New Delhi: Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday, March 17, said his government “has no confusion on the matter” of the serious allegations against the Adani Group – on which the opposition has been demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe for almost a month now.
Speaking at an event hosted by a media house, Shah said, according to Hindustan Times, “Our government has no confusion on the matter. What we are saying is that the Supreme Court has constituted a committee to investigate it and people should trust the judicial process.”
In late February, a report by Hindenburg Research had accused Adani Enterprises of stock manipulation, leading to a significant fall in its valuation. Reports before and after this revelation had investigated how the Group made huge gains, implying that it enjoyed favours from the Modi government.
On February 17, turning down the names proposed by the Union government, the Supreme Court said it will form an expert committee to review regulatory mechanism in light of the Hindenburg report.
On Friday, Shah said that people with “proof” should submit it to the Supreme Court committee.
“No one should be spared if something wrong has happened,” he also said.
“Even then, if you think the report is not correct, then one should raise the matter or protest against it. Both SEBI and the Supreme Court will be doing parallel probes and the SEBI has already told the Supreme Court that it is investigating the matter,” the home minister said.
However, the government has so far not responded to opposition parties who have raised the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee investigation into it.
Instead, Bharatiya Janata Party MPs and ministers have led loud protests in parliament against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s comments on the state of democracy in India during his visit to the United Kingdom.
“Let the two sides sit before the Speaker and discuss. They should come two steps forward and we will go two steps ahead. Then Parliament will start running. But you just hold a press conference and do nothing, it can’t be like that,” Shah said on the logjam in parliament, according to the Press Trust of India.
He alleged that the opposition has not given any proposals for talks.
“They created a slogan that there should be freedom of speech in Parliament. There is complete freedom of speech in Parliament. No one can stop you from talking,” Shah said.
In the UK, Rahul Gandhi had alleged that opposition leaders are not allowed to talk in the parliament.
“The debates in Parliament take place as per rules. You can’t talk in Parliament like one can do on the road. If they don’t have this basic concept, what can we do?” Shah said.
He also cited Indira Gandhi, Rahul’s grandmother, who brought the Emergency as prime minister in 1975. While Indira Gandhi is a frequent target of the BJP, Shah appeared to extol her virtues in not speaking ill of the country abroad just after Emergency ended and the Shah Commission was formed.
“On that, some journalist had asked her (in England) how is your country doing. She said, ‘We have some issues but I don’t want to say anything here. My country is running well. I won’t say anything about my country. Here I am an Indian’,” he said, according to PTI.
Shah also cited how former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee led a discussion on Kashmir at the United Nations as an opposition leader.
“This trust… there are some issues which are about politics. I believe that everyone should follow this tradition. Should we go abroad and level allegations about India and should we go to the Parliament of other countries and make comments about India? I believe the Congress will have to answer this,” he added, according to PTI.