Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has called for an investigation into a stock market crash that impacted investors following the general election.
He accused senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders of misleadingly predicting a surge in stock prices post-4 June, the day the election results were announced.
Gandhi, from the Congress party, claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to buy stocks before this date, resulting in significant losses when the market subsequently crashed.
The BJP has denied these allegations. Gandhi has demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the alleged scam and examine the roles of Modi and other senior ministers.
According to Gandhi, weeks before the election results, Modi, ex-Home Minister Amit Shah, and former Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman advised the public to invest in stocks before 4 June, anticipating a market surge following a BJP victory.
In May, Shah told NDTV, “Stock market crashes should not be linked with elections, but even if such a rumour has been spread, I suggest that you buy (shares) before 4 June. It will shoot up.”
Gandhi has called this “the biggest scam” in India’s stock market history, claiming the manipulation benefited certain “dubious foreign investors” while causing Indian investors to lose trillions of rupees.
Departing trade minister Piyush Goyal refuted the allegations, accusing Gandhi of misleading investors.
Exit polls had predicted a comfortable majority for the BJP, estimating more than 272 seats in the 543-member parliament, and 360-370 seats with alliance partners.
However, the actual results were significantly different, with the BJP failing to secure the halfway mark independently, and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) obtaining just 293 seats.
Gandhi has now claimed that the exit polls were “fake” and that the BJP knew from internal surveys and intelligence feedback that it would not win more than 220 seats.
“Despite that, the exit polls were made to show that the BJP was winning a large number of seats,” Gandhi alleged, leading to massive stock purchases on 3 June.
When the results were announced the next day, the Indian stock market experienced one of its worst crashes in years, with investments worth billions of dollars wiped out.
Goyal argued that Indians benefited from the rise and fall in stock prices, as foreign investors sold shares at high prices, which Indians bought, and then repurchased at lower prices during the crash.
“So foreigners bought at a high price and sold at a low price. Indian investors sold at a high price and bought at a low price. So in a way, Indian investors earned even in this period. No one suffered a loss,” he said.
On Friday, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh dismissed Goyal’s explanation as “rubbish,” stating that it did not address the specific concerns raised by Gandhi. The BJP has not responded to Ramesh’s allegations.
Source-BBC
