in the infrastructure
space. This is why I am determined to use every opportunity to
build world-class infrastructure and facilities in India.
Q. What is your management style, your mantra for success?
All our businesses are run by professional, competent CEOs.
I do not interfere in the day-to-day functioning of the com-
panies. My role is limited to formulating strategy, capital
allocation and performance review. It’s also why I have the
time to not only manage such a large and diverse organisa-
tion but also incubate several new businesses and look for
new opportunities for acquisitions.
of non-interference that you showed in other group com-
panies follow suit here? How will you ensure its editorial
independence?
On editorial independence, let me say categorically that NDTV
will be a credible, independent, global news network with a
clear lakshman rekha between management and editorial.
You can endlessly debate and interpret each and every word
that I say…as has been done by many…but my fundamental
point is that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. So, please
allow us some time before you start judging us.
Q. Another concern raised by critics is that the Adani Group
is highly overleveraged, that its debt is to the tune of Rs 2 lakh
crore. How do you plan to tackle the debt and repay it?
I am greatly surprised by these conversations around our
debt. We are financially very strong and secure. Such noises
are coming from two sections. The first are people who have
not bothered to do a deep-dive to understand the detailed
nuances of debt and finances of our companies. I am sure if
they make an effort to understand the financial statements,
all the misgivings about debt will disappear. Then there is the
second category of people with vested interests who are delib-
erately creating confusion and misunderstanding to tarnish
the reputation of the group. The fact is that, in the past nine
years, our profits have been growing at twice the rate of our
debt, because of which our debt-to-EBITDA (earnings before
interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) ratio has come
down from 7.6 to 3.2, which is very healthy for a large group
where most of the companies are in the infrastructure space
with assured and predictable cash flow unlike in manufactur-
ing. This is the reason why not just national, but international
rating agencies too have rated us equivalent to India’s sover-
eign rating. It is a matter of great pride for me that no other
business group in India has as many companies as the Adani
Group which have sovereign ratings. It is these fundamental
financial strengths of our group that helped us close the ACC
and Ambuja deal in a record time of just three months.

Q. One of the new acquisitions was the takeover of the Q. There are also concerns that banks, including public sector
NDTV media group. Will the same management principle banks, have huge exposure to Adani debt. How do you respond

JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 33
 R OF THE Y
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INTERVIEW

2022
G A U TA M
ADANI
to such concerns?
Well, people raise concerns without verifying the facts. The
fact is, nine years ago, out of our total debt, 86 per cent was
lending from Indian banks. But now, the exposure of Indian
banks in our total lending is only 32 per cent. Almost 50 per
cent of our borrowings are now through international bonds.
You will appreciate that international investors are very astute
and will subscribe only after due diligence.
Q. How do you respond to critics who say your meteoric rise is
because of your proximity to Prime Minister Narendra Modi?
Prime Minister Modi and I are from the same state. That
makes me an easy target for such baseless allegations. When
I look back at my entrepreneurial journey, I can divide it into
four phases. Many will be surprised to know that it all began
when Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister. He liberalised the
Exim policy and, for the first time, several items were brought
in the OGL (open general licence) list. That is what helped me
to start an export house. But for Rajiv Gandhi, my journey
as an entrepreneur would never have taken off. The second
big push I got was in 1991, when the duo of Narasimha Rao
and Manmohan Singh initiated sweeping economic reforms.
Just like many other entrepreneurs, I too was a beneficiary of
those reforms. The third turning point came in 1995 when
Keshubhai Patel was sworn in as Gujarat chief minister. Until
then, all development in Gujarat was around the NH-8 from
Mumbai to Delhi via cities like Vapi, Ankleshwar, Bharuch,
Silvassa, Vadodara, Surat and Ahmedabad. He was a vision-
AMIT PANCHAL
“NDTV will be an independent,
credible global news network
with a clear lakshman rekha
between management and
editorial...please allow us some
time before you start judging us”
Q. What would you say about Prime Minister Modi’s style of
leadership?
Prime Minister Modi has provided a visionary and inspira-
tional leadership to India, not just by bringing about signifi-
cant policy changes but also through various programmes
and schemes which directly touch the lives of every Indian.
There is hardly any aspect of governance which he has not
touched. He is trying hard to bring transformative changes
not only in the Indian economy but also pushing for social
transformation and inclusive growth. He has through several
innovative schemes and their effective implementation also
given a strong push to the industrial and economic develop-
ment of India. Schemes like Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Digital
India and Start-up India have acted as economic multipliers,
creating endless business and manufacturing opportunities
and millions of direct and indirect jobs. The prime minister’s
equally strong focus on the social sector, agricultural econo-
my and underdeveloped areas of the country with a safety net

ary and focused on coastal development, and it was that policy

change that took me to Mundra and prompted me to build our
first port. The rest, as they say, is history.

Q. Which was the fourth turning point?

The fourth turning point was in 2001, when Gujarat wit-
nessed a massive focus on development under chief minis-
ter Modi. His policies and their implementation went on to
not only change the economic landscape of the state but also
brought about social transformation and development of pre-
viously underdeveloped areas. It also allowed industries and
employment to take off like never before. Today, under his able
leadership, we are seeing a similar resurgence at the national
and international levels, where a new India is asserting itself.
It is unfortunate that such narratives are being pushed to
defame me. As I explained, these allegations are baseless and
suffer from a recency bias, seeing our group’s success through a
short-term lens. My professional success is not because of any (From left) Mountaineer
individual leader but because of the policy and institutional Arunima Sinha, Adani and
reforms initiated by several leaders and governments over a blade runner Kiran Kanojia
long period of more than three decades.

34 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
for the poor has ensured that the growth is inclusive and sus-
tainable. His schemes like Swachh Bharat, Jan Dhan Yojana,
Direct Benefit Transfer and Ayushman Bharat have brought
transformative changes in India.
Q. You have faced a lot of criticism in other areas of your
business, whether in Australia, Sri Lanka or the investments
made in various parts in India…
Gautam Adani is a product of a democratic India. Protests,
criticism and allegations are essential parts of a vibrant
democracy. In fact, they define democracy. I am a firm believ-
er that our democracy has given us economic freedom and
opportunities and we all have benefited from it. Now we can’t
complain and cherry-pick about other aspects of democracy
which have their own functional values within the bound-
ary of the law. We are in the infrastructure sector which is
the most difficult space to work in. I have a very open mind
towards criticism. For me, the message has always been more
important than the messenger. I always introspect and try to
understand the other’s point of view. I am conscious that I am
neither perfect nor am I always right. Every criticism gives
me an opportunity to improve myself.
Q. Despite all the criticism, you have never given up. Is that
part of the Adani culture?
Yes, giving up has never been part of Adani’s culture. Over
the years, the group has developed a strong and professional
team with endless energy and a problem-solving approach.
We are always looking at solutions. Having honed my skills
in such a dynamic democracy like India, me and my group
are confident that we can deliver and do business in any part
“Girls like Arunima
and Kiran—both of
them amputees—
are the real heroes
of naya India. Could
there be anything
more motivating
than such courage,
determination and
valour in the face
of adversity?”
of the world. I have faced adversity and crisis from child-
hood. Each occasion taught me several valuable lessons and
made me stronger. It is why I always tell my team: ‘Never
waste a crisis’.
Q. You are also betting big on green energy, especially solar
and hydrogen. How confident are you that they will become
viable businesses in the near future given the costs of con-
verting, say green hydrogen into fuel, including storing it?
Green energy is very close to my heart and energy transition
is not only a huge business opportunity but also our respon-
sibility to future generations. The government of India has
brought a very attractive production linked incentive (PLI)
scheme which has made the green hydrogen business via-
ble and attractive. In fact, I am very confident that with this
enabling support we will not only meet domestic demand
but soon become a green hydrogen exporter.
Q. First-generation entrepreneurs like Dhirubhai Ambani
faced many difficulties. You are also a first-generation entre-
preneur. Who do you look up to as a mentor?
Dhirubhai Ambani is a source of inspiration for millions of
entrepreneurs in India. He showed us how a humble man
without any backing or resources and against all odds can not
only set up a world-class business group but also leave behind
a legacy. Being a first-generation entrepreneur with humble
beginnings, I am deeply inspired by him.
Q. Looking forward, how do you see India’s economy grow
in the year ahead?
In our 75 years of independence, it took us 58 years to get
to our first trillion dollars of GDP, 12 years to get to the next
trillion and just five years for the third trillion. But now,
if you look at our pace of social and economic reforms, I
see India adding a trillion dollars to its GDP every 12 to 18
months within the next decade. I am very optimistic about
India’s growth and prosperity. This optimism comes from
the fact that in 2050, we will have a young India of 1.6 bil-
lion people with a median age of 38. We will also have the
world’s largest middle-class population. This demographic
dividend combined with the largest middle class will spur
growth and prosperity in India, making it a $30 trillion
economy. So, clearly, this century belongs to India.
Q. Finally, many experts think a global recession is likely in
2023. Are you concerned by such predictions?
I am a born optimist and never lose hope. I recall that many
pundits had painted a similar gloom scenario for India dur-
ing the 2008 global financial crisis. But India was success-
ful in beating the prediction. I am optimistic that the next
Union budget will provide a great opportunity to address
all these concerns. A strong focus on capital expenditure,
employment, social infrastructure and social security will
help ward off the global headwinds of recession. India will
emerge stronger from this. n
JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 35
 NEWSMA
R

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NARENDRA
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MODI
Prime
Minister

DRIVING
FORCE
From leading the government’s effort to make India self-
reliant to being the BJP’s trump card in electoral politics,
Modi was a formidable force to be reckoned with in 2022
By Anilesh S. Mahajan

I
t speaks of a man’s creativity with the self pyramid are feeling left out.
that he continues to make and define news It was this theme that Modi
20 years after he first burst on the national The way touched on in Bali as he ac-
consciousness. Narendra Modi has done this
because he has continued to evolve, both in
Modi cepted India’s presidency of
G20—talking about reori-
his politics and his policymaking. In his prime powered enting globalisation to make
ministerial role, he casts a very wide net—
right from his understanding of local-level
the BJP to it inclusive and participatory.
Even advanced economies fal-
minutiae to global statesmanship. The first landslide tered in their pandemic policy,
aspect allows him to continue being the BJP’s
prime vote-getter and mascot. The way he powered his party to majorities but India saved itself through
some sagacious moves by the
landslide majorities in Uttar Pradesh and his home state Gujarat in UP and Modi regime—focusing on
is perhaps unmatched by any political personality. Yes, there have creating long-term value via
been setbacks too for the party—just this year saw two electoral Gujarat is infrastructure rather than
defeats, in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab—but somehow his perhaps pumping money into the
personal charisma and public stature seem immune to eclipse. economy. On December 25,
But the second aspect is the one that allows him to focus on unmatched in the last episode of his radio
the big picture with maturity and vision. India’s economy remains
among the most robust in the world because of the way he handled
by any show this year, Mann ki Baat,
Modi underscored the reasons
the darkness of Covid-19—a bold budget that committed serious political that made 2022 “wonderful”.
money on infrastructure and public spending lays the foundation
for future growth, and at a time when demand is sluggish and
personality Making India move towards
atmanirbharta (self-reliance)
diminished animal spirits define the private sector. This is while as a mantra for economic re-
seeking to restore market sentiments through the production- vival has started having an
linked incentives (PLI) that he rolled out. The PLI scheme is being effect, with signs of green
extended to sector after sector to help enable backward integra- shoots. This gives him genu-
tion of supply chains. Signals are that 2023, which will see the ine stature across the globe,
last full budget of Modi’s second tenure, will focus on imparting lending a touch of lustre to his
a massive boost to domestic consumption. presidency of G20.
It will not be easy in times when emerging economies the The trade deals he has
world over are suffering, with a K-type recovery being witnessed struck with the UAE and
after the pandemic’s last wave. Populations at the bottom of the Australia similarly go towards

