New Delhi: Amid the ongoing Hindenburg-Adani row, the Congress party on Monday demanded the Centre seize the passport of Gautam Adani to prevent him from escaping the country as the party held nationwide protests outside Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), State Bank of India (SBI) offices over explosive charges of stock manipulation by US short-seller Hindenberg Research.
“The Centre should confiscate the passport of Gautam Adani so that he would not be able to escape the country. When scams by Harshad Mehta or Ketan Paresh were unearthed, the then Union government led by Congress had confiscated their passports preventing Mehta and Parekh from flying out of India," Mumbai Congress chief Bhai Jagtap told reporters.
He further stated that industrialists Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi, who are facing allegations of loan default and banking fraud, managed to run away from the country because their passports were not seized by the BJP government in time.
While Congress workers staged a protest outside the State Bank of India office in Hyderabad, hundreds of Congress workers took out a rally in Jammu.
A protest was also held by NSUI (National Students Union of India), the student wing of Congress in Delhi who were demanding a Joint Parliament Committee probe over the Adani row.
Videos and visuals emerging from the protests showed demonstrators clashing with the police, who were raising anti-BJP slogans. Videos made online also showed protesters holding placards scaling over barricades set up by police to thwart the demonstrations.
Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress president and the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, stated that the government did not want this matter raised and discussed. They want to avoid it and don't want it on the record.
"Govt want this matter to not be raised, not to be discussed. They want to avoid it somehow and do not want to bring it to record. We demand discussion on our notices (in Parliament), we're ready for a detailed discussion. We want it to be taken up first. Ready to speak on President's Address and we give it its due importance. But first priority is that PM Modi give a reply on this issue," news agency ANI quoted Kharge as saying.
Opposition parties on Monday protested near the Gandhi statue outside Parliament and demanded a Joint Parliament Committee investigation or Supreme Court-monitored probe into the Hindenburg-Adani row.
A report by a US-based 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.
(With agency inputs)