Adani-Hindenburg Row: ‘Allow JPC if you have nothing to hide,’ says Sachin Pilot to Centre

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 17 (ANI): Rajasthan former deputy chief minister and Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Friday slammed the Central Government over the Adani-Hindenburg row and alleged that when Opposition questions in Parliament then those questions are expunged from the record.

Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, the Congress leader asked why the Centre is shying away from allowing the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the Hindenburg report allegations about stock manipulation and accounting fraud against Adani group firms. However, the Adani group has refuted the charges.
He said that there are parliamentary procedures, decorum and precedent on what can be allowed to be expunged and what can’t be expunged. He added that though the BJP is in power, they don’t have the right to remove questions of opposition leaders from the Parliament proceedings.

“There have been discussions on the crucial Adani issue. What is discouraging is the fact that in Indian Parliament when Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge or former President Rahul Gandhi asked certain questions on the floor of the house, those questions are expunged from the records. This has never happened before. There are parliamentary procedures, decorum and precedent on what can be allowed to be expunged and what can’t be expunged. But the way that we are heading, the brute majority the BJP has in Parliament, does not give the right to expunge the content and the questions the members make on the floor of the house,” said Pilot.

Taking a potshot at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pilot said that he had failed to answer a single question over the allegations made on the Adani Group.

“Sadly, the PM and his response to the Adani issue questions failed to answer one single question about the group, its activities, its allegations, huge loss of public money, the share market crash and the huge evaluation of the group itself,” he said.

“A lot of questions about crony capitalism have come up, government assets being sold at undervalued prices, and public finances being misused, SEBI, the finance ministry, the RBI, and the regulatory bodies are watching as this collusion of political power and business influencers has taken a toll on Public Sector Undertakings and small investors across the country,” he added.

The Congress leader said that such a huge scam should be investigated through Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), if the government has nothing to hide.

“It is a very important issue and the country wants to ask why does the Government of the present-day shy away from JPC? A Joint Parliamentary Committee has been formed on numerous occasions previously under a Congress government and BJP government. And if the government has nothing to hide I see no reason why a JPC can’t be constituted and the BJP has a majority in Lok Sabha so the majority of members will be from the BJP. So, really it’s baffling for us to feel why time and again while the government say we are open for discussion, we have nothing to hide, then why is the government shying away from ordering the JPC on the issue?” he said.

“The government has failed to answer any questions. It has shied away and hiding itself from having a JCP. BJP hasn’t refuted any allegations put by the Hindenburg research papers,” added Pilot.

The Opposition has been repeatedly demanding a JPC probe into the Adani-Hindenburg row.

Recently, Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi raised the issue in the parliament and asked PM Modi to reply. The Opposition parties had demanded discussion over investment by LIC, public sector banks, and financial institutions “in companies losing market value, endangering the savings of crores of Indians” following the Hindenburg Research report.

The concerned report from US-based short-seller firm Hindenburg Research surfaced on January 24 claiming that the Adani Group had weak business fundamentals, and was involved in stock manipulation and accounting fraud, among others.

According to a statement by the Adani Group, the Adani portfolio and the Adani verticals are focused on bringing India into the global economy and nation-building. In the summary of the long response by Adani Group, it said the report was “nothing but a lie”.

The report, however, triggered a sell-off of shares of all Adani Group companies. (ANI)