36 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
 NANDAN DAVE
MAKING THE RIGHT WAVES evidence with the Agniveer
scheme—a brave idea whose
time had come. As much as
› India’s economy remains › PM listed the naval › Populations at the
53 per cent of the defence
among the most robust aircraft carrier INS bottom of the pyramid
in the world because of Vikrant as a marker are feeling left out. budget was going towards
the way Modi handled the of the country’s Modi touched on this paying salaries and pen-
darkness of the Covid-19 manufacturing theme as he accepted sions—and capital expendi-
pandemic prowess India’s G20 presidency ture for new equipment and
infrastructure had shrunk
› Signals are that the › The trade deals struck › Progress in the to 27.4 per cent. Seeking to
next Union budget will with the UAE and expansion of capaci- amend this endemic budget-
focus on imparting a Australia go towards ties for capital goods in ary tightness, while creat-
massive boost to adding some vitality to sectors such as space, ing a dynamic, rejuvenated
domestic consumption the global economy drones and defence
force, aligns two virtues.
His efforts faced some
headwinds owing to the
adding some vitality to the global economy at a time when bilat- to national security, one of the Russia-Ukraine war—on
eral amity is not particularly evident anywhere. The neutrality BJP’s pet themes. In his ra- the energy front, the situ-
he manages to bring even on the Ukraine-Russia conflict also dio address, Modi listed the ation is complex globally.
stems from that. The Australia-India Economic Cooperation naval aircraft carrier INS Vi- India too went through a
and Trade Agreement (ECTA), which comes into operation as krant—commissioned in Sep- critical period, with many
the new year rolls in, is aimed at providing duty-free access to tember—as a marker of India’s cities facing blackouts last
Indian exporters from over 6,000 broad sectors—including manufacturing prowess. The summer. This makes his job
textiles, leather, furniture, jewellery and machinery. And the year also saw expansion of in 2023 tougher as he has
Indian-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement capacities for capital goods in to strengthen domestic de-
(CEPA) brought the tariff lines to zero for 99 per cent exports to sectors such as space, drones mand while bolstering the
the emirates. The next year is likely to see movement on similar and defence. The imperative infrastructure to support it.
deals with the European Union, the US and Canada. of meeting India’s defence These are difficult times to
Back on the domestic front, China remains a worry—with needs is thus being creatively master, both in terms of the
the Tawang intrusion being the latest flashpoint—but Modi’s dovetailed with economics. economy and geopolitics.
hand has again striven for conflict resolution rather than ag- His penchant for making bold How he handles the chal-
gravation. This does not in any way reduce the focus accorded reform moves was again in lenges will define 2023. n

JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 37
 NEWSMA

TRIBAL FIRST
R

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MURMU
President
o f In d i a
Droupadi Murmu, India’s first president from the adivasi
community, has avoided political controversy thus far
By Romita Datta

T
he journey from the remote Uparbeda
village in the Mayurbhanj district of
Odisha to Raisina Hill in Delhi had
been long and arduous. As India’s first
president from the tribal community,
Droupadi Murmu summed it all up
in her first address to the nation after
her appointment: “Reaching this of-
fice isn’t my personal achievement but
that of all poor people. My election is
proof... that in India the poor can dream and fulfil their dreams.”
Murmu was working for the adivasis when the BJP’s Raj Kishore
Das saw in her an immense potential that could help the party
grow among tribals. At every level of her career—councillor, MLA
and then cabinet minister of a BJD-BJP government—her prior-
ity was to improve the lot of villagers. When she was governor of
Jharkhand (2015-2021), the BJP government passed amendments
to the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act and the Santhal Parganas
Tenancy Act to facilitate easy transfer of
tribal land for industrial use. If passed,
the laws would have hurt the adivasis.
Murmu returned the bills in June 2017,
Behind the
running the risk of antagonising the choice of
party. Political exigency played a part in Murmu as
the BJP projecting Murmu as president.
Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Ra- president
jasthan go to the polls in 2023; the BJP lay the BJP’s
fared poorly in seats reserved for SCs/
STs in MP and Chhattisgarh in 2018.
waning
Shifting allegiance of tribal voters is ap- influence
parent in Jharkhand too. In Murmu, the amongst
BJP found a pivot to take the tribal nar-
rative forward. She won the presidential tribals
polls handsomely and was sworn in on
July 25. Since she assumed office, the
BJP has tried to use her tribal background to make inroads into
various vanvasi communities. Murmu, on her part, has avoided
political controversy and meets politicians from all parties.
As president, Murmu has spoken about how the poor
face delayed justice due to the high cost of litigation. On
Human Rights Day on December 10, she spoke about the need to
protect all living beings along with their habitat to ensure equal
rights for all. n
AFP

38 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3

CHANDRADEEP KUMAR
HE
OT
REWRITING
has wiped the party out of
the national mindspace.
At the Udaipur Chintan
A LEGACY
Shivir in May, Rahul—in
a veiled attack on those at
the helm during the scam-
riddled UPA-2 era—made
Paving the way for the first non-Gandhi a distinction between
Congress president in over two decades himself and several other
and embarking on an unprecedented Congress leaders, claim-
mass-connect drive on foot...in 2022, ing that he was not afraid
Rahul proved he means business of Modi because he never
indulged in corruption.
By Kaushik Deka It’s a different matter that,
I
a month later, the party
hit the streets protesting
n 2019, when Rahul Gandhi quit as the Congress against the ED for ques-
president, he had lamented he didn’t get enough tioning Rahul and Sonia
support from senior party leaders in the political on allegations of money
battle against Prime Minister Narendra Modi laundering in the Na-
and the BJP. He also made it clear that neither tional Herald case.
he nor the other two Gandhis—mother Sonia Meanwhile, Rahul
and sister Priyanka—would occupy the top party has embarked on a new
post. In 2022, the Gandhi scion proved that he journey—a 3,500-km foot
meant business as the Congress’s ‘first family’ march called Bharat Jodo
paved the way for the election of a non-Gandhi Yatra (BJY) to traverse
party president after over two decades. In the process, Rahul has the country from Kanya-
not only freed himself from organisational responsibilities, but is kumari to Kashmir. This
apparently also seeking to escape the blame for the party’s repeated unique experiment in
electoral debacles. He did not campaign at all during the Himachal post-Independence India
Pradesh assembly polls and addressed only a handful of public ral- is not just an exercise in
lies for two days in Gujarat. mass connect, but a rein-
Instead, Rahul focused on what he has been planning to do for vention of Rahul as a po-
several years—distancing himself from the Congress legacy that litical leader. It’s a mission
JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
NEWSMA
K
ER
RAHUL
S
GANDHI
Congress
leader
3,500
KILOMETRE
The distance to be
covered by Rahul-led
Bharat Jodo Yatra
to showcase that he is a se-
rious, full-time politician,
who can stay in a truck-
mounted container and
walk more than 20 km
every day, braving heat,
rain, cold, dust and ridi-
cule from the opponents
while knowing very well
that immediate electoral
dividends could be next
to nothing. The response
in the virtual world has
been overwhelming. The
party has also been able to
pull crowds, with a decent
dose of intellectuals and
celebrities, in every state
that the BJY has touched.
But the real challenge re-
mains the same—will this
new Rahul be able to win
votes for the Congress? n
INDIA TODAY 39
THE SECOND E
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NEWSMA

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YO G I

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AVATAR

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A D I T YA N AT H
C h i e f M i n i s t e r,
Ut t a r P r a d e s h

Yogi Adityanath becomes UP chief minister for a record second

consecutive term riding on his popularity and governance model
By Prashant Srivastava

I
In March, Yogi Adityanath
reaped the electoral dividends,
arguably, of the ‘Yogi Model’ of
governance. He became chief
minister of Uttar Pradesh for a
record second consecutive term,
creating history. He is also the
first CM in 70 years of UP’s elec-
toral past to complete a full five-

AP
year tenure. And, by the time
Yogi completes his second term,
he will have been the longest-serving CM of the country’s
most populous state. The UP administration has
UP’s zero-tolerance approach to crime has borne fruit.
The state recorded 6.08 lakh total crimes in 2021—7.5 per reinvented the bulldozer. Now,
cent less compared to 2020 (the year of the Covid lockdown it is often used to punish the
and restrictions), according to the latest National Crime
Records Bureau data. Yogi says in the last five years 166
state’s criminals and mafias
‘criminals’ have been killed, 4,453 injured in encounters and
property worth over Rs 4,400 crore has been confiscated.
The state administration has reinvented the bulldozer, similar ordinances. much in demand as a star
often using it to punish the state’s criminals and mafias. The Yogi government’s campaigner during elections,
Yogi, popularly called “Maharajji”, earned a new moniker policies to bring in invest- proof that he is among the
too: “Bulldozer Baba”. During the UP election, he frequently ment has also gained traction most popular leaders of the
referred to the heavy machine that his dispensation de- at the national level. UP has country. His statements, at
ployed to raze the ill-gotten property of criminals. The received investment proposals times controversial, his style
‘Bulldozer model’ now has a following in other BJP-ruled worth more than Rs 1.68 lakh of functioning and his han-
states too like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Assam. crore through Nivesh Sarathi, dling of the law and order in
The same goes for the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlaw- a portal launched by the gov- the state, once dubbed ‘the
ful Conversion of Religious Ordinance, 2020, commonly ernment before the ‘Global crime capital of India’, often
known as the ‘love jihad’ law, with other saffron party-ruled Investors Summit-2023’. hit the headlines, making him
states such as Madhya Pradesh and Haryana preparing Within the BJP, Yogi is a top newsmaker of the year. n

40 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
ANI

Bihar has 40
LS seats and
the combined
political capital
of Nitish and
Tejashwi makes
the challenge
for 2024 an
enormous one
for the BJP

NEWSMA

NEW POWER
ER K
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OT

S
NITISH KUMAR &

EQUATION
T E J A S H W I YA D AV
Bihar Chief Minister
and Deputy CM

Nitish and Tejashwi, the ‘ chacha-bhatija ’ of

Bihar politics, got together again after five BJP-led NDA had won 39 of
years to turn the tables on the BJP the 40 seats. Now the BJP will
have to rejig its Bihar strategy.
By Amitabh Srivastava Over the years, if the RJD had

