Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s pre-wedding activities lately sparked nationwide interest. Nita Ambani attended the third day of celebrations dressed in a lovely beige saree made by Manish Malhotra in partnership with Reliance’s luxury brand, Swadesh. The saree was created by expert artisans from South India and included a delicate zardozi design. However, what stole the show was her opulent emerald diamond necklace.
Along with the necklace, Nita also wore matching diamond earrings and a chunky solitaire ring on her finger. Her set of bangles too was adorned with diamonds and emeralds.
Though Nita Ambani’s saree had a subtle, understated elegance, the statement piece that turned heads was the stunning necklace she wore with it. Reports suggested that Nita Ambani’s necklace alone cost between Rs 400 and 500 crores.
As pictures and videos of Nita Ambani’s opulent jewellery went viral, social media was flooded with reactions. There was this typical set of left-liberals or ‘progressives’ who were quick to demonise Nita Ambani for displaying opulence at her own son’s pre-wedding celebrations. They instantly labelled her as insensitive or tone-deaf for flaunting expensive clothes and jewellery or engaging in frivolous spending, particularly in a society where many people suffer from poverty and lack of resources.
A user on X who went by the handle @Advaidism made a sarcastic remark on a photo of Nita Ambani wearing the gorgeous emerald necklace at her son’s pre-wedding ceremony. He wrote, “Good to see an emerald necklace worth 500 crore in a country where 81 crore people depend on free rations and where the slums and the poor were concealed with green sheets during the G20 summit.”
A lady who goes by the name Mini Nair, who claims to be an author, also jumped onto the bandwagon as she mockingly remarked that the cost of Nita Ambani’s emerald necklace exceeds the JNU’s annual budget.
Well, interestingly Mini Nair is the same ‘feminist’ who had mocked Sudha Murthy, Infosys Foundation Chairperson and wife of the Indian software billionaire NR Narayana Murthy, after a picture of hers, where she’s sitting amid heaps of vegetables, went viral on social media back in the year 2020.
In 2020, IRS officer Surbhi shared the image on X (formally Twitter) with the claim, “Every year Sudha Murthy, wife of founder Infosys, spends one-year selling vegetables to get rid of Ego. How one doesn’t let money change their values.” She later said one day in a year.
Though later the Infosys Foundation chairperson cleared the air, saying she was not selling vegetables but was there to do selfless service in Raghavendra Swamy temple, Mini Nair was quick to react to the picture Surbhi shared on the social media site. She mocked Sudha Murthy saying, “It’s so easy for Sudha Murthy to sit one day , a year to sell vegetables . She is privileged to get rid of her ego thus. Thousands and scores of women go hoarse screaming Bhaaji le, paplet , pushing the cart to get rid of their hunger . C’est la vie !”
The purpose of writing this article today is to highlight the obvious hypocrisies of these so-called liberals. Irrespective of what a wealthy person does, these left-liberals somehow find novel ways to criticize them for the cardinal sin of being rich. One way to look at it is that Nita Ambani is being chastised for showing off her wealth, which includes owning expensive things like the emerald necklace, which by the way, she paid for with money that she and her family earned through a whole lot of resiliance and hard work. Now imagine that these same liberals demonise individuals like Sudha Murthy, who is admired by many for her simplicity and philanthropy.
This gang of left-liberals argue that Sudha Murthy’s association with wealth, given her husband’s status as a billionaire, undermines her image as a champion of modesty and simplicity. This same set of people demonises the like of Nita Ambani arguing that such ostentatious display of wealth is indicative of societal inequalities or excessive wealth concentration.
They wish to spread the myth that those who are wealthy are all entitled, arrogant, and oblivious to the struggles faced by common people. Incorrect beliefs are propagated leading to negative stereotypes and prejudices against the wealthy. The false perception that the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer is leading to unnecessary bias and hatred.
According to many observers, the combined revenues of the conglomerate controlled by Indian business tycoon Gautam Adani and fellow mogul Mukesh Ambani are equivalent to 4 per cent of India’s GDP. Despite this, these Indian billionaires have become a virtual punching bag for not only the anti-reformists but also for the entirety of the political left. We have seen how the Congress and the left ecosystem often go into overdrive to attack the Adani Group and, by extension, the Modi government, given the party’s wild allegations against the Modi government of favouring a ‘few rich people’.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly been trotting out ‘Adani and Ambani’ jibes to attack the current dispensation even as Congress-ruled state governments have generously indulged the businessmen.
The Congress party had also helped ‘mainstream’ the disinformation that the Adani group, which manages the operations of the Mundra port, was somehow responsible for 3000 kg of heroin found in a shipment from Afghanistan in September 2021.
The Adani group was forced to issue a media statement in a bid to nullify the unsubstantiated claims of the grand old party. In June 2022, Rahul Gandhi amplified fake news published by leftist propaganda outlet, The Wire, which suggested that PM Modi influenced a deal in Sri Lanka at the behest of the Adani group.
Even though the Sri Lankan president rejected any such collusion or favour for any specific company, Rahul Gandhi seemed upset that an Indian company won a bid for a project in Sri Lanka.
The fake news about crony capitalism and favouritism, disseminated by Congress on a regular basis, led to real-life acts of violence and vandalism during the anti-farm law protests. Jio towers, belonging to the Ambani group, were damaged.
Last year, when a controversy erupted after Hindenburg Research published a report raising serious questions about the Adani Group, veteran Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who is facing allegations of having links with China, issued a statement over the controversy, co-opting Hinderburg Research’s report to attack the Modi government.
Similarly, Congress supporters, self-proclaimed neutral journalists, alleged ‘fact-checkers’, and leftist trolls too jumped into the fray, using allegations against the Adani Group to train their guns against the central government and hoping that their far-fetched efforts to implicate the Modi regime would reward their preferred political parties with electoral rewards in the near future.
Why is the liberal ecosystem so hostile to rich people? Why are they of the opinion that most rich people don’t deserve their wealth simply because it was not “hard work”? It’s important to recognize that judgments about wealthy individuals are not always fair or accurate, and they can be influenced by stereotypes, biases, and societal perceptions. Additionally, not all wealthy individuals fit the negative stereotypes, and many use their resources for positive contributions to society.
