New Delhi: Congress MP-elect Rahul Gandhi has demanded a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe against caretaker Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah, alleging that they were “directly involved” in the “biggest-ever stock market scam” in which retail investors lost Rs 30 lakh crore.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday (June 6), Gandhi alleged that for the first time Modi, Shah, and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in television interviews advised people to buy stocks before the Lok Sabha 2024 results were announced on June 4.
“Why did the prime minister give investment advice to the people? Why did the home minister ask 5 crore families to invest in the market? Both the prime minister and the home minister gave these interviews to Adani channels, the same business group which is under SEBI investigation. In such a situation, what is the role of these channels? What is the relationship between the BJP, fake exit polls, and foreign investors? We want to know, the country wants to know, and therefore, we want a joint parliamentary committee probe,” he said.
While he did not name NDTV, which is owned by the Adani Group, Gandhi alleged that in these interviews, both Modi and Shah asked people to buy stocks before June 4.
“This has never happened before that the PM has commented on the stock market. This is happening for the first time, and multiple times, one after the other, he is saying that the stock market is going to boom. At the same time he has information that the exit polls are wrong and he knows what is going to happen because of the IB [Intelligence Bureau] data and his own party data,” said Gandhi.
Gandhi alleged that both Modi and Shah had data from the BJP’s internal survey as well as Intelligence Bureau report about the seats that the BJP would win.
“Because they had an intelligence report and the BJP’s internal survey said that he was getting 220 seats. So my question is, the damage that you have suffered, is because of the statements made by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. Hundreds of crores have been stolen from you and retail investors. I am saying for you that it should be investigated – Why did the prime minister and home minister give wrong information and who are those foreign investors who took advantage of it?” he asked.
Gandhi said that “people in the higher up in the BJP carried out this scam” and that both Modi and Shah were “directly involved”.
Source: Congress
Source: Congress
BJP: ‘Attempt to mislead investors’
At a counter press conference on Thursday (June 6), BJP MP-elect Piyush Goyal said that Gandhi is worried about Modi’s upcoming third term and attempting to “mislead domestic and foreign investors.”
“The absurd allegations that Rahul Gandhi has made against the BJP and our leaders in the press conference today clearly show that Rahul Gandhi has not been able to recover from the disappointment of the opposition’s defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. Now Rahul Gandhi is conspiring to mislead the market investors also,” he said.
Goyal said that under the Modi government, India’s market capitalisation rose from Rs 67 crore a decade ago to Rs 415 lakh crore today.
“The bigger question is, what would happen to the promises made by Rahul Gandhi? In many places, women were seen standing outside Congress offices and asking the Karnataka, Himachal and Telangana governments to fulfill the promises made by Rahul Gandhi of giving Rs 1 lakh to every woman,” he said.
“I hope that Rahul Gandhi, instead of misleading investors and people, would focus on fulfilling the promises he made during the elections.”