I
its formidable M-Y (the 16 per
cent Muslim vote and 14 per
t all seemed to be going on expected ish dumped the party to form cent Yadav) social support
lines when lawmakers from Nitish Ku- an alternative government base, Nitish has had a similar
mar’s Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) with the RJD, Congress and cohort of the Extremely Back-
voted for the BJP candidate, Jagdeep four other parties. While the ward Castes (EBCs) and the
Dhankhar, in the vice-president elec- BJP was quick to criticise Nit- Mahadalits behind him. When
tions on August 6. A day later, RJD ish and Tejashwi for their “op- the two parties had joined
leader Tejashwi Yadav, then leader of portunism”, the opposition hands in the 2015 assembly
the opposition in Bihar, was leading camp saw this as a ray of hope polls, they had decimated the
one of his usual protest marches in for anti-BJP politics ahead of BJP. This was just a year after
Patna against the NDA government. the 2024 Lok Sabha election. the BJP had conquered Bihar
But in the next 48 hours, the two leaders scripted the Indeed, Nitish and Tejashwi’s among other states in the 2014
perfect political coup, landing a sledgehammer blow on surprise realignment could Lok Sabha election, when Nit-
a clueless saffron side. As Nitish submitted his resigna- have a bigger impact on the ish and Lalu Prasad Yadav had
tion on August 9, Tejashwi did a turnaround, pledging national political canvas in the contested against each other.
support of his legislators to a new government with the next two years. While the 2024 Lok Sabha
JD(U) chief again as chief minister. Bihar, with its 40 Lok polls are still open-ended, the
Till now, the BJP had been seen as champions of Sabha seats, has always been combined political capital of
“poll victories outside the EVM”, poaching leaders and a high-stakes state for the BJP, Nitish and Tejashwi has made
forming governments even when on the losing side. where it has lost a formidable the challenge for the BJP an
But they got a taste of their own medicine when Nit- friend in 2022. In 2019, the enormous one in Bihar. n

JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 41
 NEWSMA
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K
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OT

S
SHINDE
C h i e f M i n i s t e r,
Ma h a r a s h t r a

CHIEF
DISRUPTOR
From a Thane strongman to CM,
Shinde’s stormy rise over the years
that culminated in a mega coup altered
the course of Maharashtra politics

By Dhaval Kulkarni

BANDEEP SINGH

F
or years, speculation in Ma-
harashtra had been rife: ‘will
he, won’t he?’ Some acolytes of The Shiv Sena is no stranger to
Eknath Sambhaji Shinde said he
had touched the glass ceiling and
revolts, but Shinde’s rebellion was
was looking for greener pastures, a coup of sorts that plunged the
while others said he owed every-
thing to the Shiv Sena and would
party into an existential crisis
never betray it. But when Shinde
quit the party and joined hands with the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) in June 2022, toppling the Maha
Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thac- Narayan Rane, cemented his alist Congress Party, backfired,
keray, he put these conjectures to rest and reaffirmed the reputation in the power corri- making Shinde, then the urban
old cliché: politics is the art of the possible. dors as well as among masses, development minister, a go-to
The Shiv Sena is no stranger to splits, but Shinde’s especially in Thane. person for disgruntled Shiv
rebellion was a watershed as he walked away with 40 Shinde, however, present- Sena leaders. So, when Shinde
of 56 MLAs and 13 of 19 Lok Sabha MPs, fomenting an ed a Catch-22 situation for finally decided to pull the plug
existential crisis for the party. Today, as Uddhav’s ‘Shiv Uddhav, who relied on him for on the MVA, he had the sup-
Sena’ stands sidelined, Shinde heads the ‘Balasaheban- muscle but was wary of mass port of 49 other legislators.
chi Shiv Sena’, which claims the legacy of the late Sena leaders. The Thane strong- Sceptics say that Shinde
supremo Balasaheb Thackeray. man’s vaulting ambitions were was a good number-two but
Hailing from Dare, a village in Satara, Shinde’s fam- no secret either. Uddhav, thus, he may not necessarily be the
ily shifted to Mumbai’s satellite city of Thane when he reportedly refused to appoint right helmsman. Nonetheless,
was in his teens. As a budding politician, he drove a him the deputy CM in the De- for the BJP, his position ticks
rickshaw, launched a labour union, and became a party vendra Fadnavis-led coalition some boxes—he is a strong
shakha pramukh. In 1997, he was elected to the Thane of 2014-19. Within the MVA, Maratha and a leader with a
Municipal Corporation. Shinde’s stormy rise, first under however, Thackeray’s hands- base around Mumbai. As the
the patronage of the charismatic ‘Dharmaveer’ Anand off governance style and inac- straws in the wind suggest, the
Dighe and then by helping shore up the party’s street cessibility, coupled with the BJP, after all, may have bigger
power during its pitched battles with ex-Sena leader big-brother role of the Nation- plans for this rebel chief. n

42 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
 MANN
IN
NEWSMA
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K
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B H A G WA N T

OT

S
MANN

THE
C h i e f M i n i s t e r,
Punjab

MIDDLE
The comedian-turned-politician’s
euphoric win in Punjab polls was a
HARDIK CHHABRA

turning point for not just the state

but the Aam Aadmi Party too
By Anilesh S. Mahajan

T
hese days, along the national
highways in Punjab, the alternat-
ing scenes of lush wheat fields in
the countryside and the hubbub
of towns and cities are frequently
punctuated by life-size billboards
of a tight-faced Bhagwant Mann,
the chief minister. They proudly
declare the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) success in delivering
on its poll promise of providing free electricity. In a head-
turning sweep, Mann stormed into power in Punjab with
92 AAP legislators in March 2022. Perhaps the comedian-
turned-politician’s victory was not entirely without notice—
rivals Congress and the Akali Dal were already engulfed in
their own big crises. Even so, it was a turning point for the
AAP, and a sliver of hope for a state whose struggles had
been ballooning for years.
Mann is the AAP’s second chief minister after par-
ty convenor and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. The party
has sought to position him like Beppe Grillo of Italy, or
Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, both satirists-turned-
politicians. But while Grillo is at pains to take control of
his own party, Zelenskyy is facing one of the worst crises
Europe has seen as he battles Vladimir Putin’s aggression.
In this perhaps the comparisons aren’t entirely incorrect,
with Mann, too, struggling to find a firm footing in Punjab.
Nine months into his chief ministership, Mann is
grappling with poor state finances, lack of control over
his own administration, flak for alleged alcoholism, and
dwindling private investment. The AAP’s commitment to
freebies isn’t helping him either. Pun-
jab has turned from ‘debt-stressed’
to a ‘debt-trapped’ state, and as per
estimates, its debt burden may touch
Rs 3.05 lakh crore by the end of the
current fiscal. In June 2022, the AAP
faced its first jolt as it lost to Simranjit
Singh Mann of the Akali Dal in the
Sangrur bypoll. To many, this seemed
like the first marker of the party’s per-
formance so far. Ironically, with the
AAP trying to expand its nationwide
Mann’s footprint—especially after its impres-
sive performance in Gujarat in De-
biggest cember—Punjab was to be the party’s
challenges laboratory, a national showcase for its
model of governance.
are the When Mann started campaign-
dismal state ing, Punjab had already been battling
finances a menacing drug problem, difficult
bureaucracy, and a hangover of de-
and the fast- cades of radical terror. He fought
eroding hard, promising change to voters who
control over had grown disillusioned with tradi-
tional parties in the state. Now that
his own he is in the hot seat, he may do well to
admini- learn—and soon—that leading a com-
plex border state is no cakewalk, and
stration regaining control of his government is
his only way forward. n

JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 43
 NEWSMA
R
K
HE

ER

GETTY IMAGES
OT

RISHI SUNAK
S

Prime Minister
of Britain

YEH DIL HAI

that, currently at least, mark his sig-
nificance as a distinctive world fig-
ure: A Thatcherite conservative who

ENGLISHSTANI
managed to come off as a mensch as
Chancellor of the Exchequer during
the pandemic, what with his ‘Job Ret-
ention Scheme’, Levelling Up and ‘Eat
out to Help Out’ initiatives. A model
Rishi Sunak made history by becoming the first of bootstraps immigrant meritocracy
Indian-origin PM of the UK, but he now needs to deliver and plummy privilege (Westminster
College, Oxford University, Narayana
By Kai Friese Murthy’s son-in-law, a billionaire, the

D
o you really need to ask? Rishi
Sunak is a newsmaker in India
because he’s a proud kalawa-
sporting desi who now runs
(happy expletive) England! His
appointment as Prime Minister
of His Majesty’s government in
October prompted our majesty
Amitabh Bachchan to quip “Jai Bharat... now the UK finally
has a new viceroy as its Prime Minister from the Mother
Country.” Clumsy, certainly, a bit crude, perhaps, but come
on…it’s what we were all thinking. The Labour peer Paul
Boateng expressed a similar joy from a different perspective:
“Britain has shown the world that you can have a truly multi-
racial democracy and it’s something I’ve fought for all my life.”
And yes, yes, he was born in Southampton to parents
who came from West Punjab by way of East Africa. But the
fact that Rishi Sunak sparks both Indic schadenfreude and
egalitarian joy expresses some of the many contradictions
penthouse in Santa Monica). Similar-
ly, as Britain’s youngest PM since 1812,
Sunak often seems raw and tone-deaf
(his Christmas video asking a home-
less man if he was in business was not
his first brush with cringe-virality) but
Buffeted his heady rise in the hothouse of Brex-
by crises, it and BoJo has demonstrated keen
ambition and a unlikely taste for the
Sunak’s political knife fight. Two months into
popularity his prime ministership (already lon-
is waning, ger than his predecessor) Sunak faces
plummeting popularity among Con-
but India servative party members and lags well
rejoiced behind Labour leader Keir Starmer in
popularity polls. With a chronic cost-
when he of-living crisis, and thorny issues of
took over as immigration, taxation and energy to
British PM deal with, Sunak has yet to prove that
he is more than the sum of his intrigu-
ing contradictions. n

44 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
 NEWSMA
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K
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SUKASH

