EPW editor Paranjoy Guha Thakurta quits, story on Adani Power’s windfall gains taken down

The editor of Economic and Political Weekly, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, resigned from his position on Tuesday, after a story (link not available) on Adani Group published a few weeks ago was taken down by the website. 

This comes following a legal notice to the publishers of EPW from the Adani Group on the story which claimed to expose Adani Group company’s complicity in reaping benefits amounting to Rs. 500 crore thanks to a tweak in the customs rules.

Speaking to The Quint, Guha Thakurta said, “I would much rather not talk about the reasons behind my resignation. But I will say this, that I am honoured to have been the editor of a prestigious and internationally renowned journal like the EPW for the past 15 months. It was an interesting challenge, but I am relieved and happy to have resigned now. I look forward to spending time with my wife and our children in Delhi.”

The Adani group had sent a legal notice to EPW, Thakurta and the co-authors of the article titled ‘Modi Government's ₹500 Crore Bonanza to Adani Group Company’. The story is still available on The Wire, where it was republished from EPW, but has been taken down from the EPW’s website.

The Wire reports that on Tuesday, members of the Sameeksha Trust, the publisher of EPW, met in Delhi and ordered the editorial department to take the article down, and also the legal notice sent by Adani and EPW’s response to it. Thakurta resigned soon after the meeting, The Wire reports.

Adani’s lawyers have also reportedly informed Thakurta that they will be serving a notice to The Wire too, to take the article down.

Thakurta had taken over as the editor of EPW from C Rammanohar Reddy, who quit in 2016, amidst differences with the board.

In the story, EPW had stated that “the government recently took a decision to quietly tweak the rules relating to special economic zones (SEZs) which has enabled a company in the Adani Group to reap a bonanza of around Rs 500 crore.”