NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were involved in what he described as the “biggest stock market scam” in which retail investors lost Rs 30 lakh crore, and demanded a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into it.
In his first press conference here after the election results were announced on June 4, Rahul Gandhi said the stock market rose after “fake” exit polls and then crashed the day the Lok Sabha poll votes were counted on June 4. The Congress leader also trained his guns on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for commenting on the stock market before the results.
“The PM told the country three-four times that the stock market was going to skyrocket. The Home Minister directly said the stock market would skyrocket on June 4, and people should buy shares. The same message was given by the FM,” Gandhi said.
Exit polls released on June 1 projected a thumping win by the BJP. This gave rise to the hope that the government would be a stable one, and stock prices reached an all-time high on June 3, the day before the counting day. Then on June 4, when the actual results were announced and the BJP failed to secure a simple majority, the market crashed.
The estimated loss of about Rs 30 lakh crore dealt a devastating blow to investors, especially the small ones, Gandhi said. The Congress leader said both Modi and Shah knew it would not be possible for the BJP to form the government on its own. The internal survey of the BJP projected 220 seats for it. Despite knowing the ground situation, they advised people to invest in stocks on the promise of a stable government.
“What is the connection between the BJP, the fake exit pollsters and the dubious foreign investors who invested one day before the exit polls were announced and made huge profits (by selling the stocks when the prices skyrocketed following the exit polls) at the cost of five crore families who invest in stocks?” Gandhi asked.