S
CHANDRASHEKAR
Conman

In the last
15 years,

GETT Y IMAGES
Sukash has
allegedly
defrauded

MASTER a thousand
people of

SWINDLER
at least
`500 crore

In 2022, investigators turned the spotlight on India’s

most notorious conman who duped several top people
By Kaushik Deka

H
e is perhaps the most no- Rs 7 crore between Febru- his occasional guests. He had
torious conman of inde- ary and August 2021 on gifts amenities like a smartphone,
pendent India whose al- meant for actor Jacqueline television and air-conditioner
leged mass skullduggery Fernandez and her family. Su- while other inmates washed
came to light this year. kash says they were in love, but his clothes and utensils. These
Sukash Chandrashekar the actor has denied the claim. facilities came at a price of
has fooled nearly a thou- Around the same time, he around Rs 60-75 lakh every
sand people in the last 15 unsuccessfully tried to woo fortnight, states the Delhi
years to swindle, at least, four other female actors using Police chargesheet. And if
Rs 500 crore. This is based on more than 30 cases his weapon of mass deception: Sukash is to be believed, it’s
lodged in six states—Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tam- the mobile phone. Police offi- not just the jail officials whom
il Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra and Delhi. His biggest cers, who have dealt with him, he bribed. Delhi chief minister
heist came between June 2020 and May 2021 when, add two more skillsets: the art Arvind Kejriwal and his cabi-
sitting inside Delhi’s Rohini jail, he conned the wife of of glib talk and command of net colleague Satyendar Jain
a jailed industrialist, making her pay up over Rs 200 multiple languages, including too have been mentioned as
crore. The modus operandi was his tried-and-tested English, Hindi, Tamil, Kan- beneficiaries in the conman’s
trick—impersonate, over the phone, a senior govern- nada, Telugu and Malayalam. letters to Delhi’s lieutenant
ment official and ask for money in return for a favour. S u k a s h ’s c h a r m a nd governor. The charges, how-
This time, as Union law secretary, he promised bail for money power helped him live ever, have been denied.
the woman’s jailed husband. like a king inside the Rohini As Sukash now awaits a
While investigating the case this year, the police jail. He was allotted an entire long trial, he has declared him-
stumbled on his other passion—showering gifts on female barrack, and enjoyed several self innocent. Not surprising—
film actors. As per an Enforcement Directorate charge- luxuries, including having he has not been convicted in a
sheet, the Bengaluru-born conman spent more than his own BMW car to ferry single case till today. n

JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 45
INNOVATIVE E
R
NEWSMA

K
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DESTRUCTOR

OT
S U RYA K U M A R

S
YA D AV
Cricketer

If bats could speak, Suryakumar Yadav’s willow would have drowned

all other noise. He has pretty much recast batting in white ball cricket
By Amitabh Srivastava

The impact of Surya, however,

goes much beyond numbers.
His preternatural ability has
rubbed off on others. When
Ishan Kishan scored the fast-
est ever ODI double century in
Bangladesh, he was compared
with Surya. In the shortest
possible time, SKY has bec-
ome a benchmark against
which others are measured.
Till now, shorter form-
ats have seen the best of
Surya—punchy uppercuts,
the dramatic crouch to short-
of-length balls pitched on
the off-stump before they’re
dispatched for sixes over fine-
leg, trademark shuffles across
the crease, the fast switching
GETTY IMAGES

of leg positions for inside-out

drives or inside-the-line pulls.
Scoops, sweeps, flicks are ex-

O
ecuted with bat gradients that
demoralise the opposition and
ne can well describe the advent tear apart coaching manuals.
of Suryakumar Yadav and his It now seems unbeliev-
magical ability with the bat as a Suryakumar able that SKY had to warm
starburst illuminating the over-
saturated galaxy of white-ball
has rocked the the bench for long before
making his international de-
cricket. Yet, all of those shots— shorter for- but against England in 2021.
physics-def y ing uppercuts, mats. Scoops, Since then, whenever he is out
scoops and lofted drives—that in the middle, a game is split
leave us goggle-eyed have had a sweeps, flicks in two: when Surya is at the
long gestation: trials and failures are executed crease, swiveling on an axis
totted up and analysed, then refined and honed to perfection.
If the term ‘360 degree batter’ was coined for A.B. de Villiers,
with bat of his own, smashing up the
bowling, making the game
the title now inarguably rests with India’s Suryakumar Yadav, gradients that a compulsively watchable
aka SKY, the conjurer who unlocks gaps on a cricket ground demoralise the thriller, and when he’s at the
that other batsmen cannot dream of. In November, Surya bec- non-striker’s end. This past
ame the world’s number one T20 batter after his exploits at the
opposition year has seen the arrival of a
T20 World Cup, where he scored 239 runs at a strike rate of batting sensation. We breath-
189.68 and an average 59.75—extraordinary for a T20 batsman. lessly await his impact on
Moreover, in a starry batting line-up, SKY is now the mainstay. Test cricket. n

46 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
PURR-FECT
An African cheetah at
the Kuno National Park
in Madhya Pradesh

This first-
of-its-kind
experiment
will be put to
the test once
the cheetahs
are released

S
into the wild
NEWSMA even dec a de s
R after they were
E
K

hunted to ex-
H

ER

EIGHT
OT

AFRICAN tinction in In-

S

C H E E TA H S dia , cheetahs to their new home, corroborated by

Tr a n s l o c a t e d made a come- the successful kills of spotted deer
t o In d i a
back with much and blue bull. With the introduc-
fanfare, as Prime Minister Narendra tion of cheetahs moving as per the
Modi released eight big cats trans- plan so far, doubts surrounding the

BACK
located from Namibia at the Kuno project—which for long faced fierce
National Park in Madhya Pradesh opposition from the conservation
on September 17, which was also his fraternity—are beginning to dispel.

FROM
birthday. The ambitious plan finally
saw the light of day 50 years after
being first conceived. Initially, it in-
volved getting Asiatic cheetahs from
Meanwhile, the MP government
has made big plans to develop the
area as a tourist hub, with tigers
being reintroduced at the Madhav

THE
Iran, which failed to materialise. National Park in the neighbouring
Revived in 2009, the plan suffered Shivpuri district.
another setback in 2012, after the The next key, and the most

BRINK
2022 saw the fastest
land animal making a
return to India 70 years
after it was hunted
to extinction
By Rahul Noronha
Supreme Court stayed this first-of-
its-kind intercontinental carnivore
translocation. The final nod came
in 2020.
After being f lown to India,
the cheetahs—three males (Elton,
Freddy and Obaan) and five fe-
males (Aasha, Sasha, Tbilisi, Siyaya
and Savannah)—were first kept in
a quarantine facility. They have
since been moved to a bigger en-
closure and have acclimatised well
awaited, move is the release of these
cheetahs into the wild, which is ex-
pected within a couple of months.
It will put this unprecedented ex-
periment to the real test, allowing
these fastest land animals to finally
venture towards the park’s periph-
ery, where they risk coming in con-
tact with humans. The next lot of
12 cheetahs—this time from South
Africa—is also expected to arrive at
Kuno by January-end. n

JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 47
 NEWSMA
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K
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OT

SOUTH

S
INDIAN FILM
I N D U S T RY

THE
SOUTH
SURGES
AHEAD
As Bollywood faltered, southern
cinema stepped up to fill the
void, regaling audiences in the SOUTHERN TSUNAMI
Hindi belt...and even in the US (Clockwise from above) Stills
from KGF: Chapter 2, Ponniyin
Selvan, RRR and Kantara
By Suhani Singh

T
he year 2022 saw Hindi cinema, both an engaging action
a.k.a. Bollywood, further lose epic and a riveting politi-
its grip on the masses. Capital- Six of the 10 cal drama with Ponniyin
ising on this lull, the southern highest-grossing Selvan: I—Tamil cinema’s
film industry stepped up to re- biggest blockbuster. Vet-
gale audiences, even those in the
Indian films eran K amal Ha a san,
Hindi belt. At the forefront was of 2022 came too, enjoyed his career’s
Yash-starrer KGF: Chapter 2, the
highest-grossing film of 2022 in
from the South biggest hit with action
drama Vikram, which
India and also the second biggest in the history of Indian cin- also featured Vijay Sethu-
ema. The Kannada actor personified the rage, swagger and pathi and Fahadh Faasil,
machismo that made his Rocky Bhai an icon for the work- dia’s official entry for the two powerhouse perform-
ing class, much like Amitabh Bachchan’s Vijay. Yash’s biggest Best International Film ers gradually expanding
achievement though was putting the relatively smaller Kannada at the Oscars, Rajamouli their fandom beyond the
film industry on the national map. Five months later, Kantara, and his team soldiered on, south. One of Hindi cine-
featuring Rishab Shetty as a rebel protecting his village, became launching an independent ma’s biggest films in 2022,
a nationwide hit, introducing audiences to the captivating buta campaign that resulted in Drishyam 2, was also a re-
kola tradition of coastal Karnataka. ‘Naatu Naatu’ making it make of a Malayalam hit.
Visionary Telugu filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli delivered yet to the shortlist of the Best Instead of resorting to re-
another blockbuster, RRR: Rise Roar Revolt, which—though Song category. makes, perhaps it’s time
not matching the colossal collections of his last film, Baahu- That wasn’t all. Mani Bollywood filmmakers
bali 2—went far beyond in raising his credentials. Ever since Ratnam, one of Indian sought inspiration from
its Hindi-dubbed version released on Netflix, Hollywood has cinema’s most respected their southern colleagues
championed Rajamouli for his ingenious action sequences and f i lm ma ker s, demon- to tell rooted stories with
big-screen cinematic fervour. After RRR failed to become In- strated that he can deliver universal appeal. n

48 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
HOW TO BREAK THE SPEE
FROM GEO-POLITICS TO GREEN ENERGY AND FROM INVESTMENT TO AUTOMOBILES AND CONSUMER GOODS, THE
INDIA TODAY INDO JAPAN CONCLAVE 2022 SET THE AGENDA FOR THE HIGH GROWTH THE TWO NATIONS ASPIRE TO
day before Christmas, India celebrated
A
20 years of its most extensive metro rail
network—the Delhi Metro. Constructed
with Japanese expertise, it has revo-
lutionised urban transport in India.
Indeed, India and Japan share a unique
bonding, marking 70 years of diplomatic
ties in 2022. Yet, whether business or strategic, the overall
performance has been underwhelming. The India Today
Indo Japan Conclave 2022 on December 19 in New Delhi
touched upon several parts of this multi-faceted relation-
ship, and set the agenda for high growth. While delivering
the inaugural keynote address, External Affairs Minister S.
Jaishankar said that Japan and India have a positive history
that will be an asset in future. Japan, he said, is perceived in
India as a model of harmonising modernity and tradition.
“A strong national consensus exists in India on develop-
ing ties with it,” Jaishankar said. Paying tribute to the late
Shinzo Abe, he said that the former Japanese PM gave a
personal touch to India-Japan relations—from trade and
Photographs by RAJWANT RAWAT
culture to a strategic partnership. He added that Japan has
been a catalyst of change—Maruti brought a lifestyle shift
and the Metro an experience of urbanisation. Beginning his
address in Hindi, Hiroshi Suzuki, Ambassador of Japan to
India, said India and Japan have targeted a ¥5 trillion part-
nership in the next five years. Suzuki emphasised his desire
to work closely with India in 2023, as Japan hosts the G7
meeting and India has the presidency of G20. While there
has been an increase in Japanese investments in India, they
still haven’t translated into greater trade. Japanese com-
panies have been working with India on multiple rail and
infrastructure projects like the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet
train. Japanese firms are also collaborating with India on
the construction of roads in the Northeast. India-Japan
strategic ties have also deepened in recent years.
The day-long event witnessed multiple sessions,
ranging from discussions on infrastructure, the green im-
perative to consumer goods and geopolitics in the Indo-Pa-
cific. Stalwarts of both nations from various fields attended
the sessions. n —Pradip R. Sagar
 JAPAN WANTS TO CREATE
A POLICY SYNERGY WITH
LIKE-MINDED NATIONS LIKE
INDIA. IT HAS A TARGET OF 5
Raj Chengappa, Group Editorial Director (Publishing),
TRILLION YEN INVESTMENTS
India Today Group, with External Affairs Minister IN INDIA FOR THE NEXT
S. Jaishankar at the India Today Indo Japan Conclave FIVE YEARS
2022 on December 19 in New Delhi
HIROSHI SUZUKI
Ambassador of Japan to India

