India today stands at the cusp of an economic transformation that is reshaping the global order. With its GDP growth outpacing that of every major economy, India has not only emerged as the fastest-growing large economy in the world but also the next great hope for global supply chains, manufacturing, digital innovation, and consumer markets.
Much of this story has been powered by its corporate giants, such as Reliance Industries, Adani Group, Tata, Infosys, Wipro, among others, who have invested heavily in core sectors, employed millions directly and indirectly, and given India the scale and ambition to dream of becoming the world’s third-largest economy.
And yet, in the span of a few weeks, a worrying convergence has emerged. Three seemingly unrelated actors: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir, and India’s own Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, have all directed their fire at the same target: India’s most successful business elites, particularly Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries Limited.
Placed in isolation, each of these attacks may seem like a political or rhetorical attack. Put together, however, they reveal something far more sinister: Is it a coordinated undermining, whether by design or coincidence, of the very backbone of India’s economic rise?
Scott Bessent targets India: tariffs, Russian oil, and the attempt to discredit Ambani
When US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appeared on CNBC this week, the remarks he made were astonishingly blunt. Not only did he accuse India of profiteering from Russian crude oil imports, he went further to claim that “India’s richest families”, a pointed reference to Mukesh Ambani and others, but directed at Ambani since he owns refineries in India that process crude oil for reselling. Bessent accused he and others were personally benefiting at the cost of the West’s sanctions regime.
“We have planned to up the tariffs on India, these are secondary tariffs for buying the sanctioned Russian oil,” Bessent declared. Before 2022, he argued, India bought less than 1% of its oil from Russia. “Now, I believe, it’s up to 42%. So India is just profiteering… they made $16 billion on excess profits, some of the richest families in India.”
On the surface, this may sound like a moral rebuke of India’s opportunistic energy policy. But scratch deeper, and the hollowness of the argument becomes clear.
Why Bessent is wrong
First, India has been consistent in its position that it will purchase oil from the cheapest available source to safeguard its energy security. At a time when inflation, supply chain disruptions, and the West’s sanctions threatened global energy affordability, India’s choice to buy discounted Russian oil was not profiteering; it was pragmatism.
Second, Washington’s selective outrage is glaring. China, for instance, also ramped up purchases of Russian crude, from 13% of its oil imports pre-Ukraine invasion to 16% today. Yet Bessent rationalised that China had a “diversified” oil basket, hence no punitive tariffs were needed. Why then single out India?
Third, Reliance and other refiners have bought Russian crude under legitimate long-term contracts. Much of this oil is refined into petroleum products and re-exported, ensuring global supply stability. In fact, this was the very intent behind the G7’s $60-per-barrel price cap: to keep Russian oil flowing while cutting Moscow’s windfall revenues. By that logic, India’s role was complementary to the West’s own objectives.
But instead of recognising India’s stabilising contribution, Bessent chose to vilify its corporates, framing them as profiteers. The irony is rich: American oil companies have made record profits since 2022, yet it is India’s Ambanis and Adanis who are branded as villains.
This rhetorical attack is not just baseless; it is dangerous. By naming “India’s richest families,” Bessent sought to sow distrust within India, to pit the people against the very companies that power their jobs, digital services, telecom access, energy security, and retail supply chains. In effect, Washington is trying to de-legitimise India’s growth story by targeting its corporate face.
Asim Munir’s threat: Quranic curse
If Scott Bessent’s rhetoric was an attempt at economic delegitimisation, Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir took things to a far darker level: explicit physical threats.
At a private dinner in Tampa, Florida, Munir boasted to his diaspora audience about authorising a social media post that paired Mukesh Ambani’s photograph with Surah Al-Fil, the Quranic chapter describing the destruction of enemy elephants by divine intervention.
“Ek tweet karwaya tha with Surah Fil and a picture of [industrialist] Mukesh Ambani to show them what we will do the next time,” he bragged.
The symbolism was chilling. In Islamic tradition, Surah Al-Fil is about miraculous annihilation. By linking it to Ambani, Munir was not making a casual remark. He was issuing a coded religious threat, a promise of divine-sanctioned destruction against India’s most successful businessman.
And he didn’t stop there. Munir went on to warn that Pakistan would start from India’s east, and then move westwards. This was not mere bluster; it was an admission of a strategy: to target India’s economic heart through its corporates.
In another metaphor, Munir compared India to a “Mercedes speeding down a highway” and Pakistan to a “dump truck full of gravel.” His message was clear: even if Pakistan is weaker, it can still crash into India’s shining economy, causing devastating collateral damage.
This marks a dangerous shift in Pakistan’s doctrine. From sabre-rattling about Kashmir and nukes, its generals are now openly fantasising about “economic decapitation” of India, going after Ambani and his peers as symbolic targets.
