The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dismissed Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's allegations regarding a stock market crash on June 4 as "absolutely baseless". Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday accused the former Congress president of trying to create "fear" among investors. Responding to Gandhi's claims, Goyal stated that it was a conspiracy by the Congress party to malign the BJP and emphasised that the market had flourished under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.
Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi alleged that PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were directly involved in what he described as the "biggest stock market scam," claiming that retail investors lost Rs 30 lakh crore. He demanded a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the matter.
"Rahul Gandhi has still not overcome the loss in the Lok Sabha elections. Now, he is trying to mislead the market investors. Today, India has become the fifth-largest economy," Goyal said during a press conference.
Goyal stated that India's equity market had entered the market cap of the top five economies of the world under PM Modi's leadership. "In the last 10 years of the Modi government, for the first time, our market cap has crossed over 5 trillion dollars. Today, India's equity market has entered the market cap of the top 5 economies of the world. We know that the market cap of PSUs listed in the market has increased four times under the Modi government," Goyal added.
Criticising the previous UPA government, Goyal pointed out that 10 years ago, under UPA's rule, India's market cap was just Rs 67 lakh crore. "Today the market cap of PSUs listed in the market has increased to Rs 415 crore," the BJP MP said.
In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, Goyal defeated his nearest rival, Congress candidate Bhushan Patil, from the Mumbai North constituency by a margin of 3,57,608 votes, the highest in Maharashtra.