Hindenburg Report: Rahul Gandhi demands discussion on Adani

Former Congress president attacks PM Modi on the issue

NEW DELHI | Updated: 06 February, 2023 10:35 pm IST
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi

After the Parliament was again adjourned for an entire day due to the Adani Group-Hindenburg controversy, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of doing “his best to avoid a debate in Parliament.”

Gandhi also demanded a discussion so that the “country must know what power is behind the billionaire businessman (Adani)”.

Earlier in the day, opposition MPs from Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha staged a protest at the Gandhi statue inside Parliament, demanding a discussion on the report.

However, both Houses were adjourned until 2 pm. When both the Houses met again at 2 pm, it was further adjourned until Tuesday morning.

Gandhi, who is a Congress Lok Sabha MP from Kerala’s Wayanad, mounted an attack on the government at the sidelines of a meeting at the Constitution Club in New Delhi.

The Congress leader said, “The government does not want and is scared of a discussion in Parliament on Adani. (PM) Modi will do his best to avert a discussion on Adani in Parliament. There is a reason for it and you know that. I want a discussion on the Adani issue and the truth should come out.”

“The lakhs and crores of corruption that has taken place should come out. The country should know what the power behind Adani is,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Congress leaders and workers took to the streets to stage nationwide protests in front of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) offices and State Bank of India (SBI) branches, demanding an ‘impartial investigation’ under the supervision of the Supreme Court or a joint parliamentary committee to probe the financial fraud allegations against the Adani Group.

The report by Hindenburg has forced the Gautam Adani-led group to lose tens of billions in market value.

Speaking to The New Indian, Priyanka Chaturvedi, who is a Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) Rajya Sabha MP, said, “We don’t want to halt or stop the work of Parliament, but we only want a discussion on the issue as over $100 billion have been wiped out, which belong to lakhs of people.”

She said that the government knows that there is a partnership between the Prime Minister and the billionaire, and that is the reason why they are running away from the debate.

She further said that earlier, SEBI was given power when the scams of Ketan Parekh and Harshad Mehta and the JPC were ordered. “The government is not ready for JPC,” she said.

When asked about how Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman accused the opposition of not allowing the Parliament to function, Chaturvedi said, “The opposition wants a debate and discussion, but the government is not ready for the same and they are trying to hide.”

Speaking to The New Indian, Congress MP Rajiv Shukla said, “The tradition of halting Parliamentary business was started by the BJP. We saw how the BJP disrupted the two sessions of Parliament over 2G and other scams.”

Meanwhile, Congress Rajya Sabha MPs Imran Pratapgarhi and Pramod Tiwari also demanded a JPC and SC monitored inquiry into the issue and accused the government of running away from debate and discussion in Parliament.

The Budget Session of Parliament has been witnessing a logjam over the Hindenburg report, with the opposition parties demanding a JPC.

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