Leaders of the Opposition INDIA bloc on Tuesday met officials of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) over the alleged manipulation of the stock market on Lok Sabha elections results day (June 4). The stock market saw a sharp decline on the day of the Lok Sabha election results. The Congress alleged that the fall in stocks was due to the statements of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and PM Narendra Modi who "gave investment advice to thousands of retail investors".
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi targeted the government and Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for their statements in media interviews and alleged that a big scam was being orchestrated in the stock market.
On Tuesday, TMC leaders Saket Gokhale, Kalyan Banerjee, Sagarika Ghosh, Arvind Sawant from Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction), Supriya Sule from NCP Sharad Pawar faction and other Opposition leaders reached the SEBI office in Mumbai to lodge a complaint regarding the statements made by PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in the media.
The Opposition leaders met SEBI chairman Madhavi Puri and demanded an investigation into the alleged scam.
INDIA Bloc's Allegation Of Stock Market Scam
TMC's Kalyan Banerjee said that after the results were announced, the retail investors in the stock market suffered a loss of Rs 30 lakh crore. "This is a scam. Amit Shah had said in an interview before the results to buy shares in large numbers. What is his link with the stock market? Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are behind this scam. This matter should be investigated."
TMC leader Sagarika Ghosh demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Amit Shah resign from their posts.
Arvind Sawant said, "Amit Shah and Modi said that people should invest in shares; they raised the slogan of '400 paar'. This resulted in common people investing money in the stock market. But after the results, they suffered huge losses. SEBI should investigate this matter."
"The Supreme Court has asked the SEBI to investigate the matter. Now, let's expect an investigation. The common man should get a result because this has become a practice. It's a political fraud because leaders of our country are involved in this," Sawant said.
Rahul Gandhi's Allegations Against PM Modi, Amit Shah
The delegation of India Alliance met the SEBI official and said that the day after the election results were announced, the stock market fell sharply. All the leaders said that "a big game" was at play and demanded an investigation.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had earlier accused PM Modi, Amit Shah, and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of manipulating the stock market. Rahul Gandhi had said: "For the first time, we saw the Prime Minister, the Home Minister, and the Finance Minister comment on the stock market. The PM on 3-4 occasions told the nation that the stock market would surge. The Union Home Minister clearly said that on June 4 the stock market will skyrocket and people should buy stocks. The same message was repeated by the Union Finance Minister." He also highlighted how the stock market fell sharply after breaking all records on June 4.