“Opinion WaPo’s Fiction Factory Strikes Again: Exposing RaviNair’s Adani-LIC Hoax”, News 18, October 26, 2025
“In a brazen display of journalistic malpractice, The Washington Post has once again descended into rabid anti-India propaganda with its October 24, 2025, hit piece co-authored by the notorious Ravi Nair. Titled. “India’s $3.9 billion plan to help Modi’s mogul ally after U.S. charges”, this so-called “investigation” peddles a grotesque fiction, that the Indian government strong-armed the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) the trusted guardian of over 30 crore Indians’ savings, into funneling $3.9 billion into the Adani Group companies, as a bailout for Gautam Adani. Nair, already facing a defamation lawsuit from. Adani for his earlier baseless rants in Frontline magazine and social media tirades, has now weaponised anonymous unverified “internal documents” and cherry-picked quotes to defame LIC, Adani, and the Modi government. This isn’t reporting; it is a desperate, dollar-fuelled vendetta by a foreign outlet. allergic to India’s stellar rise under Modi. Let us dismantle this tissue of lies, brick by venomous brick.
Lie No. 1: A shadowy government “plan” to loot LIC, to uplift Adani from his “debt crisis”?
Nair paints a picture of frantic Modi government officials twisting LIC’s arms to rescue a “cash-strapped” tycoon (Adani) from “mounting debt”. What a load of sensationalist drivel. LIC has categorically rejected these allegations as “false, baseless and far from the truth”, stating unequivocally, “No such proposal or document had ever been. prepared by the insurer or the government.” LIC’s investments are made independently, governed by board-approved. policies and rigorous due diligence, with zero meddling from DFS or any other body. This isn’t some clandestine cabal it is standard institutional investing by India’s largest insurer, managing over $659 billion in assets across over 351 listed stocks. Adani Group echoes this demolition “We categorically deny involvement in any alleged government plans to direct. LIC funds. LIC invests across multiple corporate groups, suggesting preferential treatment for Adani is, therefore, misleading.” What are Nair’s “documents”? Non-existent phantoms, conveniently shielded from scrutiny. If they exist, the Washington Post must publish them, or admit they are peddling Opposition-fuelled fairy tales. This is the same playbook Nair used in his “Frontline” smears, earning him a courtroom date for defamation. He’s not a journalist; he’s a repeat offender with an axe to grind.
Lie No. 2: Adani is the “cash-strapped” villain in a “crony capitalism” saga?
Nair loves to portray Adani as Modi’s personal piggy bank, propped up by taxpayer blood money while facing “U.S. charges” and Hindenburg’s ghost. Spare us the melodrama, will you? Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ), the linchpin of Nair’s outrage, boasts India’s highest “AAA” credit rating-a gold standard of financial health that screams stability, not desperation. LIC’s May 2025 subscription to APSEZ’s issue (roughly $568 million, a fraction of the inflated $3.9 billion Nair has conjured) was actually a very smart, yield-boosting move for LIC with assured 7.75% returns, more than the yield on 10-year government securities. Why would LIC not invest in a triple-A-rated debt paper that assured returns that were way higher than government bonds? Adani’s debt? Sure, it has grown-but so has its business empire, powering India’s infrastructure boom with ports, airports, green energy and coal mines that fuel a big chunk of the nation’s power needs. This isn’t a bailout; it is a prudent allocation to a conglomerate whose growth predates Modi’s tenure, as the Adani group has itself noted on multiple occasions. As for Hindenburg and US probes? SEBI has dismissed fraud allegations after an intensive probe. Nair’s fictitious “multi-billion-dollar bribery scheme” hype ignores Adani group’s resilience-stock rebounds, global expansions and partnerships that scream success, not scandal…….”
Read full article at news18.com