D BARRIERS

INDIA AND
JAPAN CAN
STRATEGICALLY,
ECONOMICALLY,
RAISE THE GAME. INDIA NEEDS A MIXTURE OF
THE QUESTION IS NOT ONLY E-VEHICLES, BUT IT
IF JAPAN WILL SEE ALSO NEEDS TO DEVELOP OTHER
INDIA’S GROWTH CARBON NEUTRAL FUELS LIKE
AS A GOAL ETHANOL OR ADOPT HYBRID
S. JAISHANKAR
Minister for External Affairs
TECHNOLOGY
R.C. BHARGAVA
Chairman, Maruti Suzuki
 Sujan R. Chinoy, left, former Indian Ambassador to Japan and Kyoko
Hokugo, Minister, Economic and Development, Embassy of Japan, India
INDIA-JAPAN PARTNERSHIP:
THE GAME CHANGERS
Under PM Modi’s
government, a great
deal has been done
for Japanese com-
panies, like setting
up of a Japan desk.
India needs to learn
from Japan, in their
formidable ability to
skill its workforce to
near perfection. We
should have more
India-Japan insti-
tutes of manufactur-
ing. They have been
training thousands
of Indians in the
Japanese style and
Japanese firms have
invested hugely in
Indian start-ups
SUJAN R. CHINOY
Former Indian
Ambassador to Japan
52 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
Can the consumer pay for
high tech infrastructure? One
“We are focusing on example: we make Lithium
India’s Northeast. We ion batteries, and demand
consider develop- for them for electric two- and
ment of this region to three-wheelers are huge
be geopolitically and
FAISAL ASHRAF
strategically impor- Managing Director,
tant. India and Japan Mitsui & Co. India
share values like
freedom and democ-
racy and we are act-
ing hand in hand.
While India takes
over the G20 presi-
dency, Japan has the
G7 presidency, and
we will cooperate
to make the events
successful. Japan is
an ageing popula-
tion, India is the land
of the young. We can
exchange people”
KYOKO HOKUGO
Minister, Economic &
Development, Embassy (From left) Kanwaljeet Jawa, MD &
of Japan, India CEO, Daikin India, Ajay Sethi, Managing
Partner, ASA Associates, Manabu
Yamazaki, President & CEO, Canon India
 (From left) Faisal Ashraf, MD, Mitsui & Co., India, Aalok Kumar, Chairman, President & CEO, NEC Corporation India, Bharat
Joshi, Chairman, Joshi Konoike Transport and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, Mangal Dev, Director, Hitachi India Pvt Ltd

INFRASTRUCTURE: THE NEW SILVER BULLET?

We are at the same point
of nation-building that
Japan was 40-50 years back;
we can learn a lot from it...
Digital will play a huge role
in India’s future
AALOK KUMAR
Chairman, President & CEO,
NEC Corporation India
Some of India’s finest
infrastructure projects have
involved Japan. The projects
we are delivering both in
public and private sectors
are tremendous
BHARAT JOSHI
Chairman, Joshi Konoike Transport
& Infrastructure Pvt Ltd
India needs to bridge its
infrastructure gap, which
will be a key driver towards
a $5 trillion economy.
Railways are going to play a
very crucial role in this
MANGAL DEV
Director, Hitachi India Pvt Ltd;
Head, Hitachi Rail Systems S. Asia

CONSUMER GOODS: HOW JAPAN CAN BE NO. 1 AGAIN

“The Japanese “There is a market “India’s market has
are passionately out here which con- completely
focused on custom- sumes 80 per cent transformed itself
ers, are cost-con- of what Japan pro- in the past 10
scious and want the duces. There are years. In the com-
product to be high- only about 1,400 ing five years, an
est on innovation. Japanese firms in increase in urban
Japanese DNA India compared to middle or upper
with Indian style 30,000-35,000 in income households
execution can rule China. The potential will further drive
the world” for growth is huge” opportunities”
KANWALJEET JAWA AJAY SETHI MANABU YAMAZAKI
MD and CEO, Managing Partner, President & CEO,
Daikin India ASA Associates Canon India
 (From left) Kanav Monga, MD, Virgo Corporation, Suzuki Takashi, Chief Director General, Jetro India, Mayur
Shah, Head, Business Development, Beyond Next Ventures, Kenta Yoshida, Director, MUFG Bank (MUFG Ganesha
Fund), Toshihiko Kurihara, Chief Representative, Japan Bank for International Cooperation

FINANCE: A YEN FOR JAPANESE INVESTMENTS

With an Japanese Every day India is After Covid,
increase in businesses innovation is dis- home to the more business
India’s per must know rupting indus- third-largest visas need to be
capita income, more about tries in India, investment given for busi-
Japanese firms India and vice creating markets hub for start- ness leaders
will see chances versa. More for Japanese ups. Many of TOSHIHIKO
for make in and human interac- firms them are of KURIHARA
for India tion can help MAYUR SHAH good quality Chief
Head, Business Representative,
KANAV MONGA SUZUKI TAKASHI KENTA YOSHIDA
Development, Japan Bank for
MD, Virgo Chief Director Director,
Beyond Next International
Corporation General, MUFG Bank
Ventures Cooperation
Jetro India

AUTO INDUSTRY: REVVING UP

FOR THE CHALLENGE

“Auto component manufacturers like

us are adaptive. During Covid we first
started supplying to customers globally.
Indian partners bring resources, meth-
ods; Japanese bring technology
and experience”
SHRADHA SURI MARWAH
CMD, Subros Ltd

“India is all set to look outward. With local

manufacturing, standard regulation and
policies and a global market, India will be
able to cater to a worldwide demand”
PRASHANT K. BANERJEE
Executive Director, SIAM
 Moderator M.G.
Arun with Maruti
Suzuki Chairman
R.C. Bhargava
(right)

AUTO INDUSTRY: A FIRESIDE CHAT

“Indians think differently from the
Japanese, so at Maruti, our main task
was to work out strategy. We changed
the way of work between manage-
ment and workers. In Japan they work
together. Cooperative partnership
between labour and management is a
must. We have learnt this from Japan”
“When we started, pricing was very
competitive. Over the last few years,
because of regulatory changes, cost
of cars has been going up. The impact
of these changes has been higher in
terms of percentage on smaller cars
than on bigger ones, because the cost
of change is the same”

R.C. BHARGAVA
Chairman, Maruti Suzuki

In our 25 years of partnership we have

delivered over 20 million vehicles. We
work on the philosophy of quality,
durability and reliability.
Ever since 2015, our commitment in
Toyota is towards zero carbon
manufacturing by 2035
VIKRAM GULATI
Country Head & Executive Vice President, Corporate
Affairs & Governance, Toyota Kirloskar Motor

The government must have technology-

agnostic policies. If a diesel engine is clean
at the tail pipe, it will have tax benefits. The
word ‘hybrid’ has been misused. Transition
doesn’t have to be direct. It can be through
whatever technology the company
(From left) Shradha Suri Marwah, CMD, Subros Ltd, Prashant K.
Banerjee, Executive Director, SIAM, Vikram Gulati, Country Head,
is comfortable with
Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Yogendra Pratap, Editor, Auto Today YOGENDRA PRATAP
Editor, Auto Today
 (From left) Moderator Siddharth Zarabi, Ajay Mathur, Director General, International Solar Alliance, Kapil Maheshwari,
President, Renewable Energy Development, Reliance Industries, Vikram Kapur, Chief Growth Officer, ReNew Power, Shuichi
Ito, MD, Toshiba India Pvt Ltd, Bharart Salhotra, Co-founder & President, Insightzz

ENERGY: THE GREEN IMPERATIVE

“In future, we “With more “An India- “Cost is an “We talk about
are looking at industries Japan important 10 buses on
technology in aiming to combine can factor in hydrogen.
which Japan decarbonise, make India hydrogen It should be
is a front- green hydrogen a significant technologies. 10,000. This
runner, par- could be the exporter of This is being is where India
ticularly green main enabler ” green manu- discussed and Japan can
hydrogen” KAPIL factured everywhere, collaborate”
AJAY MATHUR MAHESHWARI products” including in BHARAT
Director General, President, VIKRAM KAPUR Japan” SALHOTRA
International Renewable Energy Chief Growth SHUICHI ITO Co-founder
Solar Alliance Development, Officer, MD, Toshiba India & President,
Reliance ReNew Power Pvt Ltd Insightzz

MERA
JOOTA HAI
JAPANI,
PHIR BHI
DIL HAI
HINDUSTANI:
A SHARED
CULTURAL
BOND

54 INDIA TODAY NOV E M BE R 2 1 , 2 02 2

(From left) Admiral Arun Prakash, former Chief of Naval Staff, Kanwal Sibal, former Foreign Secretary,
Vijay Chauthaiwale, In-charge, Department of Foreign Affairs, BJP

GEOPOLITICS: INDO-PACIFIC, THE NEW GREAT GAME

In the face of The Belt and Road With the existing world order
China’s hegemonic Initiative (BRI) is a being challenged by the rise of
ambition in the Indo- vehicle for China to China, better India-Japan ties
Pacific, Japan can gain greater global become important
take advantage of the influence. India and VIJAY CHAUTHAIWALE
Indian Navy’s domi- Japan need to work In-charge, Dept of Foreign Affairs, BJP
nance in the Indian together with partners
Ocean Region to counter China’s
ADMIRAL ARUN global power
PRAKASH KANWAL SIBAL
Former Chief of Former Foreign
Naval Staff Secretary

“Whenever I try to “I was captivated

embrace another culture by Odissi dance
or meet a musician from due to its
a different tradition, I try beauty and
to look for the differences grace. Learning
first. When I collaborate dance is a long
with another musician I journey because
tell them, ‘retain who you it has so
are and I will retain who much depth.
I am’. Let’s unite with our I still consider
differences, then what we myself a student”
create will be something KAORI NAKA
unique and very different” Odissi dancer
PANDIT GAURAV MAZUMDAR from Japan
Sitar exponent, composer and
Grammy nominee
INDUS CIVILISATION: NARMADA DAM: AFTER
A PEOPLE’S HISTORY THE FLOOD
PG 62 PG 63

