India has responded harshly to the billionaire investor George Soros after he said Adani’s troubles will weaken Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s grip on power and lead to a “democratic revival” in the country.
The latest dispute concerns relations between the Indian prime minister and the tycoon Gautam Adani, who has lost billions of dollars together with the companies of his namesake Adani galaxy, since the short seller Hindenburg Research published a report accusing the Indian giant of market manipulation and tax fraud.
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The Adani Group has denied these allegations, calling the report a “calculated attack on India”.
For his part, last week the financier and philanthropist George Soros criticized the prime minister saying that India is a democracy but Modi “He’s not a Democrat”.
Over the weekend, the Indian foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, he later called Soros’ comments typical of a “Euro-Atlantic vision”,denying the charges.
“There are still people in the world who believe that their definition, their preferences, their opinions should trump everything else“, Jaishanka said adding that there is “a debate and a conversation we need to have about democracy”, including the values that define a democracy as the world rebalances and becomes less Euro-Atlantic.
“He’s old and rich and opinionated and dangerous. It is what happens when these people, these points of view and these organizations invest resources in shaping narratives”Jaishankar said in reply to a question about Soros’ claims.
Indian voters will decide “how the country should be managed”the foreign minister said again.
Soros’ criticisms focused on the close relationship between the premier Modi and Adani.
“Modi and business tycoon Adani are close allies and their fates are intertwinedSoros said, adding that “Adani firms have tried to raise funds on the stock market, but have failed.”
Both PM Modi and Adani hail from the western Indian state of Gujarat. Adani was an early supporter of Modi’s political aspirations and endorsed the Indian leader’s growth vision for the country.
Modi flew on an Adani jet after being elected to national office in 2014.
Adani’s market losses meanwhile exceeded $100 billion in the week he was targeted by Hindenburg.
Adani lost the crown of Asia’s richest man in a matter of days, but denied any wrongdoing.
“Adani is accused of stock manipulation and his shares have collapsed like a house of cards. Modi is silent on the matter, but he will have to answer questions from foreign investors and Parliament”Soros said. The billionaire believes Adani’s problems ‘significantly weaken Modi’s grip on Indian federal government’ e “they will pave the way for much-needed institutional reforms.”
“Maybe I’m naive, but I expect a democratic renaissance in India“, Soros said.
The Hungarian-born investor is the founder of the Open Society Foundations support network, through which he has donated more than $32 billion, according to his website.
The network said it was conceding “thousands of grants every year to build inclusive and vibrant democracies”, with active projects in over 120 countries.
Even the critics of the opposition they used the Hindenburg report to attack Modi and his party in view of the national elections scheduled for next year.
India’s main opposition party has staged protests and called for an investigation into Hindenburg’s allegations.
However, the same party quickly distanced itself from Soros’ comments.
“Whether the Adani scam linked to the premier will spark a democratic renaissance in India depends entirely on Congress, opposition parties and our electoral process,” he tweeted Jairam Ramesh, secretary general of the Indian National Congress. “It has nothing to do with George Soros.”