On Thursday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being involved in a significant stock market scandal and demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigation.
During a press conference, the former Congress President questioned why senior BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, made public comments about the stock market just before the election results were announced.
Gandhi noted that these comments were unprecedented during an election period. He pointed out that PM Modi had highlighted the rapid rise of the stock market, Amit Shah encouraged people to invest before June 4, and the Finance Minister made similar remarks. According to Gandhi, on May 19, PM Modi even predicted that the stock market would break records on June 4.
These allegations emerged after equity investors experienced a massive loss of Rs 31 lakh crore as the BSE Sensex plunged nearly 6 percent. This decline occurred when vote counting trends suggested that the BJP might not achieve an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha elections.
Gandhi accused the BJP of having prior knowledge of their projected seat count, stating that internal surveys indicated they would win 200-220 seats. He suggested that the market manipulation was evident as the stock market hit an all-time high on June 3 before crashing on June 4, resulting in significant losses for small investors.
He questioned the appropriateness of PM Modi and Amit Shah giving specific investment advice to millions of stock market investors, suggesting it was not their role. Gandhi also expressed concern over both leaders giving interviews to a news channel owned by a business group currently under SEBI investigation for stock manipulation.
Rahul Gandhi firmly demanded a JPC investigation into the June 4 market crash, asserting that someone had made enormous profits at the expense of Indian retail investors based on insider signals from BJP leaders. He emphasized the need for a joint parliamentary committee to thoroughly investigate the matter, believing it to be a major scam involving top government officials.