As Opposition parties continue to protest in Parliament over financial fraud allegations against the Adani Group – which have forced the Gautam Adani-led congolomerate to lose tens of billions in market value – Congress leaders and workers took to the streets Monday to stage nationwide protests and demand an ‘impartial probe’. Congress members were seen raising slogans against prime minister Narendra Modi and his government in front of Life Insurance Corporation and State Bank of India offices across the country; the protests, in some cases, turned into clashes with local police, news agency ANI reported.
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Top points on Congress’ nationwide protest in the Adani-Hindenburg row:
1. The Congress says its is protesting to draw attention to claims that investments by government-run financial bodies like the SBI and LIC in the Adani group endanger savings of crores of Indians. “The government is hell-bent on helping Modiji’s friends to loot public money… we also demand a JPC (joint parliament commission) probe or a chief justice-led inquiry in the humongous Adani scam,” the party said as it announced the protests.
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2. Videos available online showed protesters holding placards and climbing over barricades set up by police at different places in the country. As protests played out on the streets, both houses of Parliament also witnessed a ruckus and were adjourned temporarily. Opposition parties continued to protest even after this, assembling near the Gandhi statue on Parliament premises and demanded a JPC or Supreme Court-monitored probe.
3. The Congress shared videos that showed protestors raising slogans like ‘Narendra Modi chuppi todo’ as the party continues to question the PM’s ‘eloquent’ silence on what it is now calling the ‘Adani MahaMegaScam’. The party also said it has started a ‘HAHK – Hum Adanike Hain Kaun series’, through which it will pose three questions to the government daily.
4. Opposition leaders have also demanded to know why the government is ‘shielding’ Gautam Adani. Congress leader KC Venugopal claimed allegations made by United States-based short-seller Hindenburg Research had ‘exposed’ the government. His colleague, Jairam Ramesh, tweeted, “… for the third day in a row Opposition not allowed to even mention in Parliament its legitimate demand for JPC into PM-linked Adani MahaMegaScam.” Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Manoj Jha attacked the government for ‘covering up’ the issue.
5. Earlier in the day various opposition parties met in Mallikarjun Kharge’s Parliament chambers; Kharge is the Congress chief and the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
