New Delhi: Lok Sabha leader Rahul Gandhi addresses the Parliament session in New Delhi on Tuesday, August 6, 2024. (Photo: PTI)
The Congress has announced a nationwide protest on August 22 to demand a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) inquiry into the latest allegations by Hindenburg Research, which the party has termed the “big Adani scam”.
The party will also demand the dismissal of the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
A meeting of Congress general secretaries, state unit heads and state in-charges in the national capital decided that party workers would protest in front of the Enforcement Directorate offices across the country on August 22 to press for these demands.
The meeting also discussed the party’s preparations for the upcoming Assembly elections in Jharkhand, Haryana, Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir.
In the framework of these elections, the Congress will organize public mobilization campaigns to demand a nationwide caste census and respect for the Constitution. The party said that the timeline for this mass mobilization campaign is being finalized.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge chaired the meeting, which was attended by 56 party leaders, including Rahul Gandhi. Rahul told reporters that he would soon hold a press conference on the latest Hindenburg Research report.
A resolution passed at the meeting said the Congress is demanding a JPC inquiry into the Adani “mega scam” in which “the Prime Minister is fully involved and the financial market regulator is seriously compromised.”
In a post on X after the meeting, Kharge said: “The shocking revelations about the Sebi-Adani link require a thorough investigation. The money of small investors in the stock market should not be put at risk.”
He added: “The Modi government should immediately seek the resignation of the Sebi chairman and constitute a JPC.”
Congress Secretary General (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said more questions have been raised about possible malpractices by Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch.
“Regulatory filings of a consultancy firm she set up before her appointment at Sebi show that the company is registered at the same address as her statutory auditor,” Ramesh said in a post on X.
Ramesh explained that while Puri Buch has resigned as a director of the consulting firm, her husband has been a director there since 2019.
“The fact that a company and its auditor share the same address is often a sign of poor corporate governance,” Ramesh said, noting 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 consultancy firm “became inactive immediately after their appointment in Sebi”, which he said is not true.
“Between 2019 and 2024, the company earned Rs 3.63 lakh crore in revenue, the bulk of which was generated between 2019 and 2022, when Puri Buch was a full-time Sebi member. After being appointed as the Sebi chief in March 2022, the company earned around Rs 41.75 lakh,” he said, stressing the need for a JPC probe.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has dismissed the Congress’ demand for a JPC probe as a “farce” aimed at “destabilising” India’s economy and stock market.
BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi on Tuesday referred to the reported rise in Rahul’s holdings and said his “mohabbat ki dukan” was also making a tidy profit while slamming Sebi over the Hindenburg Research allegations.
Trivedi noted that Congress had earlier exposed irregularities involving State Bank of India, Hindustan Aeronautics and Life Insurance Corporation of India, which have since made record profits. He accused Congress of frequently supporting foreign companies, citing Union Carbide, Bofors and AgustaWestland.
In a related development, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, who inaugurated a bicycle rally at Tiranga 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 problems that arise randomly as genuine.”
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 chairman.
Addressing reporters after the party meeting, Congress General Secretary KC 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 people are allowed to live in safety, dignity and harmony.
The Congress meeting also asked the Centre to declare the Wayanad landslides as a national disaster. On the Supreme Court (SC) order on sub-classification of scheduled castes and tribes, Venugopal said the party has set up a committee to consult its leaders in different states. While the Congress’s state units in north India are opposing sub-classification, the party’s Karnataka and Telangana chief ministers have welcomed the SC order.
First published: August 13, 2024 | 20:12 IS
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