The Congress "wants the stock market to crash" the BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad said Monday as the ruling party continues to hit back at the opposition over short-seller Hindenburg Research's latest allegations of financial misconduct against the Adani Group. The ex-Law Minister also claimed the Congress is "involved in creating economic anarchy" and "hatred against India".
He also underlined India's position as a "safe, stable and promising market".
Ravi Shankar Prasad's scathing comments come a day after party colleagues Rajeev Chandrasekhar launched a similar attack on the Congress, declaring the party is "seeking foreign help to discredit (and) destabilise our financial markets and to create chaos in the country... by spreading anarchy".
"After losing for a third time (referring to the 2024 general election) and the Congress and its closest 'toolkit' allies now want to make the Indian economy unstable. Congress today has developed hatred against India. What Congress wants is to bring back 'control Raj'..." Mr Prasad told reporters.
"This report was released on Saturday... they raised this aggressively on Sunday so the stock market can take a hit," he continued, "Politics of Congress has 'toolkit' and 'chit politics'."
"We are proud the Indian stock market is stable today. We want to salute small investors... this basically means they do not believe in the 'toolkit' and the Hindenburg report," Mr Prasad raged.
"Recycled...": Hindenburg Claims Trashed
Last week United States-based Hindenburg released a new report claiming Securities Exchange Board of India chief Madhabi Puri Buch had a stake in obscure offshore entities used in alleged financial wrongdoing by the Adani Group. The allegations have been slammed by the company, the markets body, and industry leaders as "recycled claims... proven baseless by the Supreme Court".
READ | "Recycled... Proven Baseless": Adani Group On Hindenburg Claims
"For a discredited short-seller under the scanner for several violations of Indian securities laws, Hindenburg's allegations are no more than red herrings thrown by a desperate entity with total contempt for Indian laws," the Adani Group said last week in an exchange filing.
READ | Adani Group, SEBI, Industry Leaders Slam "Discredited" Hindenburg
From her side Madhabi Puri Buch has strongly denied the latest report as "baseless allegations and insinuations". Her husband called it an attempted "character assassination" after action against the short-seller; in July, SEBI flagged violations by Hindenburg and its sole owner, Nathan Anderson.
READ | "Character Assassination": SEBI Chief Denies Hindenburg Claims
SEBI has issued a notice accusing Hindenburg Research of character assassination.
"Congress Wants Stock Market To Crash"
Mr Prasad this afternoon also questioned the Congress' failure to take part in earlier legal processes involving Hindenburg Research and its allegations.
"Earlier too report was released... then legal process was followed. Rahul Gandhi and the Congress, who talk about joint parliamentary committees, should have taken part..." Mr Prasad declared.
Hindenburg's earlier allegations - about claims of price manipulation - provoked a furious political row too but were dismissed by the Supreme Court, which said it found no regulatory failures.
"SEBI sent a notice but instead of responding Hindenburg is making baseless allegations. A proper reply has been given (now) by SEBI and its Chairperson."
READ | BJP Blames Congress, Industry Dismisses Hindenburg Claims
"Now they (the Congress) are (again) demanding a JPC probe... they want India's stock market to crash. They don't want small investors to thrive..." the senior BJP leader claimed.
"BJP wants to say... with full sense of responsibility... that Congress and its leadership is involved in creating economic anarchy in India based upon a fictitious report. What does the Congress want?"
"Why Personally Invested?"
The BJP's Amit Malviya attacked the Congress and senior leader Rahul Gandhi, claiming the Lok Sabha MP "holds 43 per cent of his total declared assets in Indian stocks... that is a lot of faith..."
"(Mr) Gandhi's movable assets grew by 59 per cent over 2019. This was possible because the economy, despite all odds, performed very well... but he is fear-mongering and dissuading retail investors from participating in wealth creation..." Mr Malviya claimed.
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