Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of direct involvement in stock market manipulation, leading to a ₹30 lakh crore loss for retail investors around the election results period.
Gandhi called for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to investigate the market behavior between the exit polls on June 1 and the final results on June 4, alleging the existence of “fictitious exit polls”.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal dismissed Rahul’s allegations but did not address why Modi and Shah provided investment advice during the campaign.
Gandhi asserted that Modi and Shah manipulated the stock market, predicting record-breaking performance on counting day. He detailed the sequence of their statements and the release of exit polls.
“On May 13, Amit Shah advised: ‘Buy shares before June 4’. On May 19, the Prime Minister predicted: ‘Stock markets will break records on June 4’. On June 1, exit polls were published. On June 3, the stock market reached an all-time high. On June 4, the markets crashed, causing a ₹30 lakh crore loss for small investors,” said Gandhi.
He highlighted significant stock activity on May 31, which was more than double that of May 30 and the preceding days.
“Consider the discrepancy. Who are these individuals? They are aware of an ongoing scam. Thousands of crores were invested, resulting in a ₹30 lakh crore loss for retail investors. This is the largest scam in the history of India’s stock market,” he said.
Rahul questioned why Modi and Shah provided specific investment advice to the five crore families involved in the stock market.
“Is it their role to offer investment advice? Why were both interviews – where the advice was given – conducted by the same media house, owned by a business group also under SEBI investigation for stock market manipulation?” he asked.
Rahul further inquired about the connection between the BJP, false exit pollsters, and suspicious foreign investors. He demanded a JPC investigation, expressing confidence in the existence of a scam where some individuals profited at the expense of retail investors, calling it a criminal act.
Praveen Chakravarty, Congress’s data analytics head, explained that the ₹30 lakh crore loss estimate was based on the market value of all companies the day before the results and at the end of the results day.
Goyal responded by accusing the Congress of spreading fear, stating that the market’s fluctuations were based on its own logic, and that Modi and Shah merely anticipated their government’s return for a third term.
Goyal claimed Rahul aimed to mislead market investors, a charge refuted by Congress media chief Jairam Ramesh. “This is nonsense that has been decisively rejected by the Indian public. He (Goyal) hasn’t answered the three fundamental questions Rahul Gandhi posed on behalf of millions of Indian retail investors,” Ramesh wrote on X.
India General Election 2024: Rahul Gandhi Labels June 4 Stock Market Crash a ‘Scam,’ Calls for JPC Investigation
Rahul Gandhi Demands a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) Probe into Alleged Stock Market Manipulation
Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah of being directly involved in a significant stock market crash on June 4, 2024, which resulted in the loss of ₹30 lakh crore in investor wealth. Gandhi has called for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to investigate the incident.
Allegations of Market Manipulation
During a press conference at the Congress headquarters, Gandhi described the June 4 event as the “biggest stock market crash scam.” He claimed that the crash followed a surge in the market driven by “fake” exit polls and a record number of transactions on June 3. The market then plummeted when the actual votes were counted.
Gandhi pointed out that this was the first time during an election that the Prime Minister, Home Minister, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman commented on the stock market. He questioned the appropriateness of their investment advice, which he claimed was directed at the five crore families investing in the market.
Questions Raised by the Congress Leader
Gandhi posed several critical questions:
- Why did the Prime Minister and Home Minister give specific investment advice to retail investors?
- Why were both interviews given to the same media outlet, which is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for market manipulation?
- What is the connection between the BJP, fake exit pollsters, and foreign investors who profited immensely from the market fluctuations?
