Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani has said that India’s sovereignty in the twenty-first century will depend on its command over natural resources and energy systems, emphasising that the nation must chart its own development path at a time when global alliances are increasingly fracturing. Delivering the keynote address at the 100th foundation day celebrations of IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, Adani said countries worldwide were acting in pure self-interest, making it essential for India to master the systems that fuel its growth. He described sovereignty as inseparable from resource security. “India must chart its own development course in a world increasingly marked by national self-preservation and fractured global alliances,” he said. Adani invoked historical examples to underline the need for civilisational confidence. He said Bakhtiyar Khilji’s destruction of Nalanda was aimed at breaking India’s intellectual independence, while the British replaced India’s indigenous knowledge systems with an education model designed to produce clerks rather than thinkers. “India does not sell dreams — it transforms dreams into reality,” he said, warning against what he termed “narrative colonisation”, where nations with historically high carbon emissions seek to dictate India’s development choices despite its low per-capita emissions. He described the present period as India’s “second freedom struggle”, centred on economic and resource independence, and stressed that the nation must resist external pressure and build sovereign capability in resources, energy and technology. “If we do not control our own narrative, our aspirations will be delegitimised,” he warned. Adani highlighted that India remains one of the world’s lowest per-capita emitters even after achieving more than 50 per cent non-fossil installed power capacity ahead of schedule. Attempts to downgrade India’s sustainability performance without considering per-capita responsibility, he said, revealed biases within global ESG frameworks. Citing the Adani Group’s Carmichael coal mine in Australia, he said the project was developed to strengthen India’s energy security by providing better-grade imported coal, despite facing “one of the most contested environmental and political battles of the century”. He recalled protests across continents, withdrawal of bank lending and intense global scrutiny, saying, “They may write headlines, but we will write history.” Adani noted that IIT (ISM) Dhanbad itself was founded on India’s long-standing understanding that a nation cannot rise without mastering the strength of its own soil. He announced 50 annual paid internships for third-year students and an Adani 3S Mining Excellence Centre at the institute. He urged students to “dream fearlessly, act relentlessly”, embrace innovation and help build a self-reliant India by becoming “custodians of the core”. Adani, 62, is the founder and chairman of the Adani Group, India’s largest integrated infrastructure conglomerate, with a portfolio spanning transport logistics, energy infrastructure, natural resources, airports, defence, aerospace and more. The group has crossed a market capitalisation of more than USD 200 billion under his leadership.