Even before the BJP-led government at the centre can take oath, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on former (and potential) prime minister Narendra Modi and his former home minister Amit Shah on Thursday, over the stock market crash on counting day, with results at odds with the exit polls.
He accused Modi and Shah of being “directly involved” in the “biggest stock market scam”, which resulted in retail investors losing Rs 30 lakh crore. Implying that the exit polls were designed — at the instigation of Modi and Shah — precisely to create a bullish run in the market, Gandhi demanded a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the alleged scandal.
Gandhi also alleged that the BJP’s top leaders had given investment advice that led to market manipulation and significant financial instability. He emphasised that their actions directly contributed to the economic turmoil and called for a thorough investigation by the JPC to uncover the full extent of the wrongdoing and ensure accountability.
“For the first time, we noted that during the elections, the prime minister, the union home minister and the finance minister commented on the stock market,” said Gandhi.
He pointed out that the markets surged following the “fake exit polls”, only to crash dramatically on 4 June, the day the votes were counted. Gandhi suggested that these polls may have been orchestrated to inflate the market artificially.