The BJP flag.
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India's rise as a strong nation has become an eyesore for many people, the BJP said on Thursday, amid opposition parties such as the Congress targeting the Modi government over fresh allegations against the Adani Group.
The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) trained its guns on billionaire Gautam Adani's group, alleging that hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in publicly traded group stocks through Mauritius-based 'opaque' investment funds managed by partners of promoter family.
Latching on to the claims, the Congress targeted the government and said 'corruption' in shell companies linked to the conglomerate is getting stronger and only a joint parliamentary committee probe can uncover the truth.
Responding to questions on the issue, BJP national spokesperson Sayed Jafar Islam told a press conference that "but this much I would definitely say that there are some forces like George Soros… India, which used to be a soft nation, is today emerging as a strong nation. This is an eyesore for many people. The agencies and institutions that deal with such allegations will do their work. I don't think any comment should be made on this issue without any knowledge about it," he said.
The fresh allegations by OCCRP, funded by the likes of Soros and Rockefeller Brothers Fund, came months after a report by US short-selling firm Hindenburg Research wiped away close to $150 billion in value of Adani group stocks with allegations of accounting fraud, stock price manipulation and improper use of tax havens.
In a statement, the ports-to-energy conglomerate categorically rejected OCCRP's claims as 'recycled allegations', calling them 'yet another concerted bid by Soros-funded interests supported by a section of the foreign media to revive the meritless Hindenburg report'.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh questioned the role of market regulator SEBI in properly investigating the role of shell companies linked to the Adani Group.
The Aam Aadmi Party has urged the Supreme Court to take cognisance of the 'investigative report' of the OCCRP.
The party's Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh alleged that the SEBI and an expert committee setup to probe the allegations against the Adani group in the Hindenburg Research report have misled the top court.
This was done because Gautam Adani is a 'close friend' of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he further alleged.
OCCRP calls itself an investigative reporting platform formed by 24 non-profit investigative centres, spread across Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.