Rahul Gandhi’s rhetoric: Domestic distrust as a political strategy
The third actor in this convergence is not foreign but domestic. Rahul Gandhi, for years, has relentlessly hammered away at Ambani and Adani in his speeches, Parliament interventions, and international tours. From dubbing Modi’s administration a “suit-boot ki sarkaar” to coining the “Ambani-Adani nexus” slogan, Gandhi has sought to frame India’s corporates as corrupt cronies of the government.
At first glance, Rahul Gandhi’s attacks on Ambani and Adani may appear to be routine opposition politics, but the timing and amplification of his rhetoric have repeatedly overlapped with hostile foreign campaigns against India’s business houses. In early 2023, for instance, when Hindenburg Research released its short-seller attack on the Adani Group, Gandhi seized on the moment, echoing its claims in Parliament and across media platforms, effectively turning what was meant as a financial gambit into a full-blown political storm.
Soon after, when OCCRP, funded by George Soros’s Open Society, published follow-up reports, Gandhi again rushed to cite them, even though India’s Supreme Court later dismissed the allegations as unsubstantiated. Adding to this pattern, during his US tour, Gandhi shared a platform with Soros-backed activists notorious for their anti-India rhetoric, further blurring the line between legitimate domestic critique and active participation in the international effort to delegitimise India’s corporate champions.
According to an unverified but widely-circulated report attributed to Sputnik India, Israeli intelligence agency Mossad believed the timing was no coincidence. Mossad allegedly traced a web of communications suggesting coordination between Hindenburg, certain Western activist networks, Chinese economic interests, and a “key face from India’s opposition dynasty”: Rahul Gandhi.
By repeatedly branding Ambani and Adani as corrupt, Gandhi has created a climate of distrust within India. Investors and ordinary citizens alike are told to doubt the very companies building infrastructure, telecom networks, retail chains, and energy systems. Instead of celebrating the engines of India’s rise, Gandhi frames them as liabilities.
This, intentionally or not, complements the narrative pushed by Bessent and Munir: that Ambani and Adani are illegitimate profiteers who deserve to be punished or even destroyed.
The convergence: An attack on India’s growth trajectory
Consider the sequence: Washington’s Treasury Secretary openly accuses India’s richest families of profiteering from Russian oil and threatens secondary tariffs; Pakistan’s Army Chief invokes Quranic imagery to personally target Mukesh Ambani while hinting at an attack on the Jamnagar refinery while India’s own Opposition leader has been relentlessly repeating the narrative that Ambani and Adani are crony beneficiaries, fuelling distrust at home. Taken together, this is no longer mere coincidence; it is a clear convergence of forces working, intentionally or otherwise, to undermine India’s economic backbone.
The net effect of these three strands is the same: to delegitimise India’s corporates, weaken investor confidence, and slow the momentum of the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
If successful, this convergence could derail India’s developmental trajectory just as it is about to achieve its biggest leap, overtaking Germany to become the world’s third-largest economy.
Why India’s industrialists are national assets
It must be remembered: Ambani’s Reliance is not just a private company. It is India’s largest employer outside the government, a pioneer in telecom and digital infrastructure (Jio’s revolution), a critical player in energy security, and a massive investor in green technologies. Similarly, Adani’s infrastructure and ports are central to India’s connectivity and logistics. Tata, Infosys, Wipro power India’s tech and global service leadership.
To attack these corporates is not to attack individuals; it is to attack India’s growth story itself.
India’s economic rise has been fuelled as much by private enterprise as by state policy. Without Jio’s 5G revolution, India’s digital economy would not have boomed. Without Adani’s port infrastructure, India’s global trade integration would have lagged. Without Tata’s global acquisitions, India’s corporate presence abroad would have been weaker.
This is precisely why India’s adversaries have chosen to target them. Undermine their credibility, and you slow India’s momentum.
The real agenda: Sowing distrust
Scott Bessent’s remarks about “India’s richest families” are not about Russian oil. They are about sowing suspicion inside India, making the Indian middle class question whether Ambani is profiting at their expense.
Asim Munir’s threats are not about military targets. They are about creating fear in India’s business class, deterring them from ambitious projects that could catapult India ahead.
Rahul Gandhi’s jibes are not just about Modi. They are about normalising distrust of India’s corporate champions, painting success as inherently corrupt.
All three, in their own ways, converge on the same outcome: slowing India’s rise.
Protecting India’s growth story
India must recognise that its corporates are part of its national power. Protecting them from smear campaigns, rhetorical delegitimisation, or physical threats is as important as protecting their borders.
This does not mean corporates should be above accountability. But it does mean that baseless allegations by foreign leaders, coded threats by hostile generals, and opportunistic political rhetoric by domestic opposition must all be exposed for what they are: attempts to derail India’s growth trajectory at the very moment it is poised for greatness.
As India races to become the world’s third-largest economy, the world is watching. Some cheer, others fear. And those who fear will do everything in their power to tarnish, intimidate, and weaken the engines of India’s rise.
Ambani, Adani, Tata, Infosys, and several others are not just companies. They are India’s future. To undermine them is to undermine India itself. And that is something no Indian, across political lines, should ever allow.