New Delhi: LoP in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi during ongoing Monsoon session of Parliament in New Delhi, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024. (Photo: PTI)
Congress has announced a nationwide protest on August 22 to demand a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into Hindenburg Research’s latest allegations, which the party has termed the “big Adani scam”.
The party will also call for removing the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairperson.
A meeting of Congress general secretaries, state unit chiefs, and state in-charges in the national capital decided that party workers would protest outside the offices of the Enforcement Directorate across the country on August 22 to press for these demands.
The meeting also addressed the party’s preparations for upcoming Assembly elections in Jharkhand, Haryana, Maharashtra, and Jammu & Kashmir.
In the context of these elections, Congress will organise public mobilisation campaigns to demand a nationwide caste census and adherence to the Constitution. The party said the schedule for this mass mobilisation campaign is being finalised.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge chaired the meeting, which was attended by 56 party leaders, including Rahul Gandhi. Rahul told reporters he will soon hold a press conference regarding Hindenburg Research’s latest report.
A resolution passed at the meeting said that the Congress demands a JPC probe into the Adani “mega scam”, in which “the Prime Minister is fully involved and in which the financial market regulator is severely compromised”.
In a post on X after the meeting, Kharge said, “The shocking revelations of the nexus between Sebi and Adani require a thorough investigation. The money of small investors in the stock market must not be jeopardised.”
He added, “The Modi government must immediately seek the resignation of the Sebi chairperson and constitute a JPC.”
Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh noted that more questions have emerged about potential malpractice by Sebi Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch.
“Regulatory filings from a consulting firm she established before her Sebi appointment show that the firm is registered at the same address as its statutory auditor,” Ramesh said in a post on X.
Ramesh explained that while Puri Buch has stepped down as a director of the consulting firm, her husband has been a director there since 2019.
“A firm and its auditor sharing the same address is generally a sign of poor corporate governance,” Ramesh said, pointing out that The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India’s code of ethics requires accountants to avoid bias, conflicts of interest, or undue influence. “Sharing a location suggests such bias,” he added.
Ramesh accused the Sebi chairperson and her husband of misleading the public by claiming that the consulting firm “became immediately dormant upon her Sebi appointment”, which he said is not true.
“Between 2019 and 2024, the firm earned Rs 3.63 crore in revenue, with most of it generated between 2019 and 2022, when Puri Buch was a full-time Sebi member. After she was appointed Sebi chief in March 2022, the firm earned about Rs 41.75 lakh,” he said, emphasising the need for a JPC probe.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has dismissed the Congress demand for a JPC probe as a “sham” aimed at “destabilising” India’s economy and stock market.
BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi on Tuesday referenced the reported increase in Rahul’s shareholdings and said his “mohabbat ki dukan” was also making a tidy profit while he criticises Sebi over Hindenburg Research’s allegations.
Trivedi noted that the Congress had previously alleged irregularities involving the State Bank of India, Hindustan Aeronautics, and Life Insurance Corporation of India, which have since achieved record profits. He accused the Congress of frequently supporting foreign companies, citing Union Carbide, Bofors, and AgustaWestland.
In a related development, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, who flagged off a Tiranga bike rally from Bharat Mandapam as part of the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign, said in his address that India is developing at a “nuclear speed”, but “some people are unable to digest it; they want to bring obstruction and instability” and “take randomly surfaced issues as authentic”.
In a post on X, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said the Centre should have ordered a probe into Hindenburg Research’s allegations against the Sebi chairperson.
Addressing reporters after the party meeting, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said the party has urged the National Democratic Alliance government to take steps to ensure that targeted attacks on religious minorities and their places of worship in Bangladesh stop, and that these individuals are allowed to live with security, dignity, and harmony.
The Congress meeting also called on the Centre to declare the Wayanad landslides a national disaster. On the Supreme Court’s (SC’s) order on sub-classification of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Venugopal said the party has set up a committee to consult its leadership in different states. While Congress state units in Northern India oppose the sub-classification, the party’s Karnataka and Telangana chief ministers have welcomed the SC order.
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