RONGOMALA: Q&A WITH

FEMME FATALE ANURADHA ROY
PG 64 PG 68

BOOKS

A NEW
LEAF
Writers ring out the year
with their selections
of the best books they
read in 2022

JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 59
Illustrations by NILANJAN DAS
LEISURE
Their Back
PAGES
Arunava Sinha
translates fiction, non-fiction and
poetry from Bengali to English.
His latest translation is Dear
Reader: A Memoir, by Sankar.
H
ardcore politi-
cal allegory? A
feminist
fable? Magical
realism? A love
story? None/all of the above?
K.R. Meera’s Qabar (pub-
lished by Eka), translated
from the Malayalam by Nisha
Susan, was impossible to pin
down, which made reading it
a magical as well as disturb-
ing experience. What more
can you ask for from a novel?
No matter what the
theme of his fiction is, Jerry
Pinto as novelist does life
and Mumbai—not always
in that order—in a way that
plays with every sensation
and feeling that you thought
you had under control. The
Education of Yuri (Speaking
Tiger) was no exception.
Small things like these
novels, one of them titled
Small Things Like These
(Grove Press), remind us
that you don’t need to write
a doorstopper to tell a big,
big story that will draw you
in with its characters and
sense of place or time. Claire
Keegan’s novel needs just over
60 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
an hour to read, and stays
with you for a long, long time.
Amitabha Bagchi writes
his fiction in English and
candidly acknowledges being
inspired by the greats of Hin-
dustani writing. His novels
carry the unmistakable
strains of that music. Which
is why his labour of love,
the translations of Munir
Niazi’s ghazals into English, 1.
LOST
published as Lost Paradise:
PARADISE: 3
Selected Ghazals (Jugger- SELECTED
naut), is such a pleasure to GHAZALS
savour. by Munir Niazi;
One of the joys of being translated by
fanatical about a musician is Amitabha Bagchi
imagining the circumstances
in which their best songs
were written. When the mu-
sician in question is Leonard
Cohen, it’s necessary to
imagine the backstory of
every song of his. Leonard
Cohen: On a Wire (Drawn
2. 3. QABAR
& Quarterly), drawn and LEONARD by K.R Meera; trans-
written by Philippe Girard in COHEN: ON A lated by Nisha Susan
French and translated into WIRE 4
4. SMALL THINGS
English by Helge Dascher by Philippe LIKE THESE
and Karen Houle, does just Girard; trans- by Claire Keegan
that in a wonderful graphic lated by Helge
5. THE EDUCATION
Dascher and
novel format. I read it as OF YURI
Karen Houle
slowly as Cohen sang. n by Jerry Pinto
5
 Wendy Doniger
is a noted scholar of Hinduism
and mythology. Her memoir,
An American Girl in In-
dia, was published in 2022
R
esisting the tempta-
tion to include my
own books among
the favourites pub-
lished in 2022, I immediately
thought of three other books
that I loved, quite different
from one another.
The first is Jennifer
Homans’ Mr. B: George
Balanchine’s 20th Century
(Penguin Random House),
about the great ballet-master
and choreographer of the
New York City Ballet, who was
Homans’ teacher (and, long
ago, mine). Homans hauntingly
and in almost novelistic detail
re-evokes the people and the
ideas of the Russian world in
which Balanchine grew up,
and the European and Ameri-
can worlds of music and ballet
that he changed forever.
The second is Lorraine
Daston’s Rules: A Short
History of What We Live By
(Princeton University Press).
Daston manages brilliantly,
T
he world of Indian writ-
ing in English is a happy
one. Why shouldn’t it
be? There is no one to
call the bluff, no one to say how
awful or good it is, or why it is
Arvind
awful or good. Thus, a few hun-
Krishna dred more books pour down the
Mehrotra drain of forgetfulness in which
A poet,
slim books, especially slim first
translator and
books, are easier to forget than
critic, he edited fat ones. Avinab Datta-Areng’s
The Book
Annus Horribilis (Penguin
of Indian
Random House India) is only
Essays (2020)
76 pages, but written, mostly, in
big slabs of verse. Each sentence
ignites the next one, and when
you look up from the page, “Two
men go past the gate carrying / a
cling-wrapped carving of Jesus.”
When did we last see something
as momentous as Annus Horribi-
1
often with humour and wit,
to balance fascinating, often
arcane details from many dif-
ferent worlds—from the Rule of 3
Saint Benedict to the worlds of
fashion and spelling and law—
with important, grand conclu-
sions that will be debated for
some time to come.
The third is Indian Christ-
mas: Essays, Memories,
Hymns (Speaking Tiger), edited 2
by Jerry Pinto and Madhulika
1.
Liddle. I was astonished and
INDIAN CHRIST-
delighted to discover how
MAS: ESSAYS,
many of the Indian authors I
MEMORIES, HYMNS
thought I knew (and others I edited by Jerry Pinto
had never yet encountered) and Madhulika Liddle
had in fact written, unbe-
2.
knownst to me, fascinating
MR. B: GEORGE
stories, essays and poems
BALANCHINE’S
about Christmas. From a poem
20TH CENTURY
by Rabindranath Tagore to a
by Jennifer Homans
memoir by Damodar Mauzo,
these 27 writings reveal an 3.
astonishing range of thought- RULES: A SHORT
ful responses to Christmas— HISTORY OF WHAT
WE LIVE BY
some satirical, many pious—by
by Lorraine Daston
fine Indian writers. n
lis? For this we have to go back to
Arun Kolatkar’s Jejuri (1976), or
Eunice de Souza’s Fix (1979), or
Agha Shahid Ali’s The Half-Inch
Himalayas (1987).
In Vineet Gill’s Here and
3
Hereafter (Penguin Random
2
House India), we witness the 2.
birth of literary criticism in India, HERE AND
HEREAFTER
a work that can be read for its
by Vineet Gill
own sake as much as for what
it tells us about Nirmal Verma, 3.
the subject of the book. And then THE SWEET
there is the unclassifiable The SALT OF TAMIL
1.
Sweet Salt of Tamil (Navayana by Tho
ANNUS Paramasivan;
Publishing) by Tho Paramasivan,
HORRIBILIS translated by
translated by V. Ramnarayan, by Avinab V. Ramnarayan
which sold 50,000 copies in Tam- Datta-Areng
il. Would it sell 5,000 in English?
And why hasn’t anyone written
a book called The Sweet Salt of
Punjabi, my mother tongue? n
JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3 INDIA TODAY 61

A People’s
History
The People of the Indus tries to imagine what life in the
ancient civilisation would’ve been like, without playing
into the contemporary debate over the ‘Aryan problem’
D
eep into The People of
the Indus, a kurta-pyja-
ma-clad, bespectacled
narrator laments: “If
only we could read their
script, the world of the
Indus people would open up before us
and their names, their titles and their
gods would come tumbling out.” By this
point in the book’s journey, the “if only”
sentiment is shared by both author and
reader alike about a civilisation that
every Indian student reads about in
school textbooks. Tragically, for all of
us concerned, the Indus script bears no
resemblance to any other known script,
making it particularly indecipher-
able, and thus, keeping the civilisa-
tion’s myths, legends, and the ways the
Harappans once perceived the world, a
giant mystery.
Through detailed black-and-white
drawings, The People of the Indus,
written by Nikhil Gulati with inputs
from Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, one of
the world’s leading experts on the Indus
Valley civilisation, unravels the various
facets of the land on which the Harap-
pans built their lives for nearly 700 years. class. The extraordinary
With deftness, the authors have packed
hundreds of years of research on the ci-
Gulati illustrates in the book using
Dholavira as an example, only cements
this point.
The book also places the Indus
Civilisation in the context of contempo-
rary India, where it is often enmeshed
with the debate over the ‘A ryan prob-
lem’, a subject that has been politically
divisive in India. While one camp be-
lieves in the foreign origins of Sanskrit
and Vedic culture, the other insists on
THE PEOPLE
OF THE INDUS
their local origins. Linked to this is the
by Nikhil Gulati with question of whether the river Ghaggar
Jonathan Mark and the river Saraswati (mentioned in
Kenoyer the Rig Veda) were one and the same.
PENGUIN RANDOM
HOUSE INDIA The book carefully lays out facts that
` 599; 192 even if they were the same, it would not
pages mean that the Indus Civilisation was
Vedic, as many would like to believe.
Further, there is the question of the
civilisation’s eventual demise, about
which there is still less clarity. The au-
thors launch into a very illuminating dis-
cussion over the possible reasons for the
decline of the civilisation, including the
drying up of the Ghaggar in 1900 BCE.
vilisation into 192 pages, with Gulati us- This led to the slow fragmentation of set-
ing a fictionalised story of a family at the tlements as people migrated away from
beginning of every chapter to get readers the region. Later, research suggested
to imagine what life may have looked that the civilisation was part of a larger
like 5,000 years ago. cultural milieu that survived its demise
Though South Asia wasn’t the first and that it fragmented and fanned out to
to ‘civilise’, the Indus Valley civilisation different parts of India. As Gulati writes,
in many ways was markedly different the environmental and social upheaval
from the civilisations that sprang up in that happened around 1900 BCE caused
Egypt and Mesopotamia. With a simple a major cultural churn during which old
question—why the Harappans never and new, foreign and local combined to
built pyramids—the authors launch into give birth to new ideologies that were
a thought-provoking discussion over truly unique to this part of the world.
the fundamentals of the Indus Valley “Hence, the question of ‘origins’ seems
civilisation, which exhib- moot to me,” says the nar-
ited decentralised power, rator. The book leaves us
absence of large-scale with a chance to agree with
warfare and the building Gulati on this point. Doesn’t
of monumental cities. history dished out to us
It leaves even the in a thought-provoking
more discerning reader visual format allow us the
with new information to opportunity to take away
ponder over and pushes With deftness, important lessons from the
one to ruminate over the the authors pack Harappans of their ingenu-
core values on which the ity, values, and unity? All of
civilisation was built, the
years of which is beautifully illus-
key being service to all in- research into a trated in this book. Perhaps
habitants irrespective of few hundred squabbling over the origin
pages story then, in fact, is a moot
focus on providing clean point. n
water to everyone, which Sowmiya Ashok
LEISURE

ithout doubt, the spoke to my bones was Sher-Gil’s B O O K M A R K S

W most moving read of passion and her assertion of a

my year was The Line
of Mercy: A Novel
(HarperCollins India) by Tarun
J. Tejpal. It is such a beautifully
over-the-top product of sagesse,
swag, wryness and chuckle. The
media stonewalling of one of the
most polyphonic “India books”
ever to come out is emblematic of
the poverty and herd-mentality
that marks intellectual life in India
today. The loss is ours. The book
has a date with history.
I was, until this year, not able
to afford the luxury that is the
two-volume compendium Amrita
Sher-Gil (Tulika Books), edited by
Vivan Sundaram. What emerges
through the letters, photos and art
is a playful, peppery young woman
with the confidence to laugh at
convention, who lived and worked
in an epoch of giants and held her
own. The tragedy and unfulfilled
potential is known. But what
Strokes
globe-straddling Indianness of AMRITA SHER-GIL
persona and artistic themes. Edited by
A revelation and delight was a Vivan Sundaram
ginormous graphic novel chanced
upon at Blossom Book Store, Ban-
galore. The Osamu Tezuka Story :
of Genius
A Life in Manga and Anime (Stone
Bridge Press) by Toshio Ban is as
much a history of Japan as it is a
history of the art form Tezuka was
such an iconic practitioner of.
Also recommended is Dream-
ing with His Eyes Open: A Life of
Diego Rivera (Alfred A. Knopf) by Amruta Patil
is a painter and
Patrick Marnham. The times, the
author of four
politics, the crossings and love
graphic novels,
affairs between (well and badly-
including Aran-
matched) luminaries, the luscious THE
yaka (2019). She
work that came out of it all… OSAMU
is currently work-
On its way to me right now ing on her fifth! THE LINE TEZUKA
is Vikramajit Ram’s Mansur (Pan OF MERCY: STORY
Macmillan), a novel based on A NOVEL by Toshio
Jehangir’s favourite court painter, by Tarun Ban
the man responsible for the earli- J. Tejpal
est colour depiction of the Dodo. n

