Congress against "friendly capitalisation" says Jairam Ramesh, reiterates demand for JPC probe into Adani-Hindenburg row
Feb 14, 2023
New Delhi [India], February 14 : Attacking the BJP for "friendly capitalisation," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday asked, if "nothing to hide", then why is the saffron party running away from a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani-Hindenburg row?
Addressing a press conference, Ramesh said, "If there is nothing to hide, then why is BJP running away from a JPC probe? In JPC, the ruling party will have the majority, so what are they scared of? The matter is serious, and only a JPC can do an independent probe into the matter"
"The centre has gone to the Supreme Court to carry out an investigation against Hindenburg when it is Adani, who should be investigated," he said.
The Congress leader also accused the BJP of showing "favouritism" towards one enterprise.
"Our fight is 'friendly capitalisation'. This government has shown favouritism towards one company, and one enterprise has benefitted from privatisation. That's what we are against," Ramesh said.
He further said that the Congress party believes in boosting investment, but is against capitalism.
"Congress party believes in increasing private investment, for boosting economic growth. Secondly, we want to promote capital formation to give a boost to employment opportunities. Thirdly, we are against 'Blind Privatisation'. We want to increase investment but not sell every government institution. Fourthly, we want the institutions to be having the freedom to act independently," he said.
The Opposition has been repeatedly demanding a JPC probe into the Adani-Hindenburg row.
The Budget session of the Parliament faced repeated disruptions owing to the continuous logjam over the Adani issue.
The concerned report from US-based short-seller firm Hindenburg Research surfaced on January 24 claiming that the Adani Group had weak business fundamentals, and was involved in stock manipulation and accounting fraud, among others.
According to a statement by the Adani Group, the Adani portfolio and the Adani verticals are focused on bringing India into the global economy and nation-building. In the summary of the long response by Adani Group, it said the report was "nothing but a lie".
The report, however, triggered a sell-off of shares of all Adani Group companies.
