Adani-Hindenburg issue should be debated in the Parliament, urges Swadeshi Jagran Manch

Amid widespread speculations over the Adani Group stocks' valuations and a market rout, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch today said the issue must be discussed in the Parliament. Talking at the Business Today Budget Round Table 2023, Ashwani Mahajan, National Co-convener of Swadeshi Jagran Manch said, the probable intervention by foreign hands must be debated.

Mahajan, who was replying to allegation by Supriya Shrinate, Chairperson of Social Media and Digital Platforms of Indian National Congress, said “There should be discussion in the Parliament."

“The impact of [ the] Chinese hand in the Adani matter cannot be ruled out. Adani [Group] is giving tough competition to the Chinese [industry] on every front like metals & minerals and energy,” implying that the Chinese may have some ulterior motive in damaging Adani’s rise, Mahajan said.

In line with the Congress' stand on the ongoing Adani Group issue, Shrinate alleged that the union government is not allowing investigative agencies to independently prove the activities of the Ahmedabad-based conglomerate as it has close relationships with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Commenting on the Union Budget 2023-24, that was tabled on February 1 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, she said trade deficit with China has touched its highest ever point at over $100 billion even though the government claims to have acted on India’s self-reliance. “The PM termed the MGNREGA scheme as a monumental failure of the UPA government. However, his government continues to increase allocations to the scheme even after nine years in office,” Shrinate alleged.

While Sudhanshu Trivedi, a Rajya Sabha MP and National Spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that unlike the UPA government before 2014, the BJP-led government has presented a budget keeping in view of strengthening the fundamentals of the economy. While the UPA in its last full-term budget in February 2013 had relied on doles and freebies like farm loan waiver and resorted to oil bonds to reduce the immediate burden, the current government has focused on infrastructure development.

Also read: BT Budget Roundtable: Govt has done well by giving precedence to growth over populism, say experts