After
says in her eloquent foreword, as his command over the me-
the river has today been dium. He tells a complex story
reduced to a mere trickle. with wonderful economy. The

the
Sen writes in his introduc- drawings are dense and detailed
tion that he was “beset by but not at the expense of nar-
doubts” about presenting a rative flow. Overlapping scenes

Flood new generation of readers

In this deeply moving
retelling, artist Orijit Sen
RIVER OF traces the controversial
STORIES history of the Narmada
Illustrations and dam project
text: Orijit Sen
BLAFT hough the book was
PUBLICATIONS
`795; 78 pages T delivered to me for
review as a PDF ver-
sion, I ran right out and
bought a physical copy. It’s that
kind of book—it needs to be held in
the hands, smelled, listened to.
This slender hardback is a
reprint, produced with care on the
25th anniversary of its first edition.
It has been called a graphic novel,
but “allegorical documentary”
might be a more appropriate term.
It tells the story of a movement, a
river, a giant dam and a nation in
conflict with itself. In the book, the
river is the Rewa. In the real world,
the river is—or was—the Narmada.
As author-activist Arundhati Roy
with the story of what might
be considered a failed move-
ment against the building of a
dam. But Paul Gravett, comics
historian and curator, in a
second foreword reminds us
that the “images and words in a
printed comic, however, do not
go away”, that “these stories,
these voices, these ideas,
these questions persist—and
they resist, and they insist.”
The book begins with
Vishnu, a young journalist who
sets out on his first assignment
to cover a people’s movement
against the building of a dam.
Before he leaves home, how-
ever, he interviews Relku, an
Adivasi woman. She tells him of
the brutality with which forest
dwellers are forced off their
ancestral lands. Her narrative
provides a platform for the
character of Malgu Gayan, the
singer-storyteller whose voice
is woven into the book.
Sen’s artwork is as superb
are intercut with a film director’s
sense of style and drama. The
rich palette of character “types”
avoids caricatures in prefer-
ence for well-observed quirks of
expression and costume.
But let us not forget that
this is a tale of outrageous
tragedy, told through pictures.
The violence perpetrated by one
group over another in the name
of progress matches the colonial
era. Sen’s greatest achievement,
in my opinion, is his willingness to
let the tragedy dominate, rather
than the rage. Unlike other great
artist-memorialists such as
Joe Sacco and Art Spiegelman,
whose images are terrifying, Sen
channels a wry, philosophical
sadness. Like Malgu Gayan, he
sings instead of screaming. He
reminds us of that older India,
of the friendly people, of the
teeming forests and rivers. And
he invites us to dream of a better
future than the sad, polluted
travesty we have today. n
Manjula Padmanabhan
 LEISURE

Femme
gratification and plea-
sure. Wrapped as he is in
a bubble of entitlement
and self-supremacy, the
act of hubris for a member
of her caste.
Based on Chowdhury’s
Lorai (Chowdhury’s

Fatale
zamindar cares, or sees,
little of the impending
threats to his kingdom,
both from foreign might
and family coups.
While Chowdhury oc-
Men drive the events of Shaheen cupies the seat of author-
Akhtar’s novel, but the women who ity, political and domes-
orbit them are its true heroes tic, it is the women who
orbit him that Akhtar
brings forward as pri-
mary voices. The central
ones are those of Phulesh-
wari, the once child-bride
whose family fortunes
and social station made
her an ideal match, but
who now lives in the
shadow of another, and
of the titular Rongomala,
Chowdhury’s low-born
mistress, with whom he
is singularly obsessed.
Whereas the infantile
Phuleshwari remains
in arrested develop-
ment, Rongomala is a
charismatic nautch girl
of peerless beauty and
confidence, who attains
BELOVED RONGOMALA dizzying heights of privi-
by Shaheen Akhtar; translated by lege as the king’s favoured
Shabnam Nadiya
EKA (WESTLAND) one. Her mistake was in
`499; 294 pages reaching for some sem-
blance of a legacy, in the
form of a lake dug in her
Battle), a local legend now
shared through the in-
digenous music tradition
called pala gaan and rei-
magined by Akhtar with
the women at its heart
instead of the zamindar,
the plot takes off with the
decapitation of Rongo-
mala, launching the reader
into this complex web of
family politics, conspiracy,
desire, and treachery.
Underlying it all is the
quest for power—that of
weak men wanting to keep
and assert dominance over
entrapped women seek-
ing a better hand. Each
of their histories echoes
the unsurprising, oft-told
struggle of women vying
for legitimacy in a man’s
world, using whatever
currency they are able to
harness—beauty or piety,
gossip or wile.
Much as she did in
Talaash, her second novel,
about rape survivors of
the Bangladesh Liberation
War in 1971—for which
she won the 3rd Asian Lit-
erary Award—Akhtar suc-
ceeds in bringing to light
the untold stories of those

W
ho could resist a
saga that begins
with a drunken
zamindar king,
a fearsome and
loyal hench-
man, and the
severed head of a beautiful
courtesan? With a startling
opening scene, full of high
drama, Beloved Rongomala
(originally Shokhi Rongo-
mala), written by award-
winning Bangladeshi author
Shaheen Akhtar and trans-
name—an unthinkable
lated by writer Shabnam
Nadiya, draws readers into a
gripping and heart-rending
tale that explores the gender,
class and caste struggles of
18th-century Bengal.
Set in the years of the
British East India Com-
pany’s burgeoning influence,
the historical novel revolves
around the household of
Raj Chandra Chowdhury, a
self-absorbed feudal lord of
minor import, who spends
his days in the pursuit of
left silenced by patriarchy,
not as casualties of gender
wars but as heroines of
their own epics.
The expansive nar-
ratives partner with
evocative imagery of the
rural East, the lilting style
of fireside folk tales, and
deep cultural nuances ex-
AKHTAR’S pertly rendered in Nadiya’s
BOOK BRINGS translation to create a
TO LIGHT compelling book that de-
THE STORIES livers a well-known story
OF THOSE in a refreshing way. n
SILENCED BY Ishani Nandi
PATRIARCHY

64 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
 ens Erik, an ex-
J policeman, is an
unlikely hero. To
his daughter, he
is embarrassingly racist. To
his former colleagues he is a
Luddite. His mind keeps re-
turning to the body of a Black
man recovered from the sea
some years previously. Harris
Malouf is an unlikely villain,
a killer now leading a quiet
life tending to his garden and
an assortment of swans.
The Body By the Shore
is a tale of redemption and
damnation; but if the good
guys win and the bad guys
lose, who is which? And to
what degree? Knowledge
in the hands of the ‘wrong’
people can be destructive,
but who decides that? Larger
questions come accompa-
nied by smaller ones—do we
have a responsibility to keep
ourselves informed?
When the characters all
come together at an oil rig
in the North Sea, now an
unlikely resort and place of
dark secrets, heroism and vil-
s a translator, I’m very
A picky when it comes to
reading translations.
The key to success is to
pay attention to who your translator
is. Once you find the one you love,
hunt down more titles by the same
translator, because you are bound
to find more great books in the pro-
cess. My list of five great reads from
2022 are all translations, all brought
to English by highly skilled fellow-
translators.
People from Bloomington (Pen-
guin Random House), by Budi Darma,
was translated from Indonesian by
Tiffany Tsao. This is a classic Indo-
nesian collection and the English
version is flawless. Darma writes
about his time in Bloomington, In-
diana, USA, from a fascinating and
quirky perspective invoking the
bland Midwestern landscape to
a tee. Rouge Street (Metropolitan
Books) by Shuang Xuetao was trans-
lated from Chinese by Jeremy Tiang.
This translation is, in the words of
the K-pop band BTS, smooth like
butter. The three novellas are set
in Shenyang, China, known as the
lainy overlap. Scientists as
The killers, killers as saviours,
Good, the bad guys arriving in time
to save another set of bad
Bad and guys, human guinea pigs
robbed of their human-
the Ugly ity—all remind us that the
masks we wear may be
Heroism and temporary; the faces we
villainy overlap as sport change with need.
all characters come In a book like this, that
together in Tabish is science fiction, murder
Khair’s tale of mystery, spy thriller, cop
redemption and story, political drama and
damnation love story set in the near fu-
ture, the chances of any one
of the genres upsetting the
overall balance are great.
Especially since the stories
are narrated in different
voices and remain separate
for long. What keeps the
balance intact is the ten-
sion. Tabish Khair piques
the reader’s curiosity, and
that’s the magic formula.
THE BODY BY He performs a literary
THE SHORE juggling act with great skill
By Tabish Khair and much enjoyment.
HARPERCOLLINS
PUBLISHERS INDIA The mixture works
because Khair writes with
`399, 322 pages
intelligence and assumes
Rust Belt of China. Bleak, macabre T H E B E S T
and even fantastical, this book is a
page-turner.
Two novels on my list, Violets Lost In
(Feminist Press), by Kyung-Shook
Shin, translated from Korean by An- Translations
ton Hur, and All the Lovers in the Night
By Daisy Rockwell
(Kodansha) by Mieko Kawakami,
translated from Japanese by Sam
Bett and David Boyd, belong to a
genre I didn’t previously realise ex-
isted: contemporary tales of alienat-
ed urban Asian women. Both novels
push the theme of female urban iso-
lation to the brink of absolute despair.
The writing is beautiful and spare, Daisy
and incidentally, all three talented
Rockwell
translators were shortlisted for the is a painter
International Booker Prize in 2022.
and translator
Finally, I am still reading and lov-
of Urdu and
ing Beloved Rongomala (Eka, West-
Hindi literature,
land), by Shaheen Akhtar, translated
notably
from Bangla by Shabnam Nadiya.
Geetanjali
The novel is set in 18th-century
Bengal and revolves around the au- Shree’s 2022
dacious mistress of a minor king, Booker-
Rongomala, who demands that a winning Tomb
lake be created in her honour. Nadi- of Sand
ya’s delicious translation brings the
poetry of the novel to life in English. n
the reader’s intelligence
too. Even the irritants—
some over-explained
passages, for example—do
not cause annoyance
because of this. With so
many varied characters,
the chances of some being
mere stick figures are great
too. The author seems
aware of this and gives us
convincing backstories that
drive everything towards
that oil rig with patent
inevitability. The past,
present and future come
together in a neat package;
where scientists push the
boundaries of the possible,
there are always ruthless
organisations waiting to
take advantage.
Khair, a poet of repute
and a writer of gentle,
flowing sentences, gives
us a scary post-pandemic
world. We can change, but
only if we make the effort,
as Jens Erik does. We must
cling to our discomforts
for that. n
Suresh Menon
O F 2 0 2 2
1
2
4
3
5
1. PEOPLE FROM BLOOMINGTON,
by Budi Darma, translated from
Indonesian by Tiffany Tsao
2. ROUGE STREET,
by Shuang Xuetao, translated from
Chinese by Jeremy Tiang
3. VIOLETS, by Kyung-Shook Shin,
translated from Korean by Anton Hur
4. ALL THE LOVERS IN THE
NIGHT, by Mieko Kawakami, trans-
lated from Japanese by Sam Bett
and David Boyd
5. BELOVED RONGOMALA, by
Shaheen Akhtar, translated from
Bangla by Shabnam Nadiya
LEISURE
2022 BOOKS
IN REVIEW
S
outh Asian fiction
made a big splash
at international
awards this year—
scooping up two Bookers and
a raft of praise. Sri Lanka’s
Shehan Karunatilaka won fic-
tion’s top prize for The Seven
Moons of Maali Almeida, a
black comedy set in the after-
life, while Geetanjali Shree
won the International Booker
for her Partition-themed
Hindi novel Tomb of Sand.
However, Shree, who was
also shortlisted for India’s
top honour—the Rs 25 lakh
JCB Prize—lost to Urdu writer
Khaled Jawed. His winning
novel, The Paradise of Food,
tracked a Muslim middle-class
family over half a century
and was hailed by the jury
as a “modern fable” and “fine
artistic achievement”. It was
the third year in a row that
the prize went to a translated
work—the shortlist consisted
entirely of translations.
Tumult beset the Indian
literary firmament early in the
year. In February, Westland,
among India’s most-respected
publishers, was shut down,
following a decision from its
owner Amazon. It had pub-
lished popular fiction writers
(Amish Tripathi, Anuja Chau-
han), literary stars (Perumal
Murugan) and respected
journalists (Josy Joseph). But
in April, Westland announced
a return in partnership with
Pratilipi, an Indian digital
storytelling platform.
Indian non-fiction con-
tinued to go from strength
to strength. Notable works
included journalist Mansi
Choksi’s reportage on love
and marriage in India (The
Newlyweds), doctor-profes-
66 INDIA TODAY JA N UA RY 9, 2 02 3
REBELS
AGAINST THE
RAJ: Western
Fighters for
India’s Freedom
It was a tumultuous year in by Ramachandra
Indian publishing but readers Guha
were spoilt for choice
THE LAST THE CANDY TRUE TO LESS IS THE NEWLY-
HEROES HOUSE THEIR SALT LOST WEDS
by P. Sainath by Jennifer by Ravindra by Andrew by Mansi
Egan Rathee Sean Greer Choksi
WRITER, THE THE SEVEN THE SONG TOMB OF
REBEL, PARADISE MOONS OF OF THE CELL SAND
SOLDIER, OF FOOD MAALI by Siddhartha by Geetanjali
LOVER by Khalid ALMEIDA Mukherjee Shree
by Akshaya Jawed by Shehan
Mukul Karunatilaka
sor Siddhartha Mukherjee’s remarkable Writer, Rebel, Sol- Two Pulitzer Prize winners
magisterial account of the dier, Lover, journalist Akshaya had books out in 2022, and
body (The Song of the Cell) Mukul charted the life and picked up where they left
and banker Ravindra Rathee’s times of Agyeya or Sachchi- off. Jennifer Egan, whose
military history of the British danand Hiranand Vatsyayan, mesmerising 2011 winner A
presence in India (True to the literary legend and Sahitya Visit from the Goon Squad
Their Salt). Historian Ram- Akademi award winner. Nirmal told interconnected stories,
achandra Guha returned with Verma, another Hindi literary released The Candy House,
Rebels Against the Raj, stories giant, was the subject of Here a sequel that revisited some
of seven foreigners who took and Hereafter, an angular of the same characters, now
part in India’s freedom strug- textual biography of the man older. Andrew Sean Greer,
gle. Another people-driven and his work by Vineet Gill. whose sizzling debut Less
treatment of that period In the West, the year’s big won in 2018, returned to the
emerged in P. Sainath’s The publishing event was the new same world in Less is Lost,
Last Heroes, which traced work by Hanya Yanagihara, this time sending his central
the ordinary men and women whose second novel A Little character Arthur Less on a
who made up the ranks of the Life was both a smash hit and road trip. 2015 Booker Prize
freedom fighters. a polarising pop culture arte- winner Marlon James also
Beyond these, the fact. Her third, To Paradise, brought us the second in his
biography as a form saw also a sprawling decades- fantasy-fiction trilogy by way
some impressive additions, spanning epic, saw mixed of Moon Witch, Spider King. n
particularly of writers. In the reviews, but brisk sales. Bhavya Dore
 Upcoming
Releases 2023
Indian International
 THE ASSASSIN dining and making an insight into a little-  VICTORY CITY memory and loss,
by K.R. Meera merry. From sam- known world. by Salman Rushdie and a fantasy piece
In November 2016, a pling Jaipur’s best Promising to be on a mother who
woman is attacked lassi to an anecdote  ARYANS: The yet another feat of claims to be a witch.
by an unknown about M.F. Husain’s Search for a imagination, this lat-
assailant while last wish about food, People, a Place est Rushdie book is  A DEATH IN
returning home. She this layered account and a Myth set in 14th-century TOKYO
emerges unharmed. promises large help- by Charles Allen Southern India, by Keigo Higashino
But soon, she ings of fun. Popular historian where a girl has a Higashino raises the
realises that this in- of the British Raj, divine encounter. bar with every book.
cident might be part  BOOK OF Charles Allen, When a goddess In A Death in Tokyo,
of a larger plan to COMPASSION finished this book begins to speak a man dies under a
end her life. Once her by H.H. Dalai Lama just before he died through the child, it mythic statue near
wheelchair-bound and Kailash Satyarthi in 2020. Here he has wide implica- the Nihonbashi
father dies, the plot Getting two Nobel examines how con- tions for empires Bridge. Where was
thickens. laureates on the nections between and the social fabric he stabbed and how
same page Sanskrit and other of the day. did he get to the
 SMOKE AND can only European languages bridge in his final
ASHES: A Writer’s mean a were first made, and  SPARE moments?
Journey Through conver- what that discovery by Prince Harry That very
Hidden Histories sation meant for scholar- The pithy title is a night, another
by Amitav Ghosh for the ages. This ship and history. If all reference to the man is caught
Ghosh returns book plunges into of these people were younger prince’s by the police
with a new book their lives and how one, who were the role in the family not with the wallet
about China and compassion moves Aryans, and where as an “heir” but as of the victim.
India, environment, and motivates these did they come from? spare, or back-up Another
capitalism, opium, very different men. heir. The tell-all head-scratcher for
tea and history. This Built out of research  PROTECTION memoir claims to be Detective Kaga.
wide-ranging work and interviews, it ex- by Avni Doshi “up-close, behind
takes on several plores what it means Having examined a the scenes, intimate,  THE WAGER
themes Ghosh has to work towards mother-daughter and forthright”, with by David Grann
so skilfully tackled in kindness. relationship in her Harry telling his A new Grann title is
the past. debut novel, Doshi story on his terms. always a cause for
 A LIFE IN now turns her focus celebration. This
 INSATIABLE; THE SHADOWS:  OLD BABES IN time, he focuses
on a father-daughter
MY HUNGER FOR A MEMOIR bond. Set between THE WOOD on a shipwreck
LIFE by A.S. Dulat India and the US and by Margaret Atwood from 1742. A boat
by Shobhaa De Former head of spanning decades, In this collection with bedraggled
De’s book opens India’s Research Protection is told of short stories, men washes up on
with a typically and Analysis Wing in the voice of the Atwood strides the shore of Brazil,
unabashed strike: talks about all youngest of three through a smor- ostensibly survivors
“I promise not to be things intelligence. children in a family. gasbord of scenes from a British ship
three things—pro- From a childhood in It is being billed as and themes. Some on a secret mission.
found, pedantic and Delhi and Lahore to “a devastating ac- stories have been Six months later,
pretentious.” In her meeting spymasters counting of the econ- previously published another group of
75th year, the writer- and world leaders, omies of love, money and include a tale of survivors shows
columnist-socialite Dulat’s autobiogra- and control that two sisters tackling up, telling a very
goes on a whirlwind phy is about both his circulate through a different tale—that
tour of feasting, fine- personal journey and household”. the first group are
actually mutineers.
(compiled by
Bhavya Dore)
 LEISURE Q A

LIFE AND Q. Your last novel, The Earths-

pinner, was a delight for many.

LETTERS
Are there any new themes
you’re considering right
now, either in your mind or on
the page?
Anuradha Roy on winning the Sahitya I am almost always writing…and
Akademi award, a favourite character almost never like talking about it. But
from one of her novels, and the state it takes me time to come out from
the world of one novel and breathe
of scholarship in India
the air of another.

Q. Your novel, All the Lives We

Never Lived, was widely praised
by critics the world over, but Q. It was in the year 2000 that
does seeing it win a Sahitya you co-founded the academic
Akademi award feel special? imprint Permanent Black. I
This award is like no other—it places want to ask, is scholarship in
my novel alongside the work of so India alive and well?
many writers I have grown up It’s alive, but maybe not very well,
reading. It makes me feel as if given that the room for dissent has
I am part of a long tradition shrunk in the present day. Self-
of Indian writing in English. censorship and exciting scholarship
It is also unique in that it is don’t go together.
decided upon by an indepen-
dent jury despite being a state with Shreevatsa Nevatia
award.

Q. Of all the historical figures

in your novel, did any one
grow to become a favourite
character in the end?
Walter Spies is my favourite his-
torical character in this book. De-
spite his genius, he seems not to
have a grain of self-importance.

RAJWANT RAWAT
He was sympathetic to animals
and his capacity for joy and
creativity could not be crushed
by anything, not even internment
or prison.

68
74 Volume 48-Number
XLIV Number2;37;
ForFor
thethe
week January
week 3-9, 2023,
September 10-16,published on every
2019, published onFriday
everyTotal
Friday
number
Total
of number
pages 70of(including
pages 76cover
(including
pages)